The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-10-20
PENSION FOR
old PEOPLE
French Law Designed to Help the
Working Class Does Not Meet
With the Approval of
the TolIers.
WILL NOT TAKE PART
Scheme Was to Make Each One
Take Out Insurance, But They
Refused for a Number
Of Reasons.
WILL NOT TAKE PART
[By William Philip simms, Paris cor

[By William Philip Simms, Paris cor
respondent Of the United Press.l
PARIS, October 1S.-The French
old age pension act is rank failure
and when the chamber Of deputies re-
assemblies this fall it will undoubted-
ly be called upon to take action in
the matter. But just what that ac-
ton will be-or even can beis a.
mystery.
Designed to benefit the working
man, the working man will have none
of it. Aimed to help the wage-earner
LAY aside for the rainy day-and that
rainy-day usually comes upon him In
old age-the wage-earner cannot be
forced, even at the threat of punish
ment, to come into this rain-proof ark
/ and receive the blessings Of its shell
| ter.
| Threats have failed, promises OF
greater rewards were held out These
had no perceptible effect. French
statesmen are stumped.
The scheme to insure the working
classes originated in 1910, and to be
quite frank, was piece of legisla-
| ton, fathered by radical socialists,
| (then In power shaped to catch the
popular vote. 1t became effective
July 3, 1911, and provided that all
| employed men and women under 65,
earning a maximum Of 5000 francs
4 T. dr11 rcN scf dar
penalty, insure themselves for PEN
sion. Men were to contribute $3.50
a year, by monthly payments, women
s1.20 year. Children under Is were
to pay 80 cents year or cents each
month. The employer had to pay an
equal amount, while the state was to
contribute s12 a year.
4 The payments were to be made by
means of stamps pasted on a card
each pay day; one set OF stamps to
be pasted on by the employe; anoth-
er by the employer.
!, July 8, 1911, came and went and
, practically no stamps were pasted on
the cards. Some of the people for
: ated, were Indifferent Many were
] openly hostile. The government had
: to do something to save its face ii
5 for no other reason. The country
. was filled with literature; people
: made speeches; educators" were
E sent around to explain the virtues o.
the act. Posters were pasted OF
, barns and fences and city walls. Blu
K the people didn't bulge A new de
, lay limit was fixed for employees tt
8 get busy, after WLhh something
b vague would happen to them If the,
!, didn't come in. The age limit wal
Y dropped from 65 TO 60 years and thu
0 states bonus raised from s12 to s2t
e Goo francs). But only a few NOR,
+" wage-earners signed on
: A still further delay, therefore, hal
s been agreed upon by the state. Thi
will expire January !, 1913. VIVA
+, will happen then promises to be in
e teresting. Will the 100000 EN-
n ployes, Of the compulsory" class
e who still remain uninsured, be pun
i The German old age pension &C
8 holds the employer directly respor
n sible for the insurance stamps; thus
e when working man is looking TO
e. job he doesn't find 1t very easil
8 unless his card is stamped up to date
e In France the act made insuranc
it compulsory but omitted to provid
< the means to compel To be sure tn
law stipulates a fine equal to tn
st amount of unpaid insurance, bu
a. that, OF course, does not brighten eitl
" er the employer or the employe. TIL
re worst that could happen to efthe
lg would be the forced payment of a
~ amount actually due.
I'd Just what the real reason for tn
III acts failure may be, is hard to sa.
or There are many theories, but theorie
they remain. The French, howeve
at are by nature very conservative, e
ID pecially the so-called lower classe
or They want to be let alone. They hal
he prying. They are supremely susp
&c cious of politicians and the COVER
Do lISuL SCnSid AioO lHEJ hlG iiOLc
IN iously thrifty Nearly every famil
~ has its bias de laine" (woolen stoc
IT. ing) hidden away some where, full
yellow money, else has its accoul
in with the postal savings bank al
ut owns municipal or national bono
ne which sell in a way that they al
RI enabled to purchase them.
ne Therefore the French wage-earne
a as rule, is independent to a lar.
be extent; he certainly does not star
le- much in need of the governments s.
re. a year. In the second place he h.
is rather trust himself with his mon,
he than anyone connected with the &c
M eminent Thirdly, he is by constit
sr- tion opposed to letting the wor
lie know just how much money he is
the habit of receiving annually, al