Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-03
HELPS THE AGED POOR
Great Britain Has Enacted an
Old Age Pension Bill.
PRICE OF SOCIALIST. VOTE
Five Shillings a Week-Age Limit
Seventy Years.
EMPLOYERS HELP SWELL LIST
New Court of Arbitration Proposed
by Winston Churchill for
Labor Troubles.
EMPLOYERS HELP SWELL LIST
BY WILLIAM E, CURTIS.

! BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
AT SEA. S. S. CEDRIC. October 2s-
On and after the first diy of January
next every person in Great Britain over
seventy years of age who is not luna
| tic, and has not been convicted of crime
and whose income does not exceed G26 IS,
or $3.50. year, will be entitled to pension
Of five shillings a week from the public
| treasury. In cases where husband and
wife or two or more members of the
same family or ANY persons living to-
gether in the same house shall apply
| for pensions, the rate shall be three shill-
ings and nine pence week instead of the
full amount, and the authorities have al
| ready begun to wrangle over the meaning
of the terms Giving together and house
Nobody will be allowed pension who has
"habitually refused to work. and "all
who have been brought into a position to
apply for pension through his or her
Willful acts of misbehavior'' are debarred.
There is going to be good deal of trouble
| applying that provision 1t would be i'm
| possible for any human tribunal to deter
mine whether a mans poverty and de-
pendence are the results of his own willful
| acts or miSbehavior Od-age pensions
cannot be assigned to other persons: they
| cannot be drawn by any one except a
| pensloner. or one who holds his power of
attorney and those who try to obtain pen
| slons by fraud are liable to six months
| imprisonment with hard labor.
Committees Will List Pensioners.
| Lists of those who are entitled to pen
sions under this act are to be prepared
! by local committees to be appointed for
| every borough or urban district of 10000
population or over. and for every county.
The appointing power is the county coun-
Gil. subject to the approval of the local
government board. Appeal can be taken
| from the decisions of these local COM
mittees to the local government board.
| Pension officers are to be appointed for
each district by the Treasury Department
and will act in cooperation with the
local committees, which are to be composed
Of well known citizens of integrity and
position Claims are to be made through
the post offices of the parish in which
| the claimant resides where printed forms
| will be furnished by the post master.
/ In the absence of certificate of birth
| and very few applicants can produce
such evidence, because registration and
the issue of birth certificates were not
required until about fifty years ago-the
| applicant may prove his age by present
| ing a certificate Of baptism; certificate
| Of marriage, which usually contains the
| age of the contracting parties a certifi-
cate of enlistment in the army or navy,
| a certificate of naturalization i'm any
| school; an appointment to office or to
| positions in which the age is given; or
certificates of membership in any friend
ly society, or mutual benefit society, or
| trades union, any other or
ganization in which age is given.
provided the same was issued more than
| two years before the passage of the old
! age pension act.
Not an Easy Task to Make List.
In the absence of all such evil
dence. or other documents, throw
ing light upon the age of the ap-
picant may be presented. But it is
going to be an arduous task for the local
committees to make up the lists. They
| have the census returns for 1901 to start
with. in which the ages of all persons
| in the kingdom enumerated are given,
and they will be the basis of action
| in all cases.
y According to the census there were
1O630S persons in the city of London who
were seventy years OF age and over
on the first of July. 1901. and that is
probably very near the present fact.
| On the 18th of July last, Ill. 4O4 persons
were receiving relief und er the poor law
In London. and it is estimated that at
| least one-half of them were more than
| inmates of poorhouses, hospitals and other
public institutions and 1927 were class
ed as outdoor paupers''-that is, they
received the public charity at their own
homes. This was an increase of 1886
| from the total for 1907. or 24.7 per LOCO
of the population. In 1907 the ratio was
al per 1000; in 1906. it was 23.7 per
1000 and in 1905 it was Ok per 1000
precisely the same as in 1907.
| In England and Wales today ,794
paupers are being supported by the gov
| eminent, as compared with 761 ,O74 at this
time in 1907. The number OF outdoor
paupers-that Is, persons receiving re.ie1
| at their hOmeS-is 523. 064, as against SIS
| 729 last year, and the number of indoor
paupers-that is, inmates of public institu-
| tions-is 256. 40; as compared with d.
345 year ago.
| Forty years ago there were 934, 517 pau
pers in England and Wales, with popu-
| lation of 21.O00,O00; twenty years age
there were 727. 466 for popu. alton of 2S,-
| 1900, and ten years ago there were
| 727 ,324 paupers, with a population of
81 100000.
Employers Will Swell the List.
1t is expected that the total number OF
paupers returned next year will be much
larger than at present because employ
ers of labor are already beginning to dis
charge everybody on their payrolls who
| is more than seventy years old; first, be-
cause the government has undertaken to
take care of the aged poor. and second.
| because OIL TIE eilploytTS LIABILITY dCt,
| which was enacted by parliament last
year, making an employer responsible for
the maintenance of every person in his
employ while sick or disabled. The old
age-pension act has proved to be con-
| venient salve for the conscience of en-
! ployers who are now discharging aged
servants and workman and who are say
ing to them: II am no longer under obli-
cations to keep you The government
has undertaken to take care of you, and
SO you must go"
Pensions Paid at Post Offices.
Payments of pensions are to be made
through the post offices throughout the
country every Friday and by means of
printed orders of the denominations of
one, two, three, four and five shillings
,rboSo orCorc no hound in bookS Of