The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-30

be called either partial restitution l Or "old folks compensation The old age pension bill which I in l troduced is therefore a measure o1
 simple justice. It is also an expres- | sion of the rapidly growing demand | that America shall not lag behind ] the rest of the civilized world in talk | ing care of the veterans of industry | My bill does not go into administra- | tive details, and does not try to pro- vide for the many complex situations that may arise in the operation ot l such a law.
 The details will have to be settled | by commission to be appointed for that purpose. I have introduced al the same time bill for the creation of commission.
 Number of Pensioners Four dollars a week is to be the basic figure of the pension for every
 p1an and woman more than 60 years old with graduations downward for persons in comparatively decent cir cumstances.
 The ratio of persons more than 60 years old in the 1900 census, when ap- piled to the 1910 census would give labout 5,000,000 persons. It is assumed that l. ,00O,000 of these are foreign born, Or have not been citizens sixteen years.
 
 of these, either by the ownership or use of property, or the receipt of in- comes above the limit designated, or because they are already in receipt of civil military or naval pensions, or because they are in some way disqual- filed will not come under the terms of the act.
 Approximately 25oO, 100 of the re- mainder are married and living to- gether, and as each married couple counts only as one person and a half there would be a further reduction of 2,675,OOO persons to be. pensioned.
 The Speaker-The time of the gen tleman from Wisconsin has expired. Mr. McCall-Mr. Speaker, ask unan- imous consent that the gentleman may proceed for five minutes.
 MT. Berger-Mr. Speaker, desire only. two or three minutes additional.
 The Speaker-The gentleman from Massachusetts asks unanimous con- sent that the gentleman may proceed for five minutes. Is there objection? (After a pause). The chair hears none.
 Cost of the Pension Scheme.
 MT. Berger-As the average pen sion would range somewhere about $2.50 a weeek, the cost of the pen sion scheme would be about S347,0 ,0OO.- 900 yearly.
 This sum may be staggering to some good folk who believe in cheap government and in everybody taking care of himself. But if our nation can pay yearly s131, 100000 for a na- wy, $95,0O0,0OO for an army, and $155, 5,OO0,000 for pensioning war vet erans total of S3S1 100000, 1t should certainly be able to pay an industry.
 AS a matter of fact we pay great deal more than this sum for this pur- pose now The total expenditures made in a thousand complex ways by nation, State, county, municipality, and private agency in relieving the Restitution of the aged would, if prop erly computed, show much greater amount than what this bill asks. On ly we do the thing at present in an inefficient, expensive and cruel way It is time now that we meet the prob lem in a scientific and economical way.
 Remember that these destitute ag- ed men and women have, from their childhood, aided in creating the wealth which makes possible the pay ment of such large appropriations for the navy, the army and the war pen sions.
 Objections to Private Pension Schemes
 Many great private corporations
 
 for their employees. This tendency has been applauded by the very men who oppose government pensions for the aged. But there are two great objections to old age pensions by prl- vate corporations. In order to gain a. pension from a corporation 1t is necessary for the workingman to tie himself to the corporation for life. In order not to lose the pension the working man or working woman must be satisfied with his or her wage, la boring conditions, and hours of la bor. The subservience makes the ia borer virtually a serf or slave and new feudalism.
 The second objection to private old age pensions is that the system smacks of charity. It causes the worker to feel that some one owns him. The private system results in the bestowal of too much power in the hands of the employer over his workers.
 The Matter of COnstitutionaIity
 Of course there are also some oth- er good folks who may worry about the constitutionality of inc bill Il believe that this old age pension bill is perfectly constitutional, but some of the anti-social Supreme Court jus +ices may hold a different opinion. The bill furnishes a good opportunity for testing the power of the federal courts to annul necessary legislation | enacted by Congress. I have there fore put at the and os the bill a