The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-06-06
PENsIoNING TEACHERS.

apolis charter commission is in many d.
rections worthy of special attention. 1t
differs so materially in many directions
from what has been accomplished in this
city as to bring out with striking force
the practical impossibiHty of reconciling
the needs and dispositions of the two
communities with reference to a system
of local government, as was designed to
be done under the operation of the con-
stitutional amendment against special
legislation, by establishing a common
charter system for all cities of like popu-
lation
In one respect especially is the work of
the Minneapolis body worthy of consid-
Grafton. The public school teachers Of
that city, under the terms of a provision
adopted at Mondays session of the char
ter commission, are to be pensioned after
twenty years of service in case they are
incapacitated from active service. The
annual pension to be paid in such cases is
to be $500 a year To provide for this
fund the sum of l per cent will be with
held from the salary of each teacher, and
the city will also appropriate $500 a year
from the school fund to be used for the
support Of the retirement fund.
The principle of this provision is one
which has been coming into general ac-
ceptance among the people of the United
States during recent years. 1t has been
generally accepted and made part of the
recognized public policy of most of the
European countries for many years past
and has been under the most extended
and careful consideration in England in
recent years. The extension of the prin-
ciple to teachers as against other public
employees is a feature Of the Minneapolis
policy which the general public cannot
be expected readily to understand. Why
conflne it to the teachers? What is there
in the nature of the teaching occupation
or in the conditions attending it's pursuit
which entities those who pursue it to any
exceptional treatment in this or any other
direction? Have firemen or policemen or
any other class in municipal employment
not the same right to protection that the
teachers possess? And, if so, how can the
trainers of the Minneapolis charter con-
sistently or, indeed, lawfully discriminate
by such provision in favor of given
class?
AS long, as the community is called on
at all to contribute to the maintenance of
such a fund it becomes a public burden
If it were entirely the proceeds Of the
contributions of the benefciaries of the
fund, no provision of law could make 1t
other than an individual undertaking,
worthy of the highest commentator and
cooperation on the part of all public
spirited individuals. The annual allow
ance Of a certain sum by the city, how
ever, takes the Minneapolis school pen
sion provision out of that class of under
! takings and gives 1t the character Of a
public transaction.
1t would be TO the general welI-being
could it be adopted as part of the set
| tied public policy of American munich
palities that Individual members of So
ciety, after they have faithfully and fair
ly discharged their duties as members of
the commonwealth, and have become in
capacitated, should have the most annie
provision for their maintenance made by
public authority. If this were the prin-
ciple designed to be embodied in the new
charter of Minneapolis, it might be said
to mark new and interesting departure
in the policy of American municipalities.