The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-06-10
CONTRADICTORY RETIREMENT PLAN
Reply to Wife of Department EmpIOye.
BY HERBERT ID. BROWN.

IS right to retire the naval and military
emplOye. who IN these days Of peace
see little war. and who have not received
disability nor wound, then II is Just TO
retire civil employees with pay from the
same fund.
agree with her there, but hold also
that Two wrongs do not make a right.
I hold that pensions are always mischiev-
Gus. I believe the time VIII cOme--a
hundred years from now perhaps-when
compulsory savings schemes will super
sede pensions not only in the civil SER
vices Of the world but IN the military
and naval services as well. II armies and
naYies are still necessary when that time
comes. Nor is this suggestion so I'M
pTecedented as some readers may think,
IN 1885 the British parliament appointed
a select committee TO inquire into the
subject Of national provident insurance.
This committee spent two years investl-
eating conditions imposed by various
private employers OF labor upon those in
their employment, IN order TO provide for
their approximation. and came to the
conclusion that all persons hereafter ap-
pointed to the service Of the Crown,
whether civil or military, whose service
at present counts toward pension. should
contribute toward that pension by q per
centage deduction from salaries or pay"
It was not merely because OF the heavy
burden imposed on the public by the
growing pension list that they recon-
mended the change, but they noted that
the enterprises Of private individuals
and firms indicate the advantage OF self
help as condition Of employment
am opposed to pensions payable out
of the public Treasury. not merely be-
cause I believe that such a system. who
ever is the beneficiary, whether soldier,
sailor, policeman. teacher. or department
clerk. Is unfair to the public, but be-
cause. In the long run, II IS harmful to
the beneficiary himself. We hear much
in this discussion about the good exam
pie set the government by the large pri-
vate corporations IN giving pensions out
right to their employees. A little closer
analysis Of that giving might help the
civil employees and all other employees to
understand why the establishment of a
pension system BY their employers,
whether the government or a private
firm, is 10 the employees disadvantage.
Does any government clerk believe that
the Steel Corporation or the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad is run for philanthropic
purposes? On the contrary, he should
know that If the masters of those great
industries prefer TO give their employees
straight pensions rather than impose on
| them a compulsory savings system, it
IS not because they love their employees
more. but because they find It to the
| profit of the corporations TO do So The
corporations look on pensions as a form
of strike insurance. Through them they
hold men who would otherwise strike for
better wages or shorter hours. but who
fear 70 do SO, because thereby they run
the risk of forfeiting their pensions.
Instead of being sought, pensions should
be regarded with disfavor by working
menss because they mean lower wages
ard lessened independence, and their
leaders should teach the laborers OF the
country TO insist on employers paying
them adequate wages in the first place,
| and then administering, In place of pen
sions, thrift funds, based on compulsory
savings.
| The fact that a pension robs the bene-
ficfary Of his independence is the only
sound argument that can be adduced In
| favor OF the pension for the army and
navy-for military discipline, which is
necessary and desirable in the army and
the navy, is secured at the price Of IN
| dividual independence. Does the wife OF
the civil employe who Graves a pension
for her husband from the government
want him 10 be subject TO military dis
cipline in his work? Do the free work
| men OF the country want pension al
the expense of their personal liberties
If the wife of the employee objects to q
compulsory savings scheme as dictatorial
and pateTnalistic, she will find on analy.
sis that the straight pension is much
more so.
The CHIEF mischief OF the pension Is
| that 1t means wages below the current
market price. This has been proved tC
be the fact beyond ali question Of q
doubt by the history OF pension schemes
! In other countries. A pension system