Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1909-01-08
DOINGS TUESDAY
Will Ask Pension

Whereas, colleges and universities,
and many cities such as New York,
Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Elmira
Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Mil
waukee, San Francisco, and other
cities, and the states of Massachu-
.setts, Rhode Island Maryland, New
Jersey, Ohio, and Utah have deemed
it advisable for the benefit of the pub
lie schools, and consequently, for the
interest of the state, to provide re-
.tirement annuities for teachers, and
Whereas, A retirement fund for
teachers will tend to attract and re-
tain in the service a superior class of
talent, and will make better schools
by withdrawing from the classroom
those who have outgrown efficient SER
vice, and
Whereas, Boards of education can
by this humane means vacate posi-
tiOns, when their incumbents have be-
come incapable of filling them to the
best interests of their pupils and can
supply schools with vigorous and COM
Ipetent instructors, and
Whereas, Good salaries, perma-
lnency of tenure, and a certainty of
being above want after years of eff
cient service are the principal factors
to induce both men and women to
make teaching life work, and
Whereas, Within the last ten years
living expenses have increased 40 per
cent, while the rate of increase in the
teachers salary has been so small
that he virtually receives a smaller
salary today than he received ten
years ago, and
Whereas, Teachers are forced out
Of the teaching profession at an age
when men and women in the business
world are considered in their prime,
and
Whereas, The state spends yearly
large sum of money for the training
of it's teachers, who, on the average,
remain in the work but comparative
ly short period, leaving the work for
more remunerative and more perma-
nent lines of employment, and
| Whereas, Other states take from
our normal schools the ablest and
strongest of their graduates, because
Ithey offer them a more secure and
promising future than does our state,
and
| Whereas, Eighteen railroad compan-
| les and more than seventeen indus
| trial concerns, such as the MetrOpOli-
tan Traction Co. of New York. many
subsidiary companies of the U. S..
Corporation, the Standard Oil Co., the
| International Harvester Co. of Chi
jcago, etc, have adopted a pension
system primarily for the benefit of
1.-THE company. A system, which has
been tried out and so successfully
conducted by large business corpora
lions as has the pension system, must
be one of self-interest and economic
value to the corporation. 1t follows
that a retirement fund for teachers
also involves a business proposition.
1t is obviously matter Of self-interest
and economic value to the state as
Imuch as it is to private corporations,
inaSmuch as it tends to attract and
retain teachers of ability, it must be
cheaper and productive of better re
suits to employ active, capable in
structors than it is to retain in the
service those who, through age or
disability are incapacitated for the
work; but who, under present condi-
Itions, after years Of efficient service,
must continue to serve for self-sup-
port, and
I1n n1-rl-
ton, having proven the effectiveness
of a pension system in it's subsidiary
companies, has now under considera-
ttion a pension scheme for it's entire
working force comprising 100000
men. The International Harvester
Co. employs 10000 men; New York
City employs $4,000 teachers; the
state Of Wisconsin only $4,000 teach
jers. The pension fund of a business
corporation, as stated above, is gen
Ierally supported solely from the
earnings of the company. The teach
ers' retirement fund of the city of
New York is supported by one per
cent of the teachers salaries and by
a contribution of about $4,000 by
city itself This latter amount COM
Iprises five per cent of all excise mon
eys or liquor licenses of the city and
all deductions made from teachers
salaries on account of absence or 9th
er reasons. The annuity is not to ex-
Iceed $4,000 nor to be less than $500 an
Inually The retirement fund for
teachers of Rhode Island, Maryland,
and one in New Jersey, is supported
entirely by the state. A retirement
fund for the public school teachers of
Wisconsin will be supported by about
one per cent of the teachers Salar-
lies. The state will be asked to con-
tribute small percentage of its sew
lenth-tenths mill tax. The proposed
annuity will be $500 straight for each
and every teacher who has taught %
Iyears and who shall be active in the
service at the time of retirement.
Eighteen of the aforesaid twenty-five
years must have been spent in the
service of the said state Comparing
the Wisconsin plan with such as the
above mentioned system, as well as
with others, it will not be a large or
burdensome financial problem for the
state to provide a retirement fund for
its public school teachers, and
Whereas, The retirement system