| Show 1 1 i LIDI No Future to Presidency Pension Plan Is Proposed B By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator W WASHINGTON Harry Harry Truman President is going to be beable beable beable able to consider one measure which probably will come up inthe in inthe the approaching congress with more objectivity than some of his friends thought would be possible It offers an answer to the question what to do with ex I. I The Idea Is not entirely altruistic although the United States In the past has shown rather shabby gratitude in tossing aside without further concern the man who has served as the republics republic's head Many if not most of our form former ere chief executives might provide provideS S counsel and advice I based on their experience experience ex ex- which could be most val val- j Herbert Hoover Is an ex ex- ex- ex Lk ample At present present present pres pres- ent he Is rendering rendering render render- i 4 ing important service as head of HT- HT the commission 1 appointed by President President President Pres Pres- ident Truman which has just s drawn up the plan for the re BAUKHAGE of government government government govern govern- ment departments which congress will consider at its next session Hoover has served in many other useful public capacities since he hc left the White House He can afford to I Indeed he not only spent considerable considerable consider consider- able sums out of his private funds on secretarial and research assistance assistance assistance assist assist- ance when he was secretary of commerce and later in the White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House but he also voluntarily turned back a part of his salary as President in iii 1932 when under the Economy act the salaries of allI all government employees were cut I I Franklin Roosevelt also turned back part of his salary under that same act and later In 1943 when he was advocating a ceiling on all aU salaries again vol voluntarily voluntarily volun volun- un- un refunded to the treasury a portion of his own But not all presidents are born with or acquire silver spoons Few could afford the luxury of working for nothing and so when they leave office most have to look around for Cor a Job Fortunately former President William Howard Taft in the years before he was called back to Uncle Une Sams Sam's workbench as chief justice of the supreme court possessed enough of the worlds world's goods so that he could afford to render at least semi-public semi services teaching in the H Harvard Ivard law school a position which a man of slenderer means might have had to turn down in favor of a higher salary from some purely private enterprise His son Sen Robert Taft mentioned this recently when he suggested that former presidents should receive a substantial pension perhaps 25 25 a year presidents Ex-presidents also should have havethe havethe havethe the privileges of the senate floor Taft believes with the right to speak but not to vote on pending legislation In so honoring them the nation would benefit Coolidge might or might not have welcomed an opportunity to take on some governmental responsibility after his presidential term expired As it was he hc accepted a lucrative position with an insurance company and and continued his private law practice practice tice as well until he be died Most presidents residents leave the White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse WhiteHouse House poorer than when they went in Franklin Roosevelt wrote a 2000 personal check every month to meet White House expenses and other recent residents have estimate estimated ed that they had to go down into the theold theold old old sock sock to the tune of a year over and above what the government government gov gay gives them to meet the cost of living hying in the executive man man- sion Why Not Provide For Presidents Ex-Presidents When the pollsters were writing of oft Harry Truman as merely an anex anex anex ex come January 20 the proponents pro pro- patients of the idea of providing for tar former chiefs of the United States were pointing out that Harry Truman Tru man does not nt have the private means that Franklin Roosevelt or Herbert Hoover had There was some talk that Mr Truman might run for representative tive of his home state as President John Quincy Adams did Adams served 17 years in the house and if il anything increased his prestige by doing so But Mr Truman's fellow fel reI low Missourian Rep C. C Jasper Bell had another idea in July of 1946 during the last session of the congress He proposed that the house and senate enact a bill to provide an annual pension of for men mn who had bad served as president of the United States Bell pointed out that Army officers congressmen senators sena sena- tors cabinet members heads of government depa departments and even the most humble humbie of federal workers workers workers work work- ers ers are ore provided with retirement pay and he couldn't see why the head of the federal government should be discriminated against inthis inthis in inthis this regard He felt that in the longrun longrun long run retirement pay for a chief executive ex ex- ex would be a step toward better better better bet bet- ter government 1 A Missouri newspaper editor I shortly after Bells Bell's resolution was first introduced claimed in an editorial edi edi- j edi-j tonal that the pension idea was alright but that the amount of his I pension seemed a little high He like Mr Taft felt that a year would be a more I equitable sum Representative Bells Bell's I reply to that objection was that if I congress did fix the figure at taxes would shortly whittle it down downto I to anyway Mr Truman may have been touched with what was intended as solicitude on the part of his fellow fellow- show-me's show but he did not feel the matter was of immediate concern I So far as the memory of this man man not to the contrary there have never in recent years been I more than two surviving co-surviving pres ex Until the death of President CoolIdge CoolIdge Cool Cool- Idge in 1933 he and Herbert Hoover were co Coolidge had earlier shared that position with Chief Justice Taft until the latter's I Ideath death In 1930 Taft who lived to tobe tobe I be 73 years old survived co-survived and outlived Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson I No office In the world today today today to to- day wrote the thc English professor sor of economics and political science Harold arold J. J Laski carries carries car ries rles with it greater responsibilities ties than the presidency of the United States No one who has made even a superficial superficial su su- su- su study of the duties of the president fails to o realize how hard harda a job it is hard in the sense of long hours nervous strain and physical effort Since the death of at Woodrow Wilson brought on by his herculean efforts during and afterWorld afterWorld after afterWorld World War I much study has been given to the problem of lessening the burden of the chief executive Herbert Hoover has spoken of the vast and intolerable labor of the theman theman theman man who sits in the White House for four years or more Merriman Smith in his book A Pres President dent Is Many Men commenting on the complicated and burdensome quality of the task makes this pithy observation And his job is one with no future The cx ex has a value and the problem of finding it can be solved easily by congress without the knowledge of algebra U. U S. S Population Growth Studied What size population do we want for the United States Or does it make any difference The question is Important enough to merit a continuing study by the U. U S. S commerce department and the conclusions which have been reached far so-far appear to have an important bearing on the problem of securing world peace Whatever the future of world organization the relative population population tion of the various nation nations will be bea a matter of profound importance in determining the shape of things to come That statement was made in a report by the national committee on immigration policy headed byEarl byEarl by byEarl Earl G. G Harrison which is plumping plump plump- ing for immigration increases inthis inthis in inthis this country In 1923 the commerce department department depart depart- ment meat estimated that a population of at least million and very probably probably probably ably million could be supported support support- ed Cd in the U. U S. S without lowering the habitually high American standard standard standard stand stand- ard of living The Harrison group pointed out that even if we accept the lowest figure it is still 35 millions more than the peak which the American population will reach in 1990 It These are some of the assertions the group made in a special report on immigration and population policy I Population of the U. U S. S should be million in 1970 That of Russia should be million an extremely sharp increase Italy Spain and countries back ack of the iron curtain also are expected to show population population tion gains For other nations Population of or Germany Denmark and Finland will remain approximately stationary station station- ary while the population of England England Eng Eng- land France Sweden and Switzer land is expected to hit a downward trend By the end of this century century and and that's only about 51 years away remember remember re re- member the population of the United States will be proportionate ly Iy smaller In relation to Russia China and India than it is now It means that the great teeming population masses of Asia are may ing forward numerically with a force Corce and inexorability that Is bound to exert a profound effect on the shape of at things to come |
