The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-09

10 tue Editor or the indianapolis journal:
Among the numerous measures which will
come before the Legislature there will
doubtless be many to which the attention
of the people in general will not be espe-
cially directed until they are brought up for
passage and in many cases until they are
found on the statute books In the hurry
of legislation it very frequently occurs that
laws are enacted which are far-reaching in
their effect, but of which the people have
little or no knowledge until after their en-
actment. There will probably be a measure
introduced at the coming session which,
however unimportant it may appear on its
face, is a step toward a system which is
pernicious in principle and not in harmony
with the policy of this country. 1t is the
bill which proposes to pension policemen
after they have reached a certain age or
served a certain length of time There has
been little discussion as to the particulars
of the bill thus far through the press but
the idea seems to be to provide a system of
pensioning ex-patrolmen on account Of long
service. The plea of its promoters seems to
be that when a man has given the greater
part of his life to this kind of work for the
public he should be pensioned by the state
or municipality after he becomes too old for
stoned for long service in a position which
he accepted without compulsion or coercion,
and which many of his fellow-citizens would
have been glad to have taken? Why should
he stand in different position than the
man who works for the city on the streets
or in the bitches? He earns as much in
lifetime with the same expenditure OF en-
ergy as he could in a private employment.
else he would not continue in the position,
more applicants than there are positions
shows, if indeed any proof is needed that
ne is not making any sacrifice in accepting
the employment. He gets as much pay as
his neighbor who works for a private cor
pOration and has equal opportunities for
saving his earnings. AT the end of the Pc
Rod when, according TO the plans of the
promoters of this measure, he ought to be
retired upon a pension, he should be in as
good a position financially as his neighbor
who works for the private corporation.
Then why is he to be favored simply be-
cause he works for the public? His neigh
Dor may. with equal Justice say that he
has given his lifework to the private cor
poration's business. The fact that the fed
eral :. government pensions soldiers and
ing the system to civil service.
The soldiers of the civil war
did not enlist for gain, but they left their
families and their business and went to the
front out of motives of patriotism, receiving
much less pay than their neighbors who
stayed at home. The persons whom this bill
to have entered upon their service from pa
triotic motives. but as an easier and better
way in their judgment Of gaining iveli-
hood than they had before. This country
has always been free from a civil pension
list. such as Great Britain labors under, but
here is proposition to enter upon just such
a system 1t is not the amount of money
which would be required to carry out the
provisions of this one act, If passed but the
fact that ii has in it the germ of a complete
system. The same arguments could be adj
duced in favor of pensionng almost all
civil officers, and a beginning once made,
how would it be just to draw dividing
line? Step by step, by a process of gradual
development, we would become burdened
with system which would be an increase
to those already saddled upon the taxpayer.
1t Is these gradual encroachmepts which are
the most dangerous TO the welfare of the
people. If II were proposed to create an ex-
people would rise up against 1t in no uncer-
tain manner; but in the hurry and confusion
necessarily attending an attempt to Iegis-
late for a great State i'm the space of sixty
days each two years these bills slip through
oftentimeS without even some of the legiS-
lators knowing their contents or realizing
their scope and Importance, and they should
be thoroughly discussed through the public
press 1t is such measures that cause the
tax rate to creep up slowly but surely, and
cause a feeling of discomfort on the part of
taxpayers. 1t should be the object of legis-
lators in the exercise of principles of strict
economy in the public business, to crush in
are an unnecessary drain upon the public
treasury. and unless they are thoroughly
aired through the press or otherwise they
may be surreptitiously struggled through
the Legislature. j. f. c..
Marion, Ind, Jan T.