The Washington times., 1911-11-06
THE POLICE AND FIREMRN'S
PENSION FUND.

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commendable service to the cause of
intelligent understanding of the prob.
lem of pensions for police and firemen
by presenting summary of the laws
under which such funds are raised in
humber of leading cities. 1t de-
velops that Washington is seemingly
the one important city whose pension
fund is made up from such uncertain
and inadequate revenue sources that no
pensioner may be assured of the con-
tinuity of his income.
The Times has protested against
adopting any pension plan for Wash
ington which will make the pensions
dependent on the varying and uncer-
tain receipts of ragtag and bob. tailed
bits of revenue from miscellaneous
sources. That is exactly what is pro-
posed by the measure that was before
Congress at the last session; the same
measure which it is proposed again to
press at the coming session. 1t is
wrong in principle, and inefficient in
practice. 1t is not the right way to
raise revenues for such purpose, and
experience with it has shown that it
cannot be relied upon to make the pen.
sions sure or regular. At some sea-
sons these sources will bring in enough
revenue to pay the full amount of
pensions at others they will not.
In Der Of other cities various
scraps of revenue are indeed aggre-
gated together for the pension funds;
but this is done with proviso that if
the receipts from these sources are not
sufficient to keep the funds solvent,
then the general treasury shall make
up the deficit.
In actual operation, of course, this
is precisely equivalent to turning in
all these odds and ends of dog licenses
and the like to the general treasury,
and taking out from the general
treasury the monthly amount needed
to pay the pensions. From every point
of view this is better business, and
it makes the pensioners sure of their
income. To turn over a percentage of
fines, license fees, and the like to
pension fund is to offer an insidious
inducement to the police force to make
these receipts as large as possible. 1t
is demoralizing in every way. The dog
tax should be collected, indeed, and the
police should contribute to suppressing
any dog nuisance that may develop
through laxity of the collection; but
it is not desirable that the police
should be given an excuse for devoting
undue attention to dogs, and too little
to doggeries. Similarly, any law which
puts a premium on the organization
of cinch police court cases SO as to
secure the largest possible fines, is bad
law and demoralizing policy. The police
should be kept above and beyond any
possibility of such influences.
Washington ought to have a model
law for pensions, and it can only be
made such by putting the pension fund
on a parity, in self-respect, security,
and permanence, with any other fund
of the municipal government. That
means only one conclusion. The pen
sioning of policemen and firemen must
not be looked upon as cheerful
gratuity, a species of charity. 1t must
be accepted as fixed part of munich
pal method, just as is the purpose to
dig sewers and pave the streets.
1t would be enlightening to a good
many of our bucolic legislative patrons,
who imagine that municipal pensions
of this sort are a dangerous expert
ment, tried only because of the Ma
tional Government generosity to Wash
ington, if they would read up on the
pension plans of other cities. Wash.
ington, instead of being at the front in
this "untried experiment. instead of
being on the verge of a dangerous
plunge into the unknown realm" OF
"civil PENSIONS" is in fact far behind
the really progressive American cities.
That is one thing that ails Wash
ington's government in other directions
too many of them: Congress doesn't
know enough about present-day munich
pal government methods, and imagines
that it is being urged to branch out
into dangerous radicalism, when in fact
it is besought only to catch step with
a procession that has marched past
Washington.