Special Message to the Congress on the Need for Raising the Salaries of Federal Executives.

To the Congress of the United States:

I have today approved H.R. 4583, relating to telephone and telegraph service and clerk hire for Members of the House of Representatives. This Act provides an additional allowance of $3,000 a year for each Member of the House of Representatives for clerk hire and authorizes an allowance of $500 a year for each Member for sending telephone and telegraph communications.

I have signed this Act willingly, for I believe that it is in the interest of the Government and of the people to provide for the efficient conduct of the public business. I have no doubt that the benefits derived from this legislation will fully justify its cost, which is relatively small in the light of the magnitude of the problems confronting the Government.

I feel constrained to point out to the Congress again, however, an opportunity which it has for a greater improvement of the public service than will be accomplished by this legislation, and at approximately the same cost. I have heretofore recommended that the Congress enact legislation to raise the salary scales for the heads and assistant heads of executive departments and other officials of the executive branch having comparable responsibilities. Bills for this purpose have been reported from committees in both Houses of Congress and have been on their respective calendars for weeks. Though the salaries provided in these bills are not, in my judgment, fully commensurate with the great responsibilities of the positions involved, they would substantially better the present demoralizing situation. The cost of this legislation would be approximately $1,300,000 annually, compared with $1,314,000 for clerk hire alone under H.R. 4583, which I have just signed.

Important as it is for Members of the Congress to have adequate clerical assistance, it is at least of equal importance to have men of ability in the key executive positions in the Government. The best of laws can be ruined by poor administration. The success or failure of all the things the United States Government undertakes to do depends in large measure upon the wisdom and ability of these executives. It is upon them that we must rest most of our hopes for economy and efficiency in the Government. Even a small improvement in the economy and efficiency of the vast operations under the direction of these men is obviously of much greater consequence than the cost of the proposed salary increases. The soundness of this principle has been demonstrated in American business concerns, where it is well recognized that the success or failure of an enterprise depends largely upon its executive officers, and their salaries are fixed accordingly.

The relative salary position of Federal executives has become increasingly worse during recent years. There has been no increase in the salaries of Cabinet officers since 1925. Members of important commissions whose salaries were set at $10,000 many years ago still get the same amount. For example, the salaries of Federal Trade Commission members were fixed at $10,000 in 1914 and have never been raised, although in terms of real income that amount, even before taxes, is less than half of what it was thirty-five years ago. The absurdity of the present situation is illustrated by the fact that many Federal executives now have assistants who receive higher salaries than they do.

The Congress has already recognized the need for greater compensation for other groups of Federal officers and employees, including the Members of Congress themselves. Prior to 1925, Senators and Representatives received an annual salary of $7,500 each. At the same time, Cabinet officers received $12,000 and members of important boards and commissions received $10,000. In 1925, the salaries of Senators and Representatives were increased to $10,000 and those of Cabinet officers were increased to $15,000. No corresponding general increase was made in the salaries of other executive officers. In 1946, the Congress further increased the salaries of Senators and Representatives to $12,500, and at the same time provided for each of them a tax-free expense allowance of $2,500. Because this allowance is tax-free, the compensation of Members of Congress is now equivalent to approximately $16,000 a year. Thus, the compensation of Senators and Representatives has been more than doubled in the last 25 years, while there has been no general increase at all in the salaries of the executive officials here in question.

Over this same 25-year period, the salaries of Federal judges have also been substantially increased. The salaries of district and circuit judges have been doubled, and those of Supreme Court justices have been increased by more than two-thirds.

The Congress has also raised the compensation of the President, the Vice-President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The annual salary of the President was increased from $75,000 to $100,000 earlier this year, and at the same time he was provided with a $50,000 tax-free expense allowance. While this increase was made without any recommendation or suggestion on my part, I am grateful to the Congress for the spirit which moved it to enact the increase speedily in order that I might receive its benefits. Nevertheless, the proposed increases for other officers in the executive branch, besides resulting in far greater public benefit than the increase in the President's salary, would actually do more to improve the President's personal situation than the increase in his own salary. For one of the greatest burdens of the Presidency is in finding and keeping good men for big jobs, and under present conditions that is a most difficult task.

The Congress has already recognized the need for increased compensation for Federal employees below the top executive level. Since 1945, the rates of compensation for these employees have been increased three times, largely to meet increased living costs. These increases have been proportionately greater in the lower grades than in the higher, and in the lower grades the total increases range up to 96 per cent. The salary schedules for Federal employees still need revision, and I have recommended such revision to the Congress.

I thoroughly approve of adequate salaries for all our Federal employees. Increased prosperity for our Nation depends upon the constant betterment of the living standards of the great body of our citizens. In the promotion of the general welfare, Federal employees should not be neglected. However, I am urging increased compensation for Federal executives not primarily as a matter of equity--although it is well justified on equitable grounds--but primarily as a matter of good business from the standpoint of the Government.

It is customary in private industry for an executive to be paid many times as much as he would be paid for comparable work in Government service. Salaries of $50,000 to $100,000 a year in private industry are not uncommon. In 1948, General Motors Corporation paid to 53 of its officers and directors an average salary of $51,760 each. The 15 top executives of the DuPont company were paid an average salary of $213,175 each--an aggregate amount for these 15 men greater than the total salaries now paid to all the 250 or so Federal officers whose salaries would be increased by the legislation before the Congress.

When it is considered that the responsibilities of many top Government executives are far greater than those of any private executive in the Nation, it is evident why the Government has great difficulty in obtaining and keeping the best men. Even when they are prevailed upon as a matter of public duty to serve in the Government, too often they find that they can afford to serve for a limited time only. Thus men are lost to the Government just when they have had the experience which brings them to the peak of their effectiveness. Such a process is obviously poor business and any apparent saving in funds for salaries is obviously a disservice to the taxpayers.

These truths were clearly recognized by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch. That C o m m i s s i o n urged more realistic salaries for Federal executives as a means of achieving greater economy and efficiency in governmental activities. The legislation for increased executive salaries now pending in the Congress is fully supported by the recommendations of that Commission. So long as the Congress fails to take this simple and obvious step to improve the Government service, there will be an important gap in our efforts to achieve economy and efficiency.

For the compelling reasons set forth above, I believe that the legislation now pending to increase the salaries of officers in the executive branch is a fundamental step toward the more effective operation of the Government. Therefore, I again urge the Congress to complete favorable action upon this legislation at an early date.

HARRY S. TRUMAN