1872. Unwilling to create a permanent bureau, the central government has, however, created by decree a commission to collect information in relation to labor. This commission (Kommission für Arbeiterstatistik) was definitely organized April 1, 1892. It is composed of a president appointed by the chancellor of the Empire, 6 members chosen by the Bundesrat, 7 by the Reichstag, and 1 by the chancellor from among the statistical officers of the Empire.

The work of the commission is declared to be to give its advice, on the request of the Bundesrat or chancellor, concerning proposed statistical works and their execution and results, and to submit to the chancellor propositions for the carrying out of such inquiries. It will be seen from this description of the character of the commission that it may be said to occupy a medium position between industrial commissions and labor bureaus.

In Switzerland the secretariat ouvrier suisse at Bern, an adjunct of the federation of the labor organization, is subsidized by the Government and makes certain reports in the nature of those made by labor bureaus in other countries.

Austria is the most recent European nation to create an official bureau for the collection of statistics of labor. Such an office was created by an order of the Emperor dated July 21, 1898, and was placed under the ministry of commerce.

The purpose of this bureau, as set forth in the resolution, is to make investigations and reports concerning the "condition of the laboring classes, especially those in manufactures and trade, mining, agriculture, and forestry, and commerce and transportation, and, further, concerning the working of institutions and laws for the advancement of the welfare of the workingmen, and also concerning the extent and conditions of production in the industries which have been named."

In the prosecution of its work the bureau is directed to seek the cooperation of the State and communal authorities, the chambers of commerce and industry, and the workingmen's accident-insurance institutions, and these bodies are directed to render all necessary assistance to the labor bureau in its work.

An important feature of the system created by this resolution is that providing for the creation of a permanent labor council, the duty of which is to act as an advisory body to the labor bureau, and especially to promote harmonious relations between the bureau and the manufacturers or other persons with whom the former comes in contact in the prosecution of its work. This council consists of 32 members, of whom 8 represent the labor bