The National tribune., 1910-02-24
sUpER,Syr,T1oS OF EMPLOYEES.

SUPERANNUA UATION OF EMPLOYEES.
The President made a speech at the
banquet to the Commander-in-Chief at
Washington last wednesday evening
which will be pleasant message TO the
veterans in all parts of the country. he
distinctly favored a retired list for all
employes of the Government, and ap-
proved of the systems which are being
put into operation by the grear rail-
roads. manufactures and corporations
of the country. The main feature of
this system is that when disability oc-
ours or at a certain age the employees
are put on the retired list at something
Ike three-fourths of the pay which
they have been receiving. The ele-
ments which enter into this plan are,
first, that length of service counts. and
the retirement pay is arrived at by TAX
ing the average pay of the emplOye
during the last 10 years OF his service.
There is no question but that this sys-
tenn will come and probably quite soon.
The public conscience will not stand q
mans being heartlessly turned out of
tlthti VI pLNdlC tfup4Oy ~
which he has given the best years Of
his life and faithful service. Corpora
tions may be soulless and the Govern
ment also, but the men who are charged
with administering affairs are not.
They all have sense of justice and
right, and most of them are reluctant
to be the agents in an act of cruelty TO
60 n
taken by age or disability. The Presi-
dent said as much, and that even il
laws and regulations were made string
ent the men charged with their admin
istration would have such reluctance
that these could not be enforced in
their entirety.
Apart from these humane considera-
tions which must always play a great
part, it is the best business policy to
| make proper provision for superan-
nuated employees. In order to insure
faithful service men must be given con-
| fidence that their work will be appre-
ciated. and that after years of honest
service and diligent learning of their
duties they Will not be kicked out in
the cold to starve, since the fact that
they have 50 thoroly learned the work
they were engaged in makes them un-
fitted for other occupation. This is the
lesson of all civilization, and every ad-
vanced Government in the world has
long since recognized the public policy
Of properly providing for its superan-
nuated employees. There can be no
other course. In such antiquated and
obsolete forms of Government as those
of Spain and Portugal every man ex-'
poets to fill his pockets as soon as pos
sible after he gets into office, knowing
that his tenure is likely to be brief
and he must make the best provision
for himself as long as the opportunity
lasts. 1t is this unwise system which
makes the Government OF imperfectly
civilized countries such a mass of hope
less corruption as they are. More wise
ly conducted Governments provide
against this by giving an official or en-
pioye surety of employment and of
provision for his declining years. The
United States Government, which
should lead the world in all that
makes for the betterment of Covert
ment and for mankind, should lead the
world in this particular. Its business
has become SO vast that it takes any
mans life time to master even the
minor details of 1t. A man who has
spent all his younger days in faithful
study and practice of the Governments
business, contenting himself with the
salary given him, must have neglected
an infinite number of opportunities for
enriching himself, most generally at
the expense of the Government he is
serving. When he has passed the meri-
dian of life it is impossible for him to
learn some new trade and obtain a
livelihood by it in fierce competition
with the younger men who have been
learning it while he has been working
at some other vocation.
The same reasoning applies with |
equal force to the employees of rail-
roads and great corporations. A man
who has given all his mental anu phys |
ical energy to exact and instant knowl- |
edge of running trains and conducting
some portions of the railroads business
cannot in his later years go out into
the field of general effort and make a
success in competition with the men
already engaged in the employment
which he enters. 1t is absolutely es-
sential to the proper working of rail-
roads that these employees shall devote
themselves wholly to learning it's busi-
ness. Therefore, the railroads recog-
nize that they cannot secure this with
out taking care of the employees when
something shall happen to lessen their
usefulness. |
We risk nothing in prophesying that
a proper Civil Service retirement list
will be one of the early acts of Con-
gress.
President Taft is entirely loyal to the
great State from which he came to pre-.
side in the White House He has asked |