03151cam a22003493u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000330012624500190015926400510017830000470022933600260027633700260030233800360032850000310036450802130039552019080060853400590251665300380257565300300261365300200264385600760266385600430273999900190278277562UtSlPG20260610134809.0mcr n260607r20251922utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a22006629  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aHD1 aEpstein, Abraham,d1892-194210aFacing old age 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-12-29  aRichard Tonsing, Charlene Taylor, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)  a"Facing old age" by Abraham Epstein is a social policy study written in the early 20th century. It argues that modern industrial life, inadequate wages, and weakened family support leave many Americans unable to sustain themselves in later years, and it evaluates charity, savings, and pension schemes—domestic and foreign—to press for a constructive public solution.

The opening of the study is an explicit call for social action: Epstein, drawing on intensive work in Pennsylvania, concludes that only organized social insurance or public pensions can meet the problem that private charity and employer plans fail to solve. An introduction by John B. Andrews situates old age alongside accident, sickness, and unemployment, noting America’s recent progress on compensation and mothers’ aid while stressing that old-age poverty remains largely hidden and untreated outside public-employee systems. The first chapters contrast earlier social orders—where elders retained roles or support—with the modern factory system that “scraps” older workers, shows why most cannot save amid rising living costs and fractured families, and traces the almshouse as the all-too-common end. Epstein then marshals data: the elderly share of the population is growing even as employment after 55 drops sharply, disability days climb steeply with age, and hazardous trades (steel, mining, railroads) force many out before 60; union rolls contain few members over 60. He distinguishes three groups in old age (secure, struggling but “non-dependent,” and dependent) and, using commission and census findings, shows that most institutional entrants arrive after 60, men are overrepresented, the single and widowed without children are most at risk, health impairments are widespread, prior work is largely unskilled, and home ownership and incomes are thin. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922  aOld age pensions -- United States  aIndustrial life insurance  aSocial security4 uhttps://archive.org/details/facingoldagestud00epstuoft/page/ii/mode/2up40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77562  c118282d118282