The Cause of the Confusion.

The confusion is readily explained by the origin of the popular feeling in favor of a pension scheme. At present the aged poor are relieved upon the same grounds and by the same methods as their juniors, and it is considered unjust that those who are incapacitated by old age alone should be put in the same category with those whose incapacity springs from idleness or vice. A scheme is accordingly demanded which will give the aged separate and better treatment, and the logical conclusion that if old age is to be the criterion all the aged must be put on the same footing is clearly seen. But equally clear is the difficulty of finding the money for a universal scheme, and the difficulty is so great that some are fain to accept a plan which will benefit the aged poor only, overlooking the fact that in so doing they have not merely made a theoretical sacrifice, but have abandoned the chief part of their practical object by reaffixing the stigma of pauperism which they were anxious to remove, and reconverting the veteran's wage into the pauper's dole. An old age pension scheme which makes poverty a necessary qualification for a pensioner is, if not a contradiction in terms, at any rate a gross misnomer; and, if desirable in other respects, should be enacted without any false pretence as a measure of charitable aid.