The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-17
A DANGEROUS MOVEMENT.


ton to the movement which has been
in progress for some time past to secure
pensions for civil employees. The move
ment has, of course, made advances in
certain directions along the lines chiefly
of municipal employment, and already
certain classes of municipal employees in
certain cities have been able to secure
such legislation as gives them an adj
vantage over other public employees in
being accorded certain proportion of
their annual compensation after the lapse
of a given period and after their with
drawal from the public employment.
Within a short time the subject has
come under very active discussion, which
has been decidedly promoted by the
urgent plea put forward by Judge Bar
rett, of the New York supreme court, in
favor of the pensionfng of judges of the
higher courts. In addition to this cir
cumstance meeting of the civil en-
ployes of the state of New York was
recently held in the Cooper institute in
pay pensions after a service Of twenty
five years.
The pension question Is forcing itself
to the front even with us. So far as
1t has advanced 1t certainly cannot be
said that it has been a very prosperous
movement The most intelligent thought
of the communities in which it has been
under discussion Is decidedly against the
principle Of 1t. The organization formed
in New York is said to represent men,
bership of over 5000, and it has been de-
clared that 1t will be in a position to
control something like $4,000 votes for the
enforcement Of its demands.
Right here is presented the chief dan
ger of this movement toward civil serv-
Ice pensions. In the army and navy
there is very rigid inhibition against
officers or men seeking legislation to ad-
vance their own interests or, indeed, do
ing anything In that behalf through pub
lie agencies, save through their supe-
riors. To allow different rule to pre-
vail among civil employees would be to
justify by actual experience all that has
been said in condemnation of the civil
service reform movement. Politics
would be a weapon. welded by organiza-
lions such as that forwarded through
the medium Of that Cooper Union meet
ing, Of tremendous force-a weapon which
must ultimately prove effective in de-
stroying free, responsible government IT.
self.
1t is time that this movement in It's
most recent form be put an end to- 1t
has no substantial merits behind 1t.
Either all public employees should be
pensioned after a given interval and on
disqualification for active service, or
none of such employees should be- And
if any class Of public employees what
ever are so pensioned, then the most rigid
care should be taken that they be
not allowed, either individually or
collectively, to interfere in politics save
at the expense of instant dismissal.
The time may come in the United States
when the subject of old age pensions will
have become matter of practical pub
lie consideration. There certainly Is no
disposition whatever shown up to the
present, save among the most radical Of
the Socialistic element, to consider such
a contingency. And until we have
wrought a very substantial change in the
popular understanding of the relation of
the state and the citizen to that which
has prevailed from the beginning, there
cannot be even the most remote prospect
of such an event
1t will always be feasible for public
and private employees alike to provide
by concerted movement for pensions in
case of disability by the setting aside
Of certain proportion Of their wages
to that end. And the system is In oper-
alton in many employments at the pres
ent time and is coming every day into
increased favor. 1t is a movement, too,
which should receive every encourage
ment. But the movement for the pen
siontng of civil public employees, so far
as it has progressed thus far, at least
in Its most recent manifestations, is lit
tie less than form of public blackmaiI.
with concerted political action as the
chief agency for the successful operation
of the movement.