Old Age Pensions
provisions for the aged poor. The notion of state pensions for the aged has not taken root in the United States, but it is a live question elsewhere. A paragraph for each of several countries will show what the world is doing to save the aged from the humiliation of dependence. Unless stated otherwise, the figures hold approximately true for January 1, 1910.
GERMANY. Those who earn less than $500 a year are compelled to surrender a trifle from each day's wages to be turned into a fund and cared for by the state. Out of this fund, to which employers also contribute by law, pensions are paid the infirm and aged. About 1,000,000 old age pensioners are now receiving a stipend of $38 a year from the German authorities. The sum is not large, but $3 a month goes farther in Germany than it does here. The pension begins at seventy years of age, or at any adult age in case of disability. The German plan is simply enforced insurance.
DENMARK. Pensions are provided for all the deserving aged, whether they are wage earners or not. One-half of the sum is paid by the general government. The other half by the local authorities. The law permits the pension to be paid in staples, residence, or cash, so that, all said, the system savors mightily of the poorhouse. Sixty years is the age limit. In 1893 there were 43,000 aged persons on the pension roll; in 1905 there were 67,000. Aged pensioners were drawing $26 each. The Danish law is superior to the German in that it provides for all aged people and does not draw the necessary funds from their wages, save as they may be general rate payers.
BELGIUM. Slight pensions are granted the aged, whether men or women, who have attained sixty-five years and are in want. Public employes are barred. A quarter of a million aged people are in receipt of pensions. A system of old age insurance has been put into effect by means of which the state undertakes to guarantee an income for old age of about twenty cents a day.
FRANCE. A system of old age pensions was adopted in 1905. The age limit is seventy, or infirmity. The benefit is from $12 to $48 per year. Payment may be made on the poorhouse plan. In 1910 the system was revised to include a very great number of clerks, wage earners, and farm laborers not previously protected.
NEW ZEALAND. This thrifty country, beginning in 1901, has carried about 12,000 persons on the old age pension roll. It costs the state $2,000,000 a year. About one-third of the people who are eligible claim the pension. The percentage of claimants, in proportion to the number who might have filed claim, fell from forty-two per cent in 1901 to thirty-four per cent in 1906. Natural independence in a land of plenty led the remaining sixty-six per cent of the eligibles to refrain from taking pensions.
AUSTRALIA. The states differ quite as members of the American Union differ. New South Wales offers a pension to all who have passed the sixty-fifth year. Victoria makes similar provision for those who have attained the age named and who are unable to work. The consequence is that the percentage of pensioners in Victoria is but half as high as in New South Wales. Victoria pays out $1,000,000 a year in old age pensions; New South Wales $2,500,000.
UNITED KINGDOM. An act went into effect January 1, 1909, granting persons who have attained the age of seventy a weekly pension of from one to five shillings per week--$13 to $65 a year--according to the degree of need. Criminals, inhabitants of insane asylums, and persons proved to be habitual drones are excluded. The debaters on the floor of Parliament did not fail to call attention to the cost of building Dreadnoughts and the greater good in making many old people happy, as compared with issuing a naval challenge to the world. Opponents of the plan urged that government assistance will tend to "weaken the moral fiber of the people."
The outworking of the plan has been almost alarmingly successful. It was assumed that not more than 570,000 persons in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland would apply for pensions, and that the cost for the first year would be $32,500,000. The law went into operation New Year's day. By the end of September 12,768 more men and women than the expected number were actually drawing pensions, and in nine months out of the twelve $30,000,000 had been spent out of an estimate of $32,500,000 for the entire year. Great Britain is beginning to realize that it is entering upon an experience with old age pensions similar to that of the United States with military pensions. An increased income tax and a tax of one-fifth of the unearned increment were imposed in 1910 to meet increased expenditures.
CANADA. A modified pension plan went into effect July 20, 1908. The government has simply gone into the business of selling annuities. Payment to the government may be made through the postoffices. Employers may arrange to pay for their employes by a lump sum, and fraternal organizations are authorized to pay for all members in one sum. Except in case of infirmity, annuities are not available until the buyer attains fifty years of age. The annuities range from $50 to $600. They are exempt from seizure for debt.