on the individual life
should be in the production of a line of normal and successful men and
women, rather than attempts to make all share alike, whatever their
personal quality, when old age comes on. This principle makes it
imperative that some larger and wiser plan than has as yet been
attempted shall make all systems of financial care of the aged a
positive aid toward self-dependence and social serviceability.

=Old-age Home Insurance.=--In this connection a radical suggestion is
offered, namely, a scheme for Old-age Home Insurance. It is a
well-known fact that the waiting list of most private Homes for the
Aged is long, and that men and women wait piteously for the death of
an "inmate" to give them entrance to the only place of comfort and
security life can offer them. It is also well known that there are
more aged persons who need the companionship of those of their own
generation, who need quiet and relief from the noise and excitement of
young children, than can now secure those requirements in the homes of
their daughters or their sons. It is again true, although not so well
recognized or understood, that most aged persons unable financially to
retain a personal home would prefer a choice between residence in a
child's family, however dutiful and generous that child might be, and
residence elsewhere. It is also true that the care of aged parents in
her own home is often too great a tax upon the time and strength of
the housemother when there are many young children. Again, it is true
that many aged people prefer a place they can call "home," even if it
is only one room, to which they can invite their friends and from
which they may pay visits to their relatives, even their nearest and
dearest, and return to their own small quarters at will. It is also
true that although most elderly persons live for years in quite good
health and need little actual nursing, they do profit by occasional
attentions which a nurse can give, and few such elderly people can
afford or obtain this occasional service in either a home of their own
or in one shared with a child.

These facts indicate a need for a larger and a more democratic
provision of homes for the aged, a provision that can be more easily
made by personal effort through the younger years of life, and one
that can receive social aid at less cost to personal dignity and with
less rigid rules of managing "Boards" than the present prevailing type
of Homes for the Aged