The Washington herald., 1908-01-10

is carried out, a record OF at least twice
that many lives will be had at once. and
probably three times as many before
long. under various but classified condi-
tons IL is said that these records will
ultimately be Of great value and inter
est 10 every individual IN the United
States who contemplates taking out In
surauce in that It will show conclusively
whether present rates are too high or
not The report says that al the present
time it is impossible to tell, but that the
data which would be collected would be
well worth the S65,000000 and expenses of
administering the fund.
It is said that the hand-to-mouth way
of living SO common in the American civil
service is found in every country where
civil service. as We know il, prevails.
Lifetime leases on positions are naturally
not conducive 20 habits Of thrift and
economy, and all civilized governments
are finding IL necessary 10 provide for
their superannuated clerks. With but Il
few minor exceptions, however, It takes
the form Of requiring the clerk 70 lay
something by out Of his own salary
rather than coming as a straightout pen
sion, What data there Is at hand lndi-
Gates that the clerks are no worse of at
the end Of the year with these deductions
than they We're before they were made.
other nations which have tried civil
service pensions and retirement do not.
as a rule seem 10 like the cash payment
idea advanced by many OF the advocates
Of retirement England has a civil pen
sion. and also a retirement fund. A few
years ago there was a movement set on
foot 10 commute the anuuities but this
was not met with favor by those who
ment This commission found conditions
in England mucif 5 they are found in
America, and said that If the government
employees were improvldent enough to 90
down 20 old age without saving COM
petenCe they would hardly be pTOyident
enough 10 judiciously use q lump sum-
and that the interests Of the emplOye
and the government would best be sub
served by allowing HIM an annuity or
monthly payments. An investigation Of
the matter tends 10 the conclusion
though full data cannot be obtained, that
the United States Ctvil-seTvice employee
is the best paid government employee in
the world
If the government is finally brought
into paying civil PERSONS II would cost
( Uncle Sam a tidy sum The average
salary of civil-service employees is nearly
Sl.l00 Practically all OF the plans that
have been considered figure on the re-
firing clerk getting an annuity Of at least
one-han his salary. once the system
were fully established. there would prob
ably DE an average of fifty thousand on
the rolls drawing pension. This would
mean an annual expenditure Of more than
twenty-five million dollars The civil pen
sion list of England costs her some
seventeen million dollars a year
One of the great benefits that retire
ment is expected to bring 10 the govern
ment is that il will be easy to remove
those who have become inefficient by rea-
son OF their age. or, other causes. There
have been hundreds Of cases where the
service would be better without Ger
tain employees. but where sentiments Of
humanity make it difficult 10 part them
from their jobs. They are retained only
because they would lie penniless but for
their monthly salary
Whatever opposition there will be to the
creation Of a retirement fund for gov
eminent employees promises TO be mainly
from the fear that il will be but the
entering wedge that viii open the way
for a civil pension list. The government
has often failed to bestow a deserved
civil pension where it otherwise might
have done so but for the precedent it
would establish. Even in the case of Gen.
Grant. after he had lost his all In an
unfortunate speculation, the government
could not see its way clear TO give him
a civil pension TO make the declining
years of hts life comfortable, and but
for the military pension he was able to
command in the shape Of retired pay as
a general of the army he would not have
had enough income to have lived in even
moderate circumstances. AS it was. he
was obliged to spend the very last days
Of his life toiling over his memoirs I'm
order that he might leave a competence
for his family.
History tells US that civil pensions once
established become a thing in which every
man feels himself entitled to share, and
that the end Is a scramble of everybody
to get on the pay rolls But those who
profess to discern the future believe that
the trend of the times is toward a civil
pension list in America.
mpprav-TuduSfFfaI pau4iOuE