The Washington herald., 1910-01-16

civil department. NJ the government II provides
FOR thoss Ia the military establishment.
Automatic Retirement.
ANY reasonable disiuterestcd thinker who considers
this question q the retirement Of the civil employees
Of the government must reach the conclusion that
tie government itself must provide for the retire
meut 81 Us employees IN s1me automatic way. Tai,
ought 90 b. dOHe not matter Cf sentiment
purely. bat as matter Of business.
Several officers Of the association spoke
of the purposes Of the organization and
expressed the hope that Congress would
see its way 10 have a retirement bill
During the morning the delegates ap-
peared az q joint session OF the House and
Senate committees on civil service, held
in the Senate office building for the pUr-
pose Of hearing arguments in favor Of a
retirement and pension system. Senator
Cummins presided.
In presenting the delegates, who num-
bered about 100. President O'Donoghue
said the retirement matter was Of vital
Importance, because it was closely con-
nected with tenure Of office, and tenure OF
office is regarded as essential 10 good
service.
Presents Majority Report.
The first speaker was Albert l.. Thorp,
of New York. chairman of the committee
of fifteen who presented the report Of the
majority
Mr.. Thsrp declared that the straight pension was
favored because the civil employees cannot stand a
deduction from their salaries each month without a
substantial increase in their wages. Therefore the
straight civil pension plan regarded cheape-
for tie government. In arriving az this view, he
said the oriiv had been Influenced b. the speech
Of President Taft and by the fact that several great
cor1rations IN thi, country have inauglratod such
plans for their employs
scott Neshit Of the Department Of Commerce ard
Labor in this city. presented the minority report.
The minority le said favored the c1ntrIbutDry plan
providing for retirement not only on length Of
service and upon reaching q certain age, but also
on disability The act should also provide for the
payment Of the accumulated salaries paid into the
retirement fund 10 the family if an empOye died.
or 10 tho employe if he retired voluntarily from
the Federal service
The adoption 81 a straight-oUt civil pension sys-
TEN. IL was heleTed by the minority. would tend
10 keep down the scale of salaries Of Federal en-
pIoyes. An increase in wages 1t wss declared. was
crying need TO meet the increased cost Of living
G. y. Raymond, of Harrisburg Pa,
of the comittee, said he favored a retire
UtQL SYSTEM Out Ndlltu NDNEItSS 10
work out the details. He spoke especially
for railway mail clerks and told of the
dangers TO which they are subjected.
". J. Murphy, of Philadelphia. alluded
to the fact that several large corpora
tions had adopted systems of straight-out
pensions for their employees as a simple
business proposition and for reasons of
economy.
A woman delegate. Mrs J. L. Monroe.
said she was against civil pensions, be
cause she was opposed TO special legisla-
ton. she thought the clerks in the gov
eminent service. by government assist
ance. ought to provide for their own re-
tirement
DIR. Llewellyn Jordan, secretary of the
association, said that, based on the expe-
rieRce Of the British government. esti-
mates for the United States indicated
that Il retirement plan would cost this
government about SIS. O0o00O a year. He
thought the contributory plan would
prove the best and most satisfactory for
the employees.