The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-06-13
WEDNESDAY. JUNE 10, 1884.
FOR THE AGED

INCREASE in the maximum old age pen
= sion from SIS to $25 and reduction of the
eligible age limit from 10 to IS are to be con-
Sidered this week by the Indiana aerie of che
Fraternal Order of Eagles meeting in Evans
vile.
Members of the Eagles lodges have blazed
trail across the nation in their successful
battle to provide for the needy and destitute
aged. No section of the long route to success
was rougher than the road travelled in Indiana
For years Indiana members of the lodge at
tempted passage of the pension law in many
sessions of the legislature And for many
years each effort was met with rebuff
The maximum pension, as provided in the
law finally enacted by the 1888 Democratic leg
islature, now is SIS. That, remember is the top
figure. Some persons will receive as little as
81 month, depending on the amounts ap-
propriated by county councilmen and COM
misSioners.
A campaign for an increased maximum
figure would be well founded. The day must
come in Indiana and other states when money
will not be so hard to get and old people of
that new era will stand to benefit
The Times always has supported the old
age pension law, believing it is the inherent
right of every worthy citizen to be able to
look forward to old age without the haunting
fear of the poorhouse or poverty on the streets
of a great city.
We heard story the other day that went
like this:
An old couple, during the height of the
prosperity era, invested capital in an interna-
tionally- known firm. The firm collapsed, leav-
ing them without funds
When the husband became i'll, he and his
wife went west, hoping to remain indefinitely
with relatives and hoping regained health
might answer their problem of poverty.
But they did not figure that the relatives,
too might be in dire straits. The mans illness
became worse and physicians said he would
die in a short time.
He wanted to stay with his wife, but lack
of finances brought him back to Indiana, 1000
miles away from her. He found that his rela-
tives neither could afford to bury him nor to
send his body back to Indiana
So, to save them the increased debt and to
remove himself as burden to his aged wife,
lie uldu6 HIS Way pdCk 10 1HQldld where a
family burial plot will receive him soon.
He has told his friends:
ST am going to die. I couldn't afford to die
away from home so I came back to Indiana"
That is pitiful story. Some may not be
as extreme but there are many with the same
tragic basis.
In cases like these, old age pensions prob
ably would save lives. At least the guarantee
of funds would give any person who had served
his or her community properly, the hope of
peace in later years.
That the nation needs guarantee for the
aged was stressed last week by President
Roosevelt in his outline for greater new deal.
l am looking for a sound means
which I can recommend to provide at once
for security against several of the great dis
turbing factors of life-especially those which
relate to unemployment and old age" he said.
Coming from the man who has battled with
his people through period of terrific stress,
this surely is an approval that can not be
ignored.
1t will be well for Indiana legislators to
think now about better provisions for the aged.
The Eagles will demand additional aid and
their pleas should be needed carefully by the
legislature of 1895.