Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-02-13

Some people will yet indulge In the
ungrateful conduct of looking gift
horse in the mouth, For instances
certain employees of the Northwestern
railway object to the plan of the COM
pany to pension them for the reason
that the pension is too small. Twenty
employees of the company will soon be
retired in conformity with the recent
change fixing the service requirement
at twenty years instead of thirty.
Three of these pensioners are en-
ployed by the company in Chicago,
the others are located at various
points along the lines, several being
in Minnesota and in the Dakotas.
The highest monthly allowance to
be given any of the twenty to be re-
tired is SGT. The average pension will
be SO or $11, which is as much as
many soldiers get who served through
the civil war and carry wounds even
to this day. The names of those who
will be retired are withheld by Of
ficers of the road because the persons
who are to be thus comfortably
shelved desire as little publicity as
possible. This for, the reason that
they do not care to be held up as
back numbers or as persons who are
incapacitated. Many of them claim
to be capable of doing as much work
as ever and they will seek employ
ments in other lines, as the rules of
pension system allow.
There is considerable talk among
the employees over tn amounts al
lowed as pensions, many being of the
opinion that the rate should be higher.
!! Those who are retired and who need
pension are usually employees who
have been on low or medium salaries
| and who are in no position to exist
without working. BY the rules the
pensions are computed on the wages
or salaries paid the beneficiaries dur
ing their last ten years of service
Those who will receive no more thar
$40 or 81 a month Nclaim this is not
enough to live on. On this line the
men claim that the pension plan is
nothing more than scheme to get rid
of the old men.
Officers of the roads which have
adopted the pension plans say that
the men do not look at the question
in the right light On this point an
officer OF the road said Some of the
disgruntled men allege the pension to
be but means of getting rid of the
old men. Well, presume that it is.
If We must get rid of them would it
not be more humane to give them
some cash monthly allowance so long
as they live than to cast them adrift
without anything? 1t is certainly bet
ter than nothing. In other lines or
business when men become incapaci-
tated through age or otherwise they
are discharged without pensions. In
many cases their place is the poor
house"
Many peculiar conditions accom-
pany the pension plan. One of the
employees Of the passenger department
of the Northwestern road in Chicago.
George Howard Cornell, has been with
the road twenty-three years, yet by
reason Of his age he must continue
In service thirty-seven years longer
before he will have reached the retir
ing age. Mr.. Cornell started with
the company as messenger bow
when he was 10 years old, twenty
three years ago. He may not be re-
tired until he has reached the age OF
~. Another employee Of the same
department in Chicago, Franklin
Pierce, is 81 years old, but has been
connected with the company no longer
than Mr.. Cornell.