The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-02-21

complacency the day of retirement In
the lower grades Of labor this is espe-
clally true. Men whose earnings do not
exceed $3.50 a day and who have on
such an income to rear Il family, very
| often large family, have little oppor-
tunty to lay aside for tomorrow. Pro-
| fessor Gunton says they should not be
| expected to; that 1t would be unecono-
| mic for them to do so, inasmuch as 1t
would withdraw large sums of money
| from rapid circulation and disastrously
| lower the American standard of living
| 1t goes without saying, however, that
| provision must be made in some way
| for the non-productive years of our
outworn labor and that that way must
| be Il strictly business way and not a
way suggestive of charity or condescen-
sion on the part of the rich The solu-
ton which Professor Gunton proposes
is u new form of insurance, the adop-
| tion of which should be made obliga-
tory on all industries by national legis-
lation, He would require all employ
ers to set aside a certain percentage to
go into II general fund to provide an
nuities for workingmen dislocated by
advancing years. Or, as he himself eX
presses it:
"All well-regulated concerns now set
| aside portion of their earnings every
year for depreciation. Depreciation is
another name for replacing the ma
chine when ii is Worn out or superseded
by new one. If displaced by better
one, then the better one must be pur-
chased or the business is a failure.
Now this economic principle can and
ought to be applied to labor. When the
| laborer goes to work at, say 16 years
of age, he is vigorous, agile and useful
in almost any emergency. For forty
years he is ordinarily safe against all
innovations, except in case of accident
or i'll health. But there comes a time
it may come sooner or later-when he
will be dislocated. Under ordinary cir
cumstances. with no radical innova-
tions, he can work until he is seventy,
but in all probability ten or fifteen
years before that time he may be dis
located just as the machines are, be-
cause he cannot be adjusted to the new
order. This Is no fault of his; the
profits that have been created by the
industry he has not received. The COM
munity has been made richer by the
economic and advantageous use of his
service, has used him as a part of a
great industrial and social mechanism
still, so far as he was concerned in
voluntarily. He obeyed; he was Il dill
gent, efficient part of the great me-
chanism which has contributed it's
quota to civilization. Any sense of NOR
ality and economic and social equity
demands that the laborer who has thus
faithfully served society during his
whole term of usefulness shall live out
his natural life without degradation
and humiliation. During the forty or
forty five years of economic efficiency
he ought to, and does produce enough
to sustain him honorably according to
his social standard to the end of his
natural life. This can only be secured
through the principle of insurance.
Professor Gunton is not clear in his
attempts to explain just how this idea
can be applied. Its application is a life
work in itself. But where there is a
will there is usually way. We have
no doubt that the advances to be made
in this direction within the next few
decades will be notable.