New-York tribune., 1905-02-12

.ems which permit professors and teachers to
retire on q certain allowance
Abroad the plan Of pensioning the old and
the infirm has been established far more widely
than IN the United States. There the employees
of both private and municipal corporations have
been made eligible TO pensions TO an extent that
might astound the antagonists Of the pension
movement IN this country. The railway COM
panies In France and other European countries.
which are owned and operated by the govern
1nent have established superannuated and re-
rIrament funds. The banks of England and
Canada pension their aged employees. On the
Continent IN Antwerp. Amsterdam, Bremen,
Cologne, Copenhagen, Dresden and Hamburg; III
the English cities Of Birmingham, Liverpool
Manchester and London. and in Edinourgh ana
Glasgow In Scotland. and Dublin. in Ireland.
retirement systems have been esta blished which
provide for those who have served the city
certain number OF years and become incapaci-
tated. In the Continental cities the pensions are
chiefly paid out OF deferred pay. Such also is
the character Of the scheme which the civil SER
wants Of New-York desire.
THE State OF Massachusetts has taken no
little interest In the subject of pension, and in
1899 passed law authorizing cities to establish
death. benefit and retirement funds for their
employees AS e result Boston and some other
cities have provided for the retirement of super
annuated civil employees"
Mr. Crowley here called attention to a report
Of the secretary Of the Statistics Department of
Massachusetts. which spoke Of systems in some
British cities which provided even for the PEN
sdoning of widows and children Of civil servants.
and added:
'sIn most British superannuation and pension
schemes prospective benefciaries are required to
contribute from to per cent Of their annual
pay for term OF years, TO which contributions
the municipality generally adds an equal
amount. and guarantees from 23A to per cent
interest on the combined sum.
In the retirement plan proposed In the Yale
bill. now before the legislature. an average con-
tri6ution OF 5 per cent is exacted from all those
who care to benefit by It. No man need go into
L unless he desires.
II do not think that a pension system for
those civil servants for whom there is now no
prov!sion win burden the city. To begin with,
there are fewer employees of the city at the pres
ent time without than with pensions. Accord
ing 70 figures obtained in a report defending the
pension bill Of last year. the pensioned employees
represent about hve-sixths OF the total perma-
nent list"
Here Mr.. Crowley showed the following table
Of the pensioned civil servants:
Teachers is'sss
strsmein s,si -oiis.r,. ;: :. " : s5
Health Departnnent 1850
Total 262sS
Approximately there are about thirty-one
thousand permanent employees in the service Of
the city," he continued. so that It is seen that
only about six thousand would be benefited by
the Yale bill There about fourteen thou
o1fdN
without pension at the present time. but have
not Included these. because their employment IS
rarely continuous Hence those who expect to
be able 10 retire on pensions the result Of this
legislation are less than half many as the
teachers But unlike the teachers. the clerical
and other employees of the city VIII contribute
part Of their salaries to their own retirement
fund. They expect 70 furnish all the money
necessary with the exception Of the per cent
Of the excise fund. estimated at S50000 which
is 20 b. set eslde 4 guarantee. The pro-
posed law expressly provides that this sulh shall
be the limit Of moneys pad out OF the city's
treasury.
1.-The limit OF service is 20 be twenty-five
years. but it does not hold that all employees will
want to retire as soon as they have served this
period For example, man who enters
he service at twenty VIII be IN the
prime of life at forty-fve, and will most
likely want to stay on ten fifteen years
longer. In order to learn What proportion
Of the city's employees would want to re-
tire If they able to draw half pay.
canvass was taken of the Finance Department,
and It found that only four Of its FIVE hun
dred men would seek retirement, and that the
sum Of S4,6JO was necessary to support them
As the employees Of this department represent
about one-tenth Of the whole number that would
benefit by the bill. the indicated liability Of the
fund would be $4,000. whereas the indicated In
come from contributions would be $120000
fore the excise money need be drawn upon"