ing what their standing will be financially, but the answer is a severe condemnation of our system of wages. Of 64 who will survive, 1 will be rich, 4will be called wealthy, 5 will be still self-supporting, and 54 will be dependent upon relatives, friends, or public charities. It is an indictment that is most humiliating to our people, but it is the condition which exists.

The Government of the United States by its failure to pay a living wage which would leave something to be put aside by its employees casts the burden upon private individuals and public charities throughout the country instead of carrying it, as it should.

The New York Evening Sun of April 5, 1916, had an editorial which expresses the opinion held by numerous newspapers, and I therefore take the liberty of reading it.

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66 POSTMEN AND PENSIONS.

'If policemen, firemen, and school-teachers are to be retired on pensions by municipalities, there appears to be no reason why the same reward for long and faithful service should be withheld from the letter carriers by the United States Government. Soldiers and sailors of the Army and Navy are already eligible for pensions for service which, while more hazardous in emergencies, is not as gruelling year in and year out.

"The men who collect and distribute the mails are compelled to face exposure in all sorts of weather without the special training of the Army and Navy to give them endurance. Their wages are not sufficient to enable them to provide adequately for their families and at the same time put aside enough to support themselves in their old age. Evidence is advanced to show that many of the carriers accordingly are compelled to stick to their tasks when age and physical condition render their retirement advisable.

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Congress is being urged again this year to pass a postmen's pension law, and it should do so. It votes millions annually for far less worthy pension purposes."

The New York Evening Journal printed the pictures of Benjamin T. Lee, Station J, appointed October, 1868; of Gustav A. Wambach, Station P, appointed March, 1867; of Silas D. Davis, Station C, appointed June, 1869; of Lawrence Dunn, Station L, appointed February, 1867; and of William P. M'Intosh, Penn Terminal Post Office, appointed March, 1870, and on the same date, April 6, 1916, published the following editorial:

66 AN OLD HORSE AND AN OLD MAN-A SELF-RESPECTING FARMER TAKES CARE OF THE OLD HORSE-THE RICHEST GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD TURNS THE OLD MAN OUT TO STARVE.

"[Copyright, 1916, Star Co.]

"At the top of this page are printed photographs of five men, each of whom has served the United States as a letter carrier for about 50 years. We print their pictures, not to make any especial appeal on their behalf-for not one of them asks it.

"The photographs are printed to show you what type of men give their lives to the government and to the public-earnest, high class, self-respecting men, worthy of respect and of gratitude.

"When a farmer has worked a horse for 20 years he gives that horse pasture for the rest of his life.

"He does not turn the horse out on the roadside the neighbors would not tolerate it.

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When the Government of the United States has worked a man for 50 years, that Government, the richest in the world, ought not to turn that man out on the roadside, as our Government does.

"There is now before the Congress at Washington a bill which begins as follows:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That beginning with the first day of July next following the passage of this act, the Postmaster General shall grant an indefinite leave of absence, together with an allowance of $600 per annum. to be payable monthly, to any person employed in the Railway Mail Service, the Rural Free Delivery Service, the City Free Delivery Service, and to postoffice clerks and other employees in post offices who are in the classified civil service who have become incapacitated from performing their duties through superannuation.'

"The nice long word 'superannuation' means too old to work and earn a living.

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This bill, if it passes, as it should pass, will permit the people of the country to give a pension of $600 a year to men who have worked faithfully for half a century.

"Write to your Congressman and to the two Senators from your State, and tell them that you want to see this bill made a law.

"It is your money that will be spent to pension these faithful workers. "There is no charity, nothing but plain justice in a fair pension system. "And remember that in such a system there is no extravagance; on the contrary, there is economy.

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'When a man has worked a half century, and can work no longer, he must still live.

"Please believe that it is better for the country and cheaper for the Gov. ernment and the taxpayers to give such a man a fair pension than to turn him adrift.

"You can keep an old man in self-respect on a pension much more cheaply than the grafters will keep him in a poorhouse.

"By treating old and faithful workers honestly and fairly you encourage the better class of young men to enter the Government service, and that service is your service.

"Look at the faces on this page, a few of the men in one city who have served faithfully for so long.

"Think of your own father, as you look at these faces, and use your influence with your Congressman to get justice for honest work.

"P. S. This bill will, come up in Washington to-morrow. If you act at all in the matter please act quickly. If you have not time to write a letter, tear off this page of the Evening Journal, write on it 'These are my sentiments,' and mail the page to your Congressman and to your Senators."

