LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
OLD-AGE PENSIONS.
[TO THZ EDITOR OF THE 'SPECTATOR.']
SIR,—A national Insurance Society is a very different thing from a State-paid pension scheme, and need not interfere or compete with any sound Friendly Society. May I say that Mr. Martineau's objection (see Spectator, July 27th) occurred also to myself when I brought Mr. Blackley's plan before one of our Church Synods some years ago ? I am not sure that this was not one of the objections raised at a meeting in the Oddfellows' Hall at Edinburgh, presided over by the late Lord Provost Harrison, and addressed by Mr. Blackley himself ; but I remember his saying in answer to it (I give the sub-
stance of his words) A man is either thrifty or unthrifty ; if the latter, he must be compelled to make the necessary pro- vision; if the former, he is not likely, though already belonging to a Friendly Society, to cease to belong to it, or object to make what is in effect an additional investment, any more than a man who owns shares in one company will refuse to become a shareholder also in another.' This, so far as I remember, is the substance of what Mr. Blackley said in answer to a question I put to him on the subject. I am sorry I cannot lay my band upon his letter. He was not hostile to any sound Friendly Society or Benefit Club, or to any system that might tend to promote thrift. He felt sure that his scheme would not impair them. "They may help," he said, ." the self-denial of the best class of our people, but they do not touch the misery of the worst." His scheme provides not only against destitu- tion in sickness, but also against destitution in old age. On the subject of Friendly Societies in general and other aids to thrift, may I venture to recommend Mr. Blackley's really remarkable little book published by the S.P.C.K., or his "Collected Essays on the Prevention of Pauperism" ? They will repay perusal.—I am, Sir, &c.,
G. J. COWLEY-BROWN.
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