The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 18, 1918, Page 9

- the workers and the two old Those Who BY GEORGE MACDONNELL PON the en- trance of organized labor into "~ the parlia- ments of the Anti- podes the 7 question of old age pensions was brought up. The Labor parties in the various Australian state par- liaments each had a plank in their platforms calling for old age pensions. ‘After some bar- gaining between the party of parties a bill to enact an old age pensions law was intro- duced into and passed by the state parliament of Victoria, and the act ‘came into oper- ation on January 18, 1901. Later in the same year old age pensions were introduced into New South Wales. Queens- land followed in 1908. Finally, an act providing for the pay- ment of old age pensions throughout the whole of Aus- tralia was passed by the Aus- tralian federal parliament. The federal act came into force on July 1, 1909. This act super- cedes the state acts insofar as provision for old age is con- cerned. : Under the federal act of 1909 the rate of pension pay- able was limited to $2.50 per week. A further limitation is imposed in that the pension plus any private income which the pensioner may have must not exceed $5.per week. How- ever, payments received by way of benefit from.any reg- ~ S A e introduced and passed an amending bill by which the amount of the pension was in- creased from $2.50 per week to $3.13 per week, and the limit of the total income al- lowed to pensioners raised from $56 to $5.63 cents per week. At the federal election of 1917 the Labor party was defeated and the pensions have not been further increased. However, at the federal con- ference of the Australian La- bor party held in June, 1918, a plank was inserted into the platform calling for the fur- ther raising of the pension payable from $3.13 to $6 per week. In addition to old age pen- sions, invalid pensions are also paid under the pensions act. The first invalid pensions were paid at the end of 1910. The is the ‘same as that of the old age pension. Any person who has resided at least five years in Australia and who has been totally incapacitated for work while in Australia and who is over 16 years of age is en- titled to an invalid pension, which continues as long as he or she is thus incapacitated.. . In 1912, the Labor party be- ing in control of the federal parliament, an act granting maternity allowances was passed. This act provides for the payment of the sum of $256 to every woman each time she gives birth to a child. A distinet advance is made in the maternity allowance act ‘in amount of the invalid pension that the sum of $25 is paid.- irrespective of whether, the . istered lodge society, provident society, or trade union or ether society or association, are not for the purposes of the act to be considered 'as private in- come. The pension age for men is fixed at 65 years. The Here’s some fun for the boys and girls. This is the picture of a prominent League-buster. To “expose” him you will have to cut out the above pieces carefully and neatly and put them together on a piece of paper. Paste each piece down when you are sure it is in the right place. When the .picture is put together, Cartoonist Foss thinks you will recognize who it is. Then send your completed picture to the Leader, Puzzle Department, together with a 25-word de- scription of who the picture represents. ‘We will publish the best and neatest completed picture we receive, together with the names of all the boys and girls who were successful in woman is rich or poor} The Labor party argues that it is. only in this way that..the..- stigma associated with the idea of charitable aid can be removed. The . Labor party proposes to apply the same .pension age for women is fixed at- 60 years. In the case of a 65 and 60, respectively, and who either do or do he or she would have if the other were not living. Reductions in ‘the amount of pension payable are owned by the pensioner, the capital value of the home in which the pensioner resides being ex- cepted. As regards accumulated property, the pen- sion is subject to a deduction of just under 10 cents per week for each complete $60 by which the net passage of the federal act a pension of $2.50 per niless old age. this is not true even in America, where _ ready provided ppva put husband and wife who have attained the ages of not live together, each is entitled to the pension ° made in respect of the capital value of property capital value exceeds $250. At the time of the - " America has been fairly generous, perhaps, in providing pensions for her soldiers, but she has never recognized any claim for aid from those who have spent their lives in industry and approach old age wit [ poorhouses; very frequently not good poorhouses at that. We brought the poor- . house system from England, and in many ways it represents the autocratic con- tempt.for labor which England of a hundred years ago had. The worker who had hout adequate support, except to provide given his active life to industry is regarded merely as an object of charity in pen- : , There has been the pious assumption that conditions of work were 80 good on the farm and in the factory that if the worker failed to save up enough for old age it was his own fault—waste, intemperance, laziness, etc. But w ] th ‘ € : the condition of labor is best, but is rather a pious fraud to save the faces of the exploiters. r S more _than a bare living wage for a family of five, and what little saving is possible is - likely to be swept away by the recdrring hard times. what is known as old age pensions, _position of an industrial soldier and so take away . private charity. The story on this p ar through gives a. go putting: the picture together and identifying the individual represented: week.was about equivalent to $3.50 per week in the United States in purchasing power. son is entitled to an old age pension unless he or she 'is of good character. A residence of 20 years in Australia is also required. There were 87,780 people, out of a population of just under 5,000,000, receiving old age pensions in 1914, The Labhor party has never felt that the pension of $2.50 per week was final. It is a very small compensation ‘to those who have given the best years of their lives in the service of society. In 1916 the Labor party, having a majority in both of the federal houses of parliament at that time, But we know ‘Very little of our labor gets more Several countries have al- which place the worker in the the sting of the poorhouse and of what the Australian Labor idea of these pensions.. No per- * of the orgamization. = principle to the old age and invalid pensions in:the near future, namely, that all should receive the same pension whether rich or poor. WE THINK IT'S PROFIT Ellinwood, Kan. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: ‘Why is it that we farmers are charged 20 cents freight on every bushel of wheat here in my ter- ritory? They grind every bushel of it here and not a pound. of it is shipped out. 5 Also, why is it that when my neighbor sells a load of corn to the miller, the miller pays him the Kansas City price less the freight and his profit, 2and when I go to buy corn from the miller, which he bought from my neighbor, he charges me the price at Kansas City plus freight from that point. Why does the butcher act like the miller when: he buys our hogs and cattle and sheep? : ; GEORGE J. KLEIN. The lack of local markets, which special inter- ests, especially the railroads, have been active in killing off, leads to many absurd situations in which the farmers lose going and coming. The de- velopment of state-owned elevators, mills and cold storage plants and a little co-operation will do a sion Plans in Australia Have Grown Old 1n Industry, on Farm or in Factory, ' Have Right to Small Weekly Income I WELL-PAID LEAGUE-HATER—PUZZLE BY FOSS I rs | R s S } 7 A T e 5 N B A LS S TR P great deal toward developing fair local markets. = - LOST WITHOUT THE LEADER 'Editor Nonpartisan Leader: ‘In moving from Mineola, Texas, to this place T - have missed several copies of the Leader, and it is ~almost like missing meals with me. I have been boosting the League in this country and I find many people who ‘are interested. Some have never heard Gracemont, Okla. i Rt P P N P AT RN O A TN