The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-09

on puhlic health. These movements are either local or interested in all the sources affecting public health. What we want in order to awaken na- ttonal interest and widespread reform is one great movement with housing reforms as it's only specific purpose. All this work should be under munich pal control. but until the public con science is awakened we are not going to make any great strides in reform ing conditions"
 The special meeting of the day de- voted to statistics was perhaps the most interesting. the features being paper prepared by Frederick l.. Hoff- man, statistician of the Prudential Life Insurance Company, in which he attacked the system of old age pen sions and the reply of Mayor George A. Hubbard. of Boston, declaring that he would not discharge the old em- pioyes of his city who had worn away their health and energy in its ser vice.
 old Age and Poverty.
 Mir. Hoffman discussed at some length the subject of old age as the cause of poverty, stating at the out set of his address that the problem or the aged poor is world wide and some thing must be done for them either through private charity or the state. The problem which confronts society is whether what is to be uone TOT the aged poor should rest on sound economic basis. rather than Una the circumstances should be governed py irrational and precarious sentimeh,, The subject of State pensions In oiu age is attracting a considerable amount of attention in the United States anu A special commission has been appoint ed in Massachusetts to examine ihto its practicability in that state. III Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida and other States attention is being given 10 tne subject of State insurance upon M untary and compulsory basis. In Eng land the investigations and reports ma their most radical embodiment in the scheme of Charles Booth for free ana universal old age pensions, beginning with the age of sixty-hve, Tor an amount of s1.20 week. a,.
 In continuation MT. Hoftman us cusssd in some detail the technical problems of old-age pension systems or Germany and Austria, and at some length the numerous proposals TOT oId-a9e pensions in England. In ms opinion a contribution pension scheme was inc only workable solution or an extremely complex problem. but much more preferable would be measures ana means by which any State Fsyskem oi old age pensions could be avoided'
 Mir. Hoffman then discussed methods of voluntary savings and insurance, holding that much was already being done by wage-earners to provide TOT support in their old age, and that much more could be done in this direction 1T the masses were educated in effectlVe methods of thrift T hold, ne saio' that the agitation for State pensions In the United States is iil-advfsed Tn that the problem of poverty in old-age, as generally met with, is primarily the result of ill-spent years, or il-spent earnings, or ill-spent savings, and what is needed most is rational education in household economies The agitation for oid-age pensions in truth asd Tn fact has not come from those wno would be the beneficiaries under the proposed measures or plans, but rather from those who feel strongly, but reason badly upon the facts Of the case"
 safexuard Against Poverty.
 Concluding, the speaker said that the chief safeguard against poverty and dependence in old age is thoroughly sound and well-conducted family life, such as prevails in the preponderating majority of American homes. In this truly lies the strength of the people, and not in the money in the banks, nor, for that matter, in policies of in surance, or in contracts of annuities. All these are means to an end. but at the root of the problem of poverty and old age lies the proper conception of individual responsibility. and this, no doubt would be weakened and partly destroyed by reliance upon State sup port in old age
 At this session Miss Kate Holladay CIaghorn of the Tenement House De- partment of New York read a paper on "The Use and Misuse of Statistics in Social Work"
 Dealing with the subject of needy families. Porter R. Lee. Secretary of the Charity Organization Society of Buffalo, discussed "The limitations of charity in dealing with unemployed. ''