an annuity
which would terminate with his own life.

The whole policy, indeed, of attempting to turn all working-class
savings into this one channel is a false one; and it has been shown
that no kind of saving is in fact less popular among working men than
the purchase of a deferred annuity. I may here be allowed to quote a
few lines from my own report:

'In the infinitely various conditions of a working-man's life thrift
will take many forms, and an attempt to prescribe a single form is
eminently injudicious. The whole life-plan of a farmer whose farm will
remain with him to the end will be different from that of an artisan
or a domestic servant whose power of earning a livelihood depends
entirely upon his physical strength. The former will probably find it
most profitable to expend his savings on the improvement of his farm.
Where the system of peasant proprietorship prevails most agricultural
thrift is directed to the purchase and enlargement of farms. In
Ireland it is largely directed to the purchase of tenant right, or to
enabling the younger members of the family to emigrate.

'Nor is it true that even the artisan will find the purchase of an
annuity the best thing to be aimed at. To buy a house or some
furniture; to start a small business; to expend his savings in tiding
over periods of slack or failing work; to avail himself of the
advantage which some fluctuation in the market gives to the man who
can transport himself promptly to a new locality or a new business is
often far more to his advantage. Above all, money expended in settling
his family is often his best policy as well as the course which is
most beneficial to the community. At present a large proportion of
working men look forward to their children to help them in their old
age, and make it a main object of their lives to place them in a
position to do so. It does not seem to me a wise thing for the State
either to emancipate children from this duty or to induce every
married working man to sink his savings in an annuity which will end
with his life and from which his widow and children can derive no
benefit. It is certainly not for the advantage of the country that in
selecting between alternative ways of providing for old age he should
be induced to choose that which throws the greatest burden on the
State. With the vast increase of population, with the great
fluctuations of modern industry, and with the rapid development of the
colonies, it i