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18 TEE ATLANTlAN
ATLANTA TO HAVE NEW TAXICAB LINE
Big Cars, Plenty of Room, and Low
Prices, Their Motto.
The Atlanta Baggage & Cab Company has turned over another
new leaf, and this time it is Taxi-cabs.
The company will begin, on April 1, the operation of a line of
Taxicabs, of the very latest and up-to-date limizene type, and the
rates, as we understand, will be very reasonable. No meter propo
sition. The company has decided that they can give better service
to the public by operating on a flat rate basis than to always be in
a wrangle with their customers and the public on account of the
meters getting out of commission and a row with the driver.
The company is to be congratulated on this wise step, and the
directors chose well when they placed W. C. Wilson in charge as
its president and general manager.
Mr. Wilson has put all of his energy into this new position, and
is winning in every direction golden opinions for the efficiency of
the service which his company is now rendering.
A close investigation will show that, in nine cases out of ten,
the complaints and criticisms leveled at public service corporations
are due to their failure to give the public service for which the pub-
are due to their failure to give the public the service for which the
public pays. In this case the man and the occasion have met, and it is
Atlanta Baggage & Cab Company, for they will take you to ride
after April 1st.
Pensions, Wages and Efficiency.
The effect of non-contributory re
tirement pensions in lowering the
wages of the beneficiaries was clearly
brought out in the discussion at the
meeting of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science last week.
Many workers favor this form of pen
sion from a mistaken idea that con
tributory annuities involve a practical
reduction of wages, whereas non-con
tributory allowances have no such
effect. In fact, however, the inevitable
result of any non-contributory scheme
of retirement is in the long run to
reduce wages. The prospective gra
tuity Is surely discounted in advance.
The employees of a concern that of
fers gratuitous pensions for retired
workers will accept a lower rate of
pay than he would otherwise be forced
to demand. He cannot afford to leave
the service and lose his right to a
pension. If he does leave, he gets
nothing in return for the virtual con
tribution to the pension fund that he
has been making in the form of re
duced wages. On the other hand, the
participant in a properly organized
contributory system of retirement al
lowances gets back his accumulated
savings in case of withdrawal from
the service. Such a system, more
over, has no tendency to depress the
rate of wages in the slightest degree.
Rather it furnishes reasons for de
manding higher wages. The contribu
tory principle is distinctly advantage
ous for the workers, while the non-
contrlbutory arrangement is a snare
and a delusion.
The economy of a contributory re
tirement system was also emphasized
in the Philadelphia debate. The es
tablishment of such a system relieves
the service of the heavy handicap of
waste, and inefficiency entailed by the
retention on the pay roll worn out
workers who cannot render a fair
equivalent for their wages. Secretary.
MacVeagh declared that the adoption
of retirement systems for public em
ployees in general is an essential con
dition of the development of a satis
factory service. In his last two an
nual reports the secretary has urged
the need of retirement pensions in
the national service. The remarks on
this subject in his report for 1910
put the case very clearly:
• “There is no practical way to put
the government service properly on
its feet without a fair and just method
of civil service retirement. This is
not only a requisite; it is a prere
quisite; and unless congress shall
give the executive this necessary
method of improving the service the
country must accept a service that is
not fully satisfactory and which can
not be made fully satisfactory.
“Fortunately this retiring provision
can be made—and this is mathemati
cally demonstrable—without the ex
pense of one dollar to the government.
The contributory system of retiring
allowances is not only the only sys
tem that has any chance whatever of
being adopted but it fortunately is the
best system by far for the men and
women of the service; and it is, there
fore, the part of wisdom for all the
friends of this movement to concen
trate upon this method. Of course,
there must be paid by the government
the retiring allowances until the con
tributions by the members of the ser
vice have become sufficient to take
care of the payments; but these pre
liminary payments by the government
need not cost the government any
thing whatever. All of the executive
departments which have so far been
consulted stand ready to carry out
such a ‘law without asking any addi
tion whatever to their ordinary ap
propriations. The objection, therefore,
that we might be introducing another
pension roll, has no justification. It
has complete justification as long as
the straight pension was in contempla
tion. The contributory allowance,
however, is an entirely different mat
ter and eliminates this objection alto
gether. The government, therefore,
can without any expense to itself, and
by the mere passing of a law, set this
whole matter right. It is only neces
sary to mention two things about the
contributory plan, as contrasted with
the pension plan, to make clear ita ad
vantages to the people in the service.
