South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-04-09
100000 Persons Hear HeringS address
On old Age Pensions by Means of Radio

>CtHS W NUCLIO
could do ali this al the present wage
without going into deb-2 What on
could save enough 20 purchase a
little home and lay b. for the in
evitable rainy day when old aEe
and sickness come? What one
could save anything from this
meager wage These are facts
not fancies. They are present
day conditions. not decisions
The industrial worker IN the grip
Of this age OF machinery. holding
his job in competition with thOus-
ands OF others that are seeking it
inevitably faces an old age In which
he and his wife must bear the stig-
ma OF being public dependents L
not becoming inmates Of the poor
house.
The number OF men and women
thus strapped is Overwhelming as
10 demand the earnest attention Of
the State and the Nation. Idlers
these workers grown old are not.
Degenerates they are not And
they should not be s-igmatized as
paupers. In their v.gor most Of
them fully earned support for their
old age. They should be taken
from the scrap heap and placed on
an Old Age Pension Roll.
The Ohio commission arrives "a.
an interesting estimate of the ways
in which the aged population Of that
State sits itself out-21O0 enjoy
service pensions. either of public or
private business. 200 get them
selves into old peoples homes
maintained by churches. fraterni-
ties, benevolent societies and private
endowment. These pay. usually, an
entrance fee running as high as
$500. 5000 must go into the public
infirmaries. hospitals and asylums.
10000 must go into the almshouses.
$4,000 enjoy Federal pensions.
The number that md homes with
relatives or friends cannot be &C
curately estimated. but the Ohio
commission surmised that one in
every four over 80 had such a home
Finally, the whole problem Of old
age relief is thus summed up by
ing the old, under present conditions
cannot be solved through individual
effort. And the present cost of our
haphaZard provisions for the aged,
. in actual money spent: in Industrial
inemcienCy resulting from il; in suf-
fering and personal degradation
are too stupendous TO be permitted
to continue. On the other hand. the
benefits 10 be derived from a con
structive plan of State assistance in
terms Of loyalty TO the Common
wealth and Nation; in contentment
and greater industrial efficiency; in
independence and th-ift.-and in
family solidarity-ar too manifest
and pregnant with numerous 70
tentialities for good % be delayed
much longer"
Many starts have been made IN
this country toward a system Of old
age pensions. Bills providing for
them have been introduced in al
most a dozen State legislatures and
a number have come W in Congress.
Though the bills that regularly crop
out with every session of certain Of
our State legislatures have never
commanded a passage vote the
sentiment back Of them has won
sufficient respect, as we have seen.
to bring about an Official investi-
cation OF the whole subject of pow
erty in old age in such states as
Pennsylvania, Ohio. Wisconsin.
Massachusetts,. California. Illinois.
New Jersey and Connecticut.
A final aggravation of old age pow
erty and the tragedies it entails is
that the loss of the last job" often
finds the old man with dependents
OF his own-minor children when
marriage was entered into late: a de
fective son or daughter; sometimes
orphaned grandchildren. In the Ohio
survey Is percent Of the 1,432 per
sons over so in Hamilton had one
or more dependents.
Foreign countries are also wrest-
ling with the problem. In Great
Britain in a population OF 100000.
people there are approximately l.
100000 over 70 years Of age. and
nearly 100000. or IS percent Of
the men and women over 20 years of
age need relief, and only 100000
have an income of 5000 or more per
year" So Great Britain already has
The industrial condition which is
rapidly confronting the United
states. and to meet it she has adopt
ed the straight out Old Age Pen
sion. But Great Britain was not the
irst nation. by any means. to head