The Red Cloud chief., 1899-12-22

by such n policy will be bringing 1t up
In the United States. despite the fact
that labor here Is better paid and that
pauperism is not proportionately 30
extensive. In accordance with the
laws Of human nature. an old-agc PEN
sion will seem to prospective recipients
zone the less desirable because 1t Ia
less needed. especially II some one else
pays the bill. Every argument now
being urged in behalf OF old-age PEN
sions In England naturally applies In
kind. though usually not In degree, to
the United States, and II the protests
of many British statesmen against the
principle OF the thing prove powerless
against the united voices of British
labor. tho implication 10, to put II mild
ly, that the American cousin might do
well to keep an eye on the progress
and the outcome OF the debate.
w. Il. II. Lecky. the historian. who
was n member OF the select committee.
and who made a minority report con-
demning the whole scheme. wrote as
follows: There IL. as 1t seems to me.
" IullVIuftutl anu hloot uuibGtoho
misconception which the term old-age
pension tends to accredit. The PEN
sions. largely Of the nature OF deferred
pay, given by the state or by private
employers, for specific services duly
rendered, to those who have been In
their employment or under their con-
troll, have no real analogy to the pro-
posed state endowment Of all old per-
sons, or ut least OF all respectable old
persons. who. at the close OF a life
of independent industry, find them
| selves insuflciently provided with the
means of livelihood. Such an endow-
ment drawn from the taxation OF the
country would be essentially Of the
same nature as poor law relief. How
ever much 1t may be disguised by 9TH
or names. II would be an eleemosynary
grant resting on no foundation Of nat
ural right. There is 10 real ground for
the assertion that because an industri-
GUS man has failed to earn a suficiency
he has a moral right to be rewarded
for his industry out OF the proceeds OF
a tax levied upon his neighbors to
whom he has rendered no service. or
none which has not been paid for in
wages"
Mr.. Lecky knows how to write. and
his report made by far the most in
~teresting reading In the whole Blue
Book. But the scant attention 1t re-
ceived showed how unpopular was the
side the author had taken. In the
committee he was the only member
who voted for Il. II can hardly con-
ceive," he writes, anything more GER
tain to discourage thrift and to sap
the robuster qualities of the English
people than that the belief should grow
up among the whole working popula-
ton, including the most industrious
the most respectable and the most In
dependent. that they should look for
ward Il the state and not to their own
exertions to support them during their
old age"
But Mr.. Lecky's words, however
much their logic may appeal to Ameri-
can minds, are lost in England, where
opposition to old-age pensions on thu
part OF a public man is likely to cause
his political extinction.
II the question had not assumed TINS
political aspect 1t might be possible
yet to reach some form OF compromise
in extending the present
system of ''poor-law relief as MT
Lecky suggests; but that does not
look likely now. Even so conserva-
tive a man as Cardinal Vaughn has
caught the prevailing fever. surely
he says. "the rich are bound to tax
themselves. or to be taxed, for their
poorer brethren. l am always at a
loss to understand why the colossal In
comes should not be taxed at q higher
rate than. say, the average net
of the upper classes. II Ia hitting thai
surplus and extravaganza should be
more heavily taxed than ordinary and
legitimate expenditure"