Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-11
SYSTEM
ON BROADER PLAN
Wells Fargo Express Company An
nOunceS Perfection of Arrangement
Protecting Employees.
AIDS THE SICK AND INJURED
Families of Deceased Workers Are
Helped for Given Period-De-
tails Are Given Out

| Announcement is made by Wells
| Fargo & Co. express to its employees OF
! new benefit and pension plan, winch
ranks in the generosity OF its proVlS-
| ions with the best of the other pension
plans of the other great trans pOrtatlon
| or industrial corporations across the
! land. The new system. which went in
! to effect on June l, is not the first pen
sion provision established by Wells
, Fargo. The company has been retlr-
| ing its older men on pensions for more
than a quarter of a century-for the
past IL or IA years its pension board
has been a distinct feature of its gen
| eral organization. But the new plan,
as its name indicates, COntemplates
much more than pension relief one
of it's most salient features is d. disable
ity clause, which applies to any estab-
lished worker in the company'S ranks
who may be stricken by illness or by
accident. This, of itself, is an ad-
vanced step among the pension plans
of the great corporate interests Of
America.
To make this clause clearly under
stood, it is only necessary to read the
program of the new pension system. 1t
specifically states that any Wells Far
go salaried employe, who has been six
months or more in the service, when
incapacitated for work by accident or
sickness while not on duty, may be al
lowed pay for the period of the en-
forced absence, in accordance with a
generous table of time allowances. If
the accident should occur while he is
on duty the compensation granted is,
of course, much greater. For instance,
even in the case of an injury tempo
rarily disabling him, he may, to the eX-
f,rT1
six months and half pay for year fol-
lowing the time of his injury. If, after
this year, he still is disabled, the pay
is continued for two additional years.
Then, if he shall have been Is years
with the company at the time of his
accident, he may go upon a pension
until the end of his days, an arrange
ment which greatly increases in its
monetary value, if his service with
Wells Fargo is as long as 25 years.
Salary to BeneficiarieS.
Another feature of the new pension
plan, and not less interesting, is the
one which provides for the cOntinu-
ance Of d mans salary to his benefCi-
aries for a season after his death. 1t
is principle that is being written in
to many of the new policies of the life
insurance companies. Here is a prin-
eft 10 the widows and children who
find themselves dazed and staggered
by the loss of their bread-earners Full
pay for a month after his death and
half-pay for an additional number of
months depending upon the length of
his service with Wells Fargo-means
that they will have time to collect their
senses and plan for the future before
the bread-earner's wages cease to
known how close some families live to
the narrow margin can appreciate
what the provision alone of the new
plan means.
The new plan recognizes, of course,
all the sturdy principles to which
Wells Fargo has long stood commit
ted. In fact, its careful perusaI will
show that many of the provisions of
the old have been amplified. To make
single instance, the minimum pen
sion allowance for superannuated en-
ployes is now fixed at $50 a month
Under the old plan there was no min
imum allowance.
There always has been a warm per-
sonal relationship between Wells
Fargo and the men and women in it's
employ 1t is a company which makes
few changes in its personnel. Many
of its officers are men who have climb |
ed up from he lowest rungs of the ex-
press ladder. In doing so they have |
gained not merely knowledge and ex- |
pertness in their work, but they have |
come to know and to understand the |
expressmen who are at work in the |
city office, upon the city streets, in the |
railroad station and in the express car
They understand the difficulties under |
which these men have to work, as well |
no caste in Wells Fargo, and much of |
the intimate and personal cooperation !
that marks the workings of a small |
and well-knit family.
Because of these traditions of the
early Wells Fargo, coming down to to-
day, the earlier pension plan came into
existence number of years ago. At
first this plan was most informal In
the years when the general headquar-
terS Of the company were situated at
San Francisco the men who had been
identified with it in the days of the
pony-rider. the cIipper-ship and the
s1x-horse coach were coming into the
evenings of their lives-lives spent in |
The faithful and loyal service of Wells
Fargo.
Grows Into System.
1t was the privilege of the express
company at that time to single out
hese men and to reimburse them each
month until the day of their deaths.
From such an informal beginning the
pension plan gradually grew more
systematic until, IA years ago, a formal
plan was adopted and since then he
las been administered by a regularly
appointed pension board.
This board continues, with onIv
slight changes, under the new plan. 1t I
consists of Vice President Andrew
IhristesOn of San Francisco, and Z. A.
'tedman Of Chicago. the operating ,
leads of Wells Fargo; Vice President ,
md Omptroller J. W. NewIean of Chi ,
ago, and General superintendent Fl
3. Calkins of Chicago and Grover p. !
simpson of St Louis. These men will ,
dminister the details of the new plan !
through its general Office at Chicago. ,
hey are all veteran expressmen, cap /
BILE Of understanding all the prob ;
ems OF the men with whom thaTv - |