250 Pension Fund Report 



After eight years of successful operation, it is the concensus 

 of opinion that the basic principles of our pension system were 

 soundly formulated, and that the success of the plan has been 

 due in great measure to the foresight which created a pension 

 committee composed jointly of employer and employee rep- 

 resentatives. 



In one of his essays, Thomas Carlyle says: 



"The man who must work and the man who must find work 

 for that man to do should be bound by ties that are stronger 

 than mere wages." 



This conviction lies at the root of our pension system, and 

 its expression was prophetic of the whole present trend of 

 relations between employer and employee. 



The Pension Fund operations of these eight years are espe- 

 cially gratifying in view of the restrictions we have been under 

 owing to lack of endowment, and the fact that full credit for 

 their years of service previous to the formation of the Fund 

 is allowed our employees, without the exaction of contribu- 

 tions or the allocation of funds to cover such years. All claims 

 have been paid, however, and an unusually satisfactory invest- 

 ment fund has been accumulated. And, to gauge the value of 

 our system from another standpoint, the Museum Administra- 

 tion assure us that the pension plan serves to attract the best 

 class of workers, to retain skilled employees, to increase the 

 general good will and to promote efficiency and initiative. 



There are of course certain features of the present system 

 which it is felt could be improved with benefit to the employee 

 body and the Corporation mutually. This applies particularly 

 to the rules governing pension grants, service requirements 

 and general administration of the funds. It has been sug- 

 gested, for instance, that the present minimum pension pay- 

 ments should be increased ; that workers should have the option 

 of retiring after a continuous service of twenty-five years; that 

 in order to establish the status of part-time employees a rule 

 should be fixed defining what portion of a year of service an 

 employee must give to the Museum in order to be eligible to 

 membership in the Fund; and that more exact provisions 

 should be made for the direction by the Pension Board of 

 matters of Pension Fund administration. 



