Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-15
Pension. Or Pay?


first received in this country with
very little enthusiasm. In America
the custom has been to pay man
what he was worth as long as ne was
able to work and leave the matter of
care in his declining years to his own
foresight Of course under that sys-
tenn a small percentage found their
way to the poorhouse, but on the
whole the people were reasonably
PROSPEROUS and happy and compare
lively few came down to want in their
old age. The proposition to pension
employees after a certain length of
service of course constitutes. an in
ducement for employees to continue in
the service of the corporation employ
ing them through a long period of
years. 1t checks disposition to
wonder from employer to employer or
to give up work on slight pretext.
To certain extent the thought of a
pension might dissuade a man from
seeking to better himself where the
risk of losing permanent employment
might be somewhat greater, although
the immediate returns might appear
to be larger than in the first instance.
Railroad men have accepted the
pension. however, in the spirit in
which it is apparently offered. and no
disposition has yet appeared to seri-
ously question the honesty of the mo-
tive of those offering them. although
the possibility exists that with a PEN
sion in prospect men will not demand
as high wages as they could otherwise
expect to receive for their services,
because the risk of discharge after a
long period of service carries with it
the loss of all pension privileges. IL
the men have been underpaid, the PEN
sion fund of course, has in it a certain
per cent. of their money which they
lose if they leave the employ of the
railroad All these things are worthy
OF consideration for some prefer to
handle their own money themselves.
In fact, that is quite generally the
preference among American citizens.
The pension as applied in railroad
management has no feature akin to
the pension the American people pay
the disabled soldier of the Civil War
as a slight token of gratitude for the |
service they performed
Some railroads have pensioned en-
ployees for many years without an
nouncing an official system. Nota-
bly, among these is the Central Rail- |
road of New Jersey and the New York |
Central At the close of the fiscal |
year ending June 80, 1907, the railroad |
systems having pension departments |
in operation We're the Atchison, |
Topeka & Santa Re, the Atlantic |
Coast Line, the Baltimore & Ohio, the |
Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg, the |
Chicago & Northwestern, the Chicago, |
st. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, the |
Cleveland Terminal & Valley, the |
Delaware. Lackawanna & Western, |
he Illinois Central, the Oregon Short |
line, the Pennsylvania, the Phila-
ielphia & Reading. and the Union
Pacific. The employees of the |
numerous subsidiaries are included, of |
course. in the pension systems.
These railroads paid total of 1914
1910 to 1859 individuals, an average |
If somewhat less than 5000 a year for |
ZACH individual. There is nothing in
he information volunteered which |
states what portion of the fiscal year
'ach road operated a pension system. |
The low total in one or two instances |
would indicate that some of them |
operated very small portion Of the |
ear, In every case the pension fund |
s supported exclusively by the cor
,oration, the employees not con-
ributing thereto. Whether they will |
Re asked to contribute in future years
through smaller wages than would |
nave been the case had there been no |
pension system remains to be seen.
The age of retirement on four roads. |
he Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fee. the |
Baltimore & Ohio, the New York Cen
raj and the Buffalo, Rochester &
is 65 years: on the other
'oads it is 20 years. Half of the roads
INIT the age at which a laborer NAV
De first employed at 80 years and half
to As years. This means that the
companies insist on starting the en-
ployment of the individual during the
best years of his life and reserying it
to itself until he is beyond the age
when he can reasonably expect to gnd
other employment. The length of SER
vice after which a man is eligible for
pension varies with the different roads
from 10 to 80 years; 90 years being the
average. All insist on a continuous
service but interpretations of the