Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-21
OLD DYES TO
GET ANNUITIES
GOVERNMENT WILL FIX AGE
OF RETIREMENT
FAITHFUL SERVICES WILL BE
RECOGNIZED
Californian Leads the Movement on
Washington for Benefit of
286,ooo of Uncle Sans
Workers
BY JOHN HUBERT GREUsEL

AIlB BelGSy DIS W Gil dts Ill Oll 3 A7ONttAA
ern California, will no doubt become
deeply interested in the work of the
United States Civil Service Retirement
| association, whose object is to assist
in placing Uncle Sans clerical force
on a more businesslike basis. The as
| sociation is composed exclusively oil
! government clerks, who are pushing
| for two bills that will come up at the
next session of the congress, measures
practically similar in text, aimed at a
solution of the national clerical prob
| lem. One bill is by Representative Gill
! lett of Massachusetts, the other by
| Senator Perkins of California, and it is
the good fortune of this proposed
piece of legislation that it will be
strongly backed by practically the
united clerical strength of Uncle Sam S
house, numbering 2S6OOO men, scat
tered from the distant Philippines to
Porto Rico.
Briefly, the relief sought will be to
care for the aged clerks, as well as to
make the younger men create an an
nuity fund in their own behalf.
Californian Heads Battle
California ought to be more than
ordinarily interested, because it is a
Californian, NJ. F. O'Donoghue, who is
supplying the push and energy to help
enact into law the vital features of the
proposed measures.
Among many significant letters re-
Gently received by O'Donoghue is one
from President Taft, in which the
president shows vital personal concern
in the cause of the clerks.
Such is the general confidence in
IO'Donoghue that he has now syndicated
behind him. bulked in his behalf, the
great strength of the national clerical
forces.
1t is one of the strongest compli-
ments ever paid a Californian that
leadership should be bestowed in such
nationwide battle. And 1t Will be
big fight before the day is won. There
are many perplexing side issues to be
solved. with. of course, the usual
legislative delays before the actual
merits of the plan are made clear.
O'Donoghue and his son will have their
hands full.
Uncle Sans Clerical Problem
Fourteen per cent of Uncle Sans
clerical force are 65 years of age and
over.
The old men draw the largest pay;
thus. clerks % to % average age, $9S9
year; 70 to IA, s1263 year.
Every eight clerks in the service are
between 60 and SO.
And a few are between 80 and s6.
Total COIlCdl ISll SoNiSVNt PNSt F@@''
900, 900 q year.
Half-time men, 10000, leaving 17o,-
223 on the active roll, of whom over
20 600 are between so and 80.
The civil service rule that the Oldest
men get the best wages entails dou-
Bile loss; first, the older men are not
as efficient and younger men are dis
barred from advancement. or two
clerks, side by side, one 80 the other
65 doing similar work, one Is paid $SoO
year, the other $500.
Proposed Solution
Fix a retirement age, 80 for railway
mail clerks, 65 for letter carriers and
rural delivery carriers, government
clerks generally 70.
Retired on three-quarters pay, on
basis of fifty years active service,
proportionate sums for lesser periods.
In the case Of past services the gov
ernment to make an annual contrlou-
tion. to provide the annuities as they
fall due; the sum starts with $2,o0O, OoV
and grows less each year until all the
present force is disposed of by death,
resignation or retirement.
Clerks who come into the service
after the bill becomes law create
sums for their own retirement by de-
ductions of to II per cent of their
salaries; the money is placed IN the
individual accounts, no man paying FOR
any other man; and each may have
his money on request, or in case OF
! death it goes to his heirs. Uncle Sam
to he banker and allow 91a per cent in
terest to help along the fund. The plan
becomes self sustaining in a few years
and after the initial expenses costs the
government nothing, for it is not a
civic pension list, but an annuity idea
in which each man creates his own re-
| tirement fund.
| The statistical side of annuity plan
a triumph of mathematics-some 286,OOC
Individual life risks being examined
is bv one of the ablest statiSticlans IN
America, Herbert d. Brown.
The Enthusiasm That Wins
All through the long, dusty summer
this coterie of government clerks
headed by O'Donoghue, has been push
| ing the annuity and retirement idea
for Uncle Sam. 1t has been a hard
unhill fight: funds have been scarce
and the inevitable delays and mlsun-
derstandings have been always present
with here and there the usual hinder
ing inertia Of Incidence and indiffer-
ence in quarters where better things
should be expected-sufficien to cause
faint hearts to turn back, but not sc
ODonoghue and his trusty men.
Neither O'Donoghue nor his staff oi
diligent workers receives cent of pay
or expects to be reimbursed. 1t is al
for the grand central idea, the cause
of the clerks; and O'Donoghue pur'
noses with dauntless Irish resolution
not to cease till everybody interested
from the distant Philippines to Porto
Rico, is clearly informed of the merits
| of the annuity plan.
| Nights, Sundays and holidays this
little band of patriots is pushing the
fight having, it seems, adopted Grants
! slogan, "If it takes all summer" And
the summer has slipped away, and the
men are still up and at it. Many
wise suggestions were comparatively
made to the house committee on re-
form in the civil service, with the large
hope that at the forthcoming session
of the congress the retirement and an
nuity bill will be enacted into law OF
| the land.
! O'Donoghue is now endeavoring to
get into correspondence with Uncle
| Sans clerks, from ocean to ocean, and
much has already been done. At big
mass meeting held recently in New
York city O'Donoghue, who is an ora
tor, made the effort of his life, 5000
| clerks cheering to the echo. For sew
eral hours O'Donognue, Jordan, Jack
son and other leaders of the ''little
| hock' faced a veritable cyclone OF
questions, friendly and hostile, and
came off with flying colors.
M. F. O'Donoghue, the man whose
personality is relied on to carry the big
a faaI cd l.