The number of its members
is large, and rapidly on the increase: they number 12,000; the
amount of invested capital is very nearly 15,000 pounds; it has
done a world of good and a world of work in these first nine years
of its life; and yet I am proud to say that the annual cost of the
maintenance of the institution is no more than 250 pounds. And now
if you do not know all about it in a small compass, either I do not
know all about it myself, or the fault must be in my "packing."
One naturally passes from what the institution is and has done, to
what it wants. Well, it wants to do more good, and it cannot
possibly do more good until it has more money. It cannot safely,
and therefore it cannot honourably, grant more pensions to
deserving applicants until it grows richer, and it cannot grow rich
enough for its laudable purpose by its own unaided self. The thing
is absolutely impossible. The means of these railway officers and
servants are far too limited. Even if they were helped to the
utmost by the great railway companies, their means would still be
too limited; even if they were helped--and I hope they shortly will
be--by some of the great corporations of this country, whom
railways have done so much to enrich. These railway officers and
servants, on their road to a very humble and modest superannuation,
can no more do without the help of the great public, than the great
public, on their road from Torquay to Aberdeen, can do without
them.
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