In a statement submitted to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads of the United States Senate in the Sixty-third Congress, First Assistant Postmaster General Roper said among other things:

"Fortunately, many have looked forward and provided during their years of vigor for the needs of the declining period of life. But countless thousands have been unable or unwilling to do so. It is these-it is the case of the man who, for whatever reason, has arrived at the age of incapacity with no means of support that we are considering. It is fruitless in his case to urge the claim against himself. What he has produced he has consumed or permitted others to consume. He has nothing now but the memory of wants satisfied. He can produce no more. It is useless, often unjust, to condemn him, and heartless to make him suffer, even as an example to the thriftless. The problem that he presents may constitute an argument for State insurance and compulsory savings in recognition of the superannuate's claim against himself. This remedy may be applied to those who are thoughtlessly following in his footsteps, but it can not be applied to the man who is already superannuated.” He also called attention to the reference made to it by President Taft in the following sentence:

"The present practice of retaining such (superannuated) employees on the rolls and as they grow older, expecting from them a smaller quantity and lower grade of work, can not continue indefinitely without seriously impairing the efficiency of the entire service and imposing upon the Government a cost that will be in excess of the expense to be incurred by the adoption of a reasonable plan for remedying existing conditions."

The Assistant Postmaster General called attention to the following: "There are 80,000 classified civil-service employees, exclusive of rural carriers, at the 2,600 largest post offices in this country. Of these 80,000 employees, 2,508 are above 60 years of age. Of this number, 1,170, or nearly half, are between the ages of 60 and 65 years. Only 127 are over 75 years of age. There are isolated instances of men of advanced years performing active service. One assistant postmaster with a salary of $900 is 79 years of age. One city letter carrier is 89. Two post-office clerks and two laborers are each 87." He later on said:

"Undoubtedly the Government suffers loss of efficiency due to the unlawful retention of superannuated employees. Many postmasters and other supervisory officers are disposed for humanitarian reasons to continue aged and incapacitated clerks in office without proper readjustment of their salaries long after their usefulness and value has begun to wane. Not only are the salaries

of these clerks frequently an unwarranted expenditure of public funds under the law, but the promotions of deserving younger clerks are withheld and the incentive for the maximum endeavor on their part is reduced."

Thus we have the consensus of opinion of not only ex-President Taft but also of Assistant Postmaster General Roper and of newspaper opinion that the situation must be met, and as no real reason can be advanced for opposition to this bill and because it will be carrying out the dictates of justice and humanity and at the same time permitting the Government to do what is right and fair to its employees I urge this committee to report this bill favorably.

Mr. STEPHENS, M. C., of California. Mr. Chairman, in my judgment the United States does not pay its postal employees as much as they earn. I know that they do not receive salaries sufficient to lay up much for a rainy day, and I strongly favor a measure of this kind.

Mr. GRAY, M. C., of New Jersey. I simply wish to express myself in favor of this bill and to ask the privilege of extending a brief memorandum in the record.

Mr. FREEMAN, M. C., of Connecticut. I wish to say to the committee that I am in thorough sympathy with the principle involved in this bill, and I trust that you may, in your judgment, report it out favorably.

Mr. ESTOPINAL, M. C., of Louisiana. I desire to express my entire willingness to support this bill. I have a great many of these people in my district engaged in this business, and this relief ought to be granted.

STATEMENT OF HON. ADAM B. LITTLEPAGE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA.

Mr. LITTLEPAGE. I want to be recorded as present and advocating the report of this bill by this subcommittee to the committee and by that committee to the House of Representatives, in order that we who are in favor of this measure may have the opportunity to vote upon it. I am one of those, Mr. Chairman, who believe that the people of this country have been working for the Government since 1776, and that it is pretty nearly time the Government began to reciprocate and help the people who helped the Government.

There is no more deserving class of employees in our Republic than are the United States mail-service employees. We people, some of us, are farmers, some lawyers, and some bankers. I have on my farm at home some old horses, and I have some old hounds, and I will not suffer any man to treat either of them unkindly. I would rather he strike me than strike one of them, because of their faithfulness, because of their friendship, because of their affection, so far as it can be instilled into the animal heart. If we are willing to take care of dumb brutes at home, why ought we not be more willing to take care of people who serve this Government faithfully, honestly, and efficiently? This is a very deserving measure. It intends to treat with at least partial justice some of the most deserving employees in the history of our Republic. I know some men in my home town of Charleston who have for long years past rendered faithful and efficient service. Some of them have broken down, bent over, and are about ready to fall, with no income, no hope, no ambition, except to serve Uncle Sam, and it is pretty nearly time that Uncle Sam was doing something for them. I am in favor of this bill. It