It could never be taken as an answer
to a claim for increased pay. It is a
contribution of their own and not a
contribution of the government, and
it is in no sense an estoppel of any
argument In favor of increased pay at
any time during its operation. On the
other hand, a straight pension paid
by the government would always be
taken as n additional salary and
would perpetually have a tendency to
estap any argument for increased com
pensation. The other consideration is
that under a pension system a man
must not only live beyond the retir
ing age but he must continue always
in the service until that period in
order to receive any pension at all;
whereas, under the contributory sys
tem, under all the accidents of life, he
gets what belongs to him of the sav
ings of the system. It is impossible
not to regard a straight pension as a
party of the salary and if a man loses
it altogether, owing to the accidents
of life, he loses a part of his aggre
gate salary.
“The treasury department is en
gaged in the work of increasing its
efficiency and diminishing the relative
expense of operation. . . . But this is
clear, that any successful effort to
improve the administrative operations
of a large department like the treas
ury is immediately handicapped and
might well be discouraged entirely by
the absence of a just method of retire
ment. And even when it is possible
to protect these displaced clerks from
being thrown into the streets it is
done, in many cases, in denial of the
right of an office to efficient help.
Working in these improvements
brings constantly to mind the hope
lessness of ever arriving at a com
plete state of efficiency without a way
of retiring clerks in a just and hu
mane manner. I have no doubt that
this very discouraging feature has in
the past stood in the way of many
attempts to improve the efficiency and
economize the expense of operation
In the departments.
A Specimen of Socialist Strategy.
The Settler has received a copy of
a little pamphlet Issued by the Boston
Socialist Party Clubs, containing a
report of Father Gasson’s recent Ford
Hall address on Socialism, and a
reply by Mr. James F. Carey. The
publication illustrates the strategic
methods of Socialistic propaganda.
The pamphlet bears the title, “The
Menace of Socialism;’’ under this are
two sub-titles, “An Address Delivered
by Rev. Thomas I. Gasson, S. J., Presi
dent of Boston College,” and "A Reply
by James F. Carey, Secretary Socialist
Party Clubs of Massachusetts." The
title page would lead the purchaser or
reader to infer that he would find in
the pamphlet the text of Father Gas-
son’s address and of Mr. Carey’s reply.
Examination of the contents, how
ever, discloses the fact that it con
tains only a short and inadequate
newspaper report of the address, pre
faced to Mr. Carey’s counter-blast,
which is given jn full. Furthermore,
the brief abstract of Father Gasson’s
remarks is printed in diminutive type
and covers only about two pages,
while the reply is printed in bold
face and fills several pages. Thus is
Gasson minimized and Carey magni
fied. The performance is character
istic. Socialists complain loudly of
the unfair treatment that their doc
trines receive at the hands of a sub
sidized press. Nothing could be more
unfair than the manner in which
Father Gasson’s criticism of Socialism
has been served up for purposes of
propagandist circulation.
AGAIN.
A church house in a certain rural dis
trict was sadly in need of repairs. The
official board had called a meeting of
the parishioners to see what could be
done toward raising the necessary funds.
One of the wealthiest and stingiest of
the adherents of that church arose and
mid that he would give five dollars,
inrt sat down.
Just then a bit of plastering fell from
die ceiling and hit him squarely upon
he head. Whereupon he jumped up,
looked confused and said: “I—er—I
meant I ’ll give fifty dollars! ’ ’ then
again resumed his seat.
After a brief silence a voice was heard
to say: “Oh Lord, hit 'im again!’’
HE WAS EXPERIENCED AND
KNEW WHY.
“Hi, mister,” called the driver of a
huge dray, “will you kindly hold my
hoss’s head for me while I get down?”
The pedestrian hesitated.
“Well, I’ll do my best!” he ob
served, approaching gingerly, “though
I don’t know much about horses. Er—
which one shall I hold?”
“The off ’un,” replied the driver.
“Dear me! Poor thing!” exclaimed
the pedestrian. “Do you mean this
sad looking one?”
“No, I don’t!” cried the driver. “I
said the off ’un, didn’t I?”
“Yes, I know you did,” replied the
pedestrian testily, “but as I wasn’t at
his parent’s funeral, how the dickens
am I to guess which is the orphan?”