Evening star., 1949-03-13

service, his pension protection
ceases at once if he leaves the
service for any reason before the
minimum retirement age.
All these various additions, If
approved by Congress-an unlikely
prospect for this session, it appears
at the would add about
20,000.000 more people to the
group now covered by Federal old
age insurance.
Hence it is readily seen that
the Federal old-age insurance
scheme now dominates and likely
will continue to dominate the
whole pension field. In fact, many
of the private business retirement
programs are linked to the Federal
plan and some others have been
discontinued since the Govern
ment entered the field.
One major problem in adjusting
the other existing schemes to the
Federal program is that the
smaller pension plans usually pay
much higher benefits, both to the
retired worker or to his survivors,
if he should die before drawing all
the benefits due him.
Rate of Pay Differs
This is especially true in the
case of the civil service pension
plan. Those drawing these benefits
were drawing them in January,
l949. at rate of 81 100 a year for
retired employees and $3.50 a year
for widows and children.
By comparison, the 100000 re-
tired workers drawing Federal old
age pensions are being paid about
$25 month, on the average. To
draw the maximum amount OF
benefit, if you are IS today, it is
necessary to have worked in a
business where the l per cent pay
deduction has been made on wages
of at least $3.50 a month for the
past II years.
1t is currently possible to draw
as much as $44.80 a month as
pension for a retired worker, with
much smaller amounts for widows
and children. The administration
proposes to raise this figure to
S96.60 month. as of today, which
would be possible if you had earned
S400 month the past IL years.
1t is apparent that even the
maximum hardly furnishes the
wherewithal to buy enough to
achieve what the orators like to
call the American standard of liv-
ing. For precisely this reason. j
Federal employees have resisted
being tossed into the general pen
sion scheme The same is true
of many workers in private firms.
The Veterans Plan
The veterans pension scheme,
soon to come to vote in the
House, where it will prove politi-
cally embarrassing to most Repre-
sentatives, would provide $50 a.
month at age IS for every veteran
of World War I and World War II.
The Veterans Administration
recently worked out a table to
show what such a plan might
cost. 1t is estimated that if the
plan went into effect in 1850,
about $4,000 veterans would draw
some S62,411,000. But the num-
Der and amount would rapidly in
crease with peak in about 1895.
In that year. VA estimates, some
100000 veterans would be draw
ing $4.446, 100000. Enemies of
the plan lump the total payments
over the 50-year period, 1850 to
1000, and come up with a total
cost of about $150,OOO, 1000, ,OOO-I
more than three times the 1850
Federal budget.
President Truman has indi-
Gated he feels the veterans should
be covered in the general pension
plan and not be given special
status, politically a brave position
to take, on the other hand, he
suggested last week they con-
tribute per cent of their pay
with a new retirement scheme.
Those who are eventually to
draw Federal old-age pensions are
(See ROBERTS, Page C-5.D