Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-03
PENSION GRAFT Is
THE RULE IN FRANCE

PARIS. September 23, 1909.
r T is now four years since the French
parliament passed the law for com
l. pulsory relief Of the aged, iMirm and
incurable, but it was not until January
/. 1907, that it entered into force.
The administration Of the law Is vested
in the general council of each depart
mcnt, each council having full authority
to arrange the machinery by which it is
to be carried out This being the case, it
is obvious that there must be great di-
versity both as to methods and results.
and, according as the organization is good
or bad. so the act has received its full
force from the first day or else has OPP
Grated effectively and, therefore. unsatis-
factorily.
Scandalous abuses have already come to
light which will need drastic correction.
An official report on the working of the
act has just appeared. 1t declares that in
many cases the pension Is being paid to
the aged who have not yet attained the
three-score years and ten fixed by the
psalmist and the French legislator, to
able-bOded '"infirm'' and to "indigent"
who are in comfortable circumstances
On July ], 1907, three months after the
act may be taken to have been in full
force. the number Of persons in receipt
III,
1908. the total was 512.S1O. On December
80 of the Same year 1t was J34, $50. and
the estimate for the present year is
$4,000.
The annual pensions budget was origi-
nally estimated at rather less than So
100000. 1t stands already, however, at
over $1G.OOO,OOO. and next year it will be
between $17,OOO,OOO and s1S,OOOOOO
AS for the amount of the pension, the
legislators fixed it at that sum per month
which Is necessary, but sufficient, to keep
a person deprived Of all other resources:
Many municipal councils, fearful of bur
dening their budget. actually fixed the
sum at minimum Of 81. In some depart
ments, such as the Hautes-Pyrenees and
the Haute-Garonne, this appears to be the
rule. but" adds the report with delight
fully unconscious irony, IF it is possible
in certain communes Uhough this seems
doubtfuD to live on an allowance of 81
month. 1t Is very certain that such
cOmmunes must be very rare" AS mat
ter of fact. the pension varies between
81 and 50 month.
Pitiful as such q pension is the in
spectors were not long in discovering the
most surprising cases of trickery and
fraud committed by persons eager to aug
ment their income. Not only We're ''old''
men under seventy found to be in re-
ceipt of the pension. but actually children
under sixteen In the Ardennes woman
in receipt of the pension left to her
nephew at her death a sum of S1,GOV An
''incura ble' in the Puy-de-Dome was
found TO be earning $50 year. In the
Neutrality-suspicious. an old man had a
small! annuity of $40 and was regularly
assisted by his son-in-aw and his sister
in-law, who were themselves on the pen
sion list. Another old man in the Loire
was found to be receiving 500 per annunl
as the rent Of small estate owned by
him. A widow in the Jura possessed two
houses. had pension Qrom anothe.
! source) of $50. and her five children were
al in easy circumstances. In thu Haute-
Savoie woman had renoun ed legacy
Of SO per annum, this nCapacitateG
her from receiving the state pension
There is reason to believe, however. t.la,
the person in Wlose favor she renowned
the legacy was in connivance with her.
Still better than this, woman in the
Basses-Pyrenees was on the list, although
she owned land which brought her in d
modest income. She has a servant in her
employ and her son farms about twenty
commune in the Ariege one man had al
income of $50 and possessed eighty head
OF cattle Others In the same commune
had incomes of $50 to $40 and their chill.
Gren were doing we'll
1t seems, indeed. that the children OF
| many parents looked upon The old age
pensions law as a convenient opportuniT.
of Sinking their filial responsibilities L!
department of the Pyrenees one old man
has q son who is an officer another a
| doctor. In the Dordogne recipient has
son who is earning $50 month and
possesses house worth $500. In the
Basses-Pyrehees, again, a woman in re.
ce;pt of the pension has four Children
well to do, one the steward OF an estate,
another a wet nurse. who was able to
build house with her savings
But the ingenuity OF these candidates
for 'unearned increment" does not stop
there. Ii is ineNhaustible Parents have
been known TO divide their worldly goods
among their children. SO that they might
pose as INDECENT before the state. One
eood-heartsJ widow presented her nephew
with $3.50 in scrip an real es-
tate. and the nephew canned this nv GET