The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-07-29
OLD AGE PAY
PLAN IN FRANCE
Scheme Proposed in Which En-.
ployer, Employee and State
Will Help Foot Bills
BENEFITS FOR WAGE FARMERS
A Well Known Statistcian Reckons
That In twenty-five Years the Ma.
tlon viii Have 100000 Of These
nsioners--lnsurancs for 10000 900.

A committee of the French Senate
under the presidency of NJ. Cuvinot
has formulated a scheme for old age
and workmen's pensions with which
1t is understood the Government is in
almost complete agreement. The
scheme is very complex and will give
rise to long debates in the Senate and
later in the Chamber, but its main
lines are clear.
II creates two benefits for wage
earners. One is an absolute gift to
which they will contribute nothing,
while the other is a form of insur.
ance to which they will Subscribe.
The first benefit is an annual grant
of S24 which is to bs made TO all wage
earners when they reach the age OF
6E The funds from which this is to
be paid are to be raised by tax
levied on the employers and COM
Elementary contribution by the State.
Employers are to pay for each Of
their employees over IS, sum of
$3.50 "a year and 90 cents for each
under is. Only one-tenth Of these
sums will be payable the first year
the law goes into effect, two-tenths
the second year, three-tenths the third
year. and so on, SO that 1t will only
be after ten years that the employer
will be paying the full amount, and
after that year his payments will re.
main fixed.
IL is calculated that for the first
year this scheme is at work there
will be 10000 grants, needing $2,SS0,-
600. The payments by employers are
estimated to reach about s2,000,000
SO that the State will be called upon
to pay $SS0000.
A well known statistician, Edouard
Fuster. reckons that by the twenty.
fifth year France will have 100000
0t these pensioners whose grants will
be paid, $50 100000 by the employers
ana Sl4.2O0 900 by the State.
The second part of the Senatorial
commissions scheme Is an old age
pension established by payments
made by those interested and by
grants from the State. The payments
made are to be obligatory, with the
option of paying more and so securing
"a higher pension. The amount of PEN
sion will depend on the payment made
and the age at which the pensioner
claims 1t.
The obligatory payment Is 60 cents
year between Is and Is and $1.20
year from IS until the pension Is
claimed. which can be done at the
age OF 55.
The State undertakes to increase
the pension thus secured by third,
thct is to say that workman who
maEcs TIE obligatory payments until
h is 65 will have right to pension
OF SIS, to which the State will add
81. making q S24 year. So that
workingman will be able to enjoy at
the age of Go $24 n year from the EN-.
ployer plus State funds and $25 from
the workingman plus State funds.
This form of insurance, 1t is calcu-
lated. viii apply to about 100000
persons. The obligatory payments
will bring in about $14,000.000 year.
but no estimate has been given by the
commission as 20 how much this Sec
ond part of the scheme Is likely to
cost the State.
The insured will effect their pay.
meats by placing stamps on an annual
card which each will receive, thereby
avoiding the necessity of having the
employer deduct the payment from
the employees wages. The commits
sion particularly wished to avoid Civ.
ing this insurance scheme the appear
aroe OF lcssening wages, but it has
felt itself obliged to insert an article
to tie effect that If at the end of 'ie
year the worker is behind in his
onthly payment the employer must
on demand from the State authorities,
ie.ain from his wages the amount due.