is in the interest of justice and in the interest of humanity, and it is pretty nearly time that Uncle Sam was beginning to pay some of his debts. We are paying the Army officers who are retired; we are paying the Army soldiers pensions, and deservedly so and properly so, and I am in favor of it, but I want to go all along down the line, treating the people in that fair and even-handed, just manner and way that will cause them to love this Republic. The man who loves the flag is deserving of the highest consideration upon the part of all of our people, and the man who serves that flag is equally deserving. Mr. PAIGE. Mr. Chairman, there is a roll call of the House, and I move that we take a recess until a quarter to 12. It is evident that the entire membership of the House wants to go on record as being in favor of this bill.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES A. GALLIVAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. GALLIVAN. Mr. Chairman, I am appearing before your committee this morning to heartily indorse the Griffin bill (H. R. 6915), which you now have under consideration.

As the title of the bill indicates, its purpose is "to grant indefinite leaves of absence to superannuated employees of the Postal Service." Mr. Chairman, right here I want to express the gratification I feel in witnessing the unusual sight of more than 100 Members of Congress personally appearing before your committee in support of this bill. I doubt whether it is within the recollection of the oldest Member of Congress when so many Representatives have appeared before any committee of the House in favor of any bill of any character whatsoever. This demonstrates beyond all possible doubt that there is a nation-wide public demand for the enactment of such legislation as is contemplated in the Griffin bill. From my acquaintance with hundreds of the employees of the Postal Service in the Boston postal district, I am in a position to say to you gentlemen that of my own knowledge there exists the most acute necessity for the speedy enactment of this legislation.

I may say, without fear of successful contradiction, that nowhere else in this big country of ours is the problem of supperannuation among postal employees more pressing than it is in the Boston postal district. Because of the fact that Boston is one of the oldest cities in this great country of ours, it follows that our post office in Boston is also one of the oldest established post offices in the United States. By reason of this fact, we have a very high percentage of postal employees who have grown gray in the service of our Government.

No more pathetic sight can be imagined than to witness, as we do in Boston, the sight of faithful old letter carriers doing their very best in an effort to cover their districts to the satisfaction of the public, notwithstanding the fact that the weight of years rests heavily upon their shoulders.

To go inside of the office is to find other veterans of the service in clerical capacities straining every energy to retain their efficiency, in part at least, so that they may not be ruthlessly separated from the service and left absolutely without means of sustenance in their declining years. A visit to our great terminal railroad stations

presents to our vision the sight of old railway-mail clerks, who have spent their lives in the discharge of most arduous and technical duties in the face of daily peril to their lives, waiting from day to day for the message that Congress has finally adopted legislation that will enable them to retire with a modest competence sufficient to keep the wolf from the door in their few remaining years.

Mr. Chairman, it is a matter of shame to our Government, the richest and most prosperous on the face of the globe, that it has not before now made provision for the retirement of the superannuated employees of our Federal Government.

Investigation discloses the fact that we are the only civilized Government in the whole world that has not made such provision.

In the great majority of our State governments and in hundreds of municipalities we find legislation enacted to provide for superannuated employees.

I come from a State and a city that has not only kept pace with the spirit of the times in regard to caring for the old, but I come from a State and a city that is leading the way in respect to such legislation. I am advocating the enactment of this Griffin bill, not only because it provides for a long delayed recognition of faithful service of these postal employees, but because its enactment will mean a genuine economy to the Government.

Hundreds upon hundreds of our great private industrial corporations have within the last 10 years voluntarily made provision to retire their faithful old employees as a reward for their faithfulness. These private corporations have come to realize that it is a matter of sound business economy to take such action. When hardheaded business men arrive at this conclusion it is high time that we, the representatives of the people in Congress, awaken to a realization that it is of equal if not of greater importance for this great Government of ours to adopt a similar policy.

I am glad to know that this Griffin bill (H. R. 6915) is being advocated by the great organizations of postal employees representing the city letter carriers, the rural letter carriers, the railway mail clerks, the city post-office clerks, and other post-office employees in the field service.

The representatives of these men know the conditions under which these employees have to labor. They know how pressing is the need for the enactment of this bill, which they are unitedly presenting.

I had brought to my attention a number of cases of these old employees who have been either removed from the service or reduced in compensation for no other reason than because they served their Government faithfully, but alas, too long.

Mr. Chairman, there is in existence in the Post Office Department a regulation so inhuman that were it invoked in any private establishment, that it would cause a great cry of public indignation. This rule provides that any employee who is absent from duty more than 150 days in any calendar year is automatically dropped from the service. Under the operation of this rule, the faithful old public servants of the Postal Service are being thrown out one by one to become a charge either upon public or private charity in their old age. However compassionate a postmaster may be, or however broad