Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-03
|RET|REMEhTOFC[E
Belief That Congress Will
Legislate Favorably.
PLAN OF ASSOCIATION
GOVERNMENT TO INCUR NO MA
TFRIAL EXPENSE
Except for Disbursement of Fund
Civil Pension Scheme in Other
Countries.

come before Congress from time to time.
but it is thought by those interested in the
present Civil Service Retirement Associa-
ton and its purposes that during the cbns-
ing session the matter will be urged more
| actively than ever before. 1t is claimed
that it will be possible to inaugurate the
plan without putting the government to
any expense, except perhaps for a small
amount in clerk hire for the disbursement
| of the fund. Even this could be undertaken
| by the private association but If the plan
were made a government undertaking 1t is
probable that the treasury would be asked
to take this part of the expense on it's
shoulders.
An ex-employe of the government in
| speaking to a Star reporter Of the PROPOSE
ton, said:
Il really have interest in the asso,cia-
ton beyond a purely sympathetic one. l
have been in the service myself and l
KNOW how many CT the old clerks would be
benefited immeasurably by the plan. Not
only the old clerks, either. for while l was
in the treasury there vas scarcely week
discharged or sick that there had to be a
collection taken up for among the men to
keep him or his family from absolute want.
Those Who Are Still Valuable
Now there are great many men who
have freaefed the age when they can do
little active work but who are still valuable
to- the government as volumes of unwritten
information on precedent and practice in
the office and who are kept on the active
list for that reason and from motives of
| charity. The government can hardly be
said to get value received for Its money
and there is no reason the old fellows
| should not be retired on a pension that
would at least help them to live comfort
| ably. 1t is sad but true that few of the
government clerks have the acduisitive
faculty developed in any degree They
either cannot or do not put by for a rainy
day and when it comes In the form of sick
ness, disability or discharge, they are in a
bad way. You may say that it is their
own fault But this is not altogether true.
Living expenses are high in Washington
and It is hard for a government clerk VINO
receives as a rule under 81 200 to save any
appreciable amount of it in the course of a
year. The result is that many of them
have to be taken care of by their fellow
clerks when they finally break down. This
is a burden on them that helps ultimately
lows they have helped before. And so it
| goes. The matter has never been ap-
preached scientifically and the time is rap
idly coming when we will have to handle
the problem somehow for sheer decency s
sake"
This was the statement of one man. an
ex-departmental employee, but one who had
| had nerve enough TO quit the service before
reaching the prime of life. and who was
comfortably fixed in business. outside. On
the other hand, there We're numerous indf-
viduals still in the service who were talked
to by a Star man, and who. while they
though there ought to be something done
by the government were not in sympathy
with the plan that has been outlined by the
retirement association.
No Halfway Measure Desired.
One of the division chiefs, himself an able
man and one who has managed to save
something in fairly long term of serv-
! ice, said:
There is no use stopping with a half
way measure. In the interests of economy
| would advise retiring clerks on a full
salary at certain age. And / am certain
| by personal experience that the govern
ment would save money by 1t. The GER
| tainty of old age support would. make the
government service a career that would at
| tract a much higher class of men than We
| have now. With better men the work
| could be done with a much smaller number
| of employees, and while it might look like
| a burden on the government at first eiance,
| II would really be an economy
A third man, who has given the matter
| a great deal of thought, and has exam
| ined the practices in foreign countries, said
| that the particular plan now proposed by
| it offered greater benefits to the higher
| priced men than it did to the loWer-paid
| ones, who a rule, needed 1t most. and
| that it would not be found to work salts
| factOrily in practice.
II is interesting in view of these conflict
| ing opinions, where there is only one gen.
| eral agreement, and that Is that something
should be done to note what has been
| done abroad in the way of pensions and
| civil service retirement
Only One Without Pension List.
As the case stands, the United States is
| the only country of any prominence that
has not a civil pension list. The whole of
| Europe and Australia, as well as several
| other countries, have a civil pension list.
| In Great Britain this is allied TO very
| effective system of civil service insurance,
and in Germany, where the parental sys-
| tenn of government has its greatest devel-
opment, there is not only the civil service
! pension and the civil service insurance
! but there is a compulsory system of work
| mans insurance for all workers earning
| less than $4T6 a year.
OF course the old age pension is one OF
! the logical steps In system OF civil pen
/ sions. Great Britain has added to her
! civil expenses the burden of u civil pension
! roll and now the question of cid age pen
| sions is coming up as a national issue. OF
| course, if the German plan of compulsory
/ insurance Is put into force much of the
/ burden is lifted from the government; but
| the system is looked at by the treasury as
| an overwhelming menace, and VIII be de-
| layed as long as possible, Just as IN TINS
! country the question OF civil pensions IS
making the government hesitate. This
/ country has always been accounted rich
| and pTodigal, and 1t unquestionably spends
/ more money on war pensions than any
| other three countries in the world. When
| it is considered that rs per cent of the
| entire revenues of the government since 1t
| was established have gone to the support
| of the army, the navy and the war pension
| list 1t is not altogether strange that the
| government looks askanee at the suggestion
| OF pensioning civil employees.
There are some features in the practice
| of other countries that are similar In al
| most all cases The general age for retire
! ment Is sixty-five and the government as
+ n rule helps to contribute to the fund. but
| IL a.. ,isad h1rn nm