BIG SALARIES

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20511, 30 May 1938, Page 19

BIG SALARIES

UNITED STATES RETURNS j COMPLACENCY SHAKEN. | RESENTMENT AGAINST PUBLICITY (From a Correspondent) ! NEW YORK, March 24 ! The American’s home, like the Englishman's, may remain his castle, but the amount of money an American makes, if it is £3OOO a year or more and received from a corporation, is a * matter of public record. So it happens that once each year the newspapers print lists which run into pages of their space devoted entirely to names and figures. The type is "small and the list is massive, yet for all of that nothing published hi the United States is read more widely or more avidjiy. The latest list, iriving the salaries for the year 103(1, contained 33.000 names. No one newspaper prints the full record, but all of the larger dailies publish a common list ot about 1000 nationally known figures to which they add the names and salaries of those known to their particular locality. H is pulling it mildly to say that this publicity annoys the recipients. They have a common complaint: Hint, it is unfair to single out corporation employees when no mention is made of the salaries and fees received by the professional classes, by labour leaders, politicians, or non-incorpor-nted business men. There is no question that the publicity provides ammunition for the demagogue, helps create class feeling, and leads to envy and dissension in and between corporations. Also, since income happens to be quite a measure of social and businesss standing in the United

Slates, it is most embarrass’na- to many persons to be Fsled as receiving less than they would have their neighbours and associates believe they receive. By the same token, a greater number feel aggrieved because Ur*, absence of their names shows that they arc not in the £3OOO class. Congrees Seeks Compromise At present Congress is considering repeal or modification of the publicity Statute. The House of Representatives has written into the new lax Bill a clause I’mM'ng publicity io salaVics above £15,000, which clause must be aeied upm by the Senate. Last year the ’’ouse voted in favour of outright repeal, but the Senate did not concur. But ‘nr the npposMkn of President Roosevelt the House would have come out again for repeal this month. Representative Dough ton, the Adnrn-’stration's leader on taxation, was for abolshing the law, saying that it served no useful purpose. However. Mr Roosevelt informed the House by means of a statement to the Press that he was disappointed at the thought that the rew tax Bill wou’d have no provision requiring the publi- i cation of salaries and bonuses. Too i President’s v’ews led to the conipr"- j mise which may fix the publicity level i at £15,000. Figures for 1936 / As to what might be termed stupen- J dous salaries paid in the United States, j it may be interesting to note that the j last report, which was for 1936, just j 2 persons were shown to be receiving £50,00u or more- Of these. nine were performers in motion pictures and nine were ofllcers of the General Motors Corporation.