The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-04
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
APPROPRIATIONS BUREAU
BY FREDERIC ). HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. d. G.
A NEW PENSION BILL.
Should the State Provide for the
Aged?

Aged!
Washington, D c., Jan. 1.-Govern-
ment pensions for American aged and
INDECENT are proposed in a bill recent
! ly introduced in the house.
1 Since 1900, nearly every European
| government has pensioned it's aged
I poor. This bill would grant a pension
/ of $40 a month to native or natural
lied American citizens IS years of age
and over who have been residents of
,rthe country for twenty years and
whose income is less than $500 a
year"
This pension would be enough to
keep many old people with their fam
lilies who otherwise would have to
! enter institutions. Then, too, these
dependent old people sap the vitality
OF the younger generation Look about
you and observe how many of your
| capped by the obligation of support
| ing their parents. In many cases it
does not hurt them at all; they are
quite capable of it, they have ability,
capable it is unquestionably an intol-
| cradle burden.
Take the average factory worker.
for instance. He makes barely enough
to support one family, to say nothing
| of two; hence, it is up to him either
| to sacrifice his own life-his right to
i love and his own children-and take
care OF MS parents, OF sacrifice his
parents to his own life.
The factory worker is the best ex-
ample, but the strain of economic
| conditions is not by any means lin
tied to him. For any family with an
| income of less than $4,000 a year in
these days of exorbitant prices, the
support of parents as well as children
is heavy responsibility.
Neither can it be said to be an en-
inv 10 ai--f r1s-ta V1f
| OF view of the old people. They are
nearing the end of a long existence
| fraught with toll, as most lives are,
and with innumerable sacrifices made
to bring up a few healthy, responsible
American Citizens valuable service
to the country, but one which is rarely
rewarded. At sixty-five their abilities
have dwindled; they are dependents
either on their children or the COM
munity. And it is a significant fact
that the majority of them prefer the
community.
In an investigation into the econom-
ic Conditions of old people made by
the state of Massachusetts, in 1915, it
was discovered that out of a total
number of 1S9,047 persons sixty-five
state, "a, 1876 were dependent on pub
lie charity.
The annual amount spent on de-
$3,233,949, or about 1914 per capita.
Fancy living on $94 a year. Americans
are apt to boast of the superiority of
American homes, of American institu-
lions, of Americans themselves. They
are properly indignant when they
read about certain tribal organizations
that follow the custom of killing off
all their old people. Yet-$94 year,
when living costs what it does.
In Europe. various provisions for the
aged have been made by different
governments. Denmark was the first
to establish an old age pension system,
in 1891. The pension age is sixty
years-the lowest age fixed by any
country--and is payable to any one 60
years old who is unable to provide
himself or his dependents with neces-
sary subsistence. Moreover, his re-
quired residence in Denmark is only
ten years. On the other hand, the
personal characteristics of the appli-
cant must comply with certain fixed
standards. No one can receive a pen
sion who has ever been convicted of a
crime, unless subsequently restored to
civil rights; who has received any
poor relief, with the exception of
medical relief, during the five years
before his application for pension, or
whose poverty has been due to his own
profligate habits.
The average pension paid by the
Danish government is about $50 a
year, altho it varies according to cir
cumstances. The head of family, for
instance, gets a larger pension than a
man without any dependents. Fifty
dollars is a mere pittance from the
American point of view, but in Den
mark the cost of living is very much
lower than it is here.
The old age pension system of
Great Britain, established in 1908 and
revised in 1911, was the result of
twenty-five years of research during
which five parliamentary commissions
investigated the question from every
angle and proposed many remarkable
schemes At the time the present sys-
tenn went into effect it was estimated
that one-fifth of the whole population
OF Great Britain over seventy years OF
|; age were only paupers, so that there
was no question of social insurance
or some other contributory plan. The
: people needed to be given, not loaned
assistance, and needed it Immediately
To be eligible for a British old-age
pension, a man or woman must be &c
or over; British citizen or the off
| spring of a British citizen; must have
lived in Great Britain for twelve years
before his application for a pension
and his income must not exceed $15s
a year. Moreover, it must be proved
| TO the satisfaction of the pension Of
ficer that the applicant has not beer
in the habit of refusing work within
his ability, that he has not been the
Innate OF a prison Tor a PERIOD OF over
six weeks, that he is not an inebriate
and that he does not live in an insti-
tdtion where his board and lodging
amounts to an income above that OF
the pension. The pension ranges from
S1.22 a week upward, according to the
: Individuals income, being regulated sc
that his total income, including the
| pension, will not be more than $165 q
, year. Here, too it must be pointed oui
that living is cheaper in Great Britain
5 than in America.
. In Germany, the government also
maintains an old-age pension system
but it is quite different from that il
vogue in Great Britain and Denmark
, From his sixteenth to his seventeen
year. every German whose annua
earnings do not exceed S476 must con.
tv-SI 70 1nh Il Il,