Page:Economic Development in Denmark Before and During the World War.djvu/59

Rh made by the government in 1883 for the introduction of voluntary old-age insurance with aid from the state for persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five suffered the same fate. The latter bill was brought in again the following year in an amended form, but with a similar result.

It is not surprising that things came rather to a standstill in this matter. In the eyes of most people old age is a very remote condition, and those who are not unusually provident are far more attracted by matters of immediate concern. Insurance against sickness is to them a far more vital matter than an old-age pension; and as soon as a man has married and settled down he thinks first of providing for his wife and children. This is so much more the case because the annuities obtained seem to most people too small to compensate for the necessary sacrifices.

The discussion of old-age pensions was, nevertheless, continued on the basis of the government proposal. But at the end of 1890 two leading members of the Folketing, Messrs. Berg and Hörup, brought in a very different bill for the establishment of old-age pensions for the poor. This bill proposed that the poor should be allowed to purchase annuities at low rates, but also that a permanent grant of annuities should be made for all persons over sixty-two years of age who had no means of support, the necessary funds to be raised by a tax on liquor. Soon afterwards a bill was brought in from another quarter proposing a system of old-age pensions partly built upon compulsory insurance and recommending a beer or malt tax to cover any grant made by the state. The matter was now ready for decision; and when ten members of the Folketing presented as an alternative to the Berg-Hörup proposal a bill entitled 'old-age pensions for respectable poor people outside the poor-relief system', it was passed by both Houses with a surprising unanimity and became a law after a lapse of only one month. This act, passed on April 9, 1891, has since been amended, but it still retains its original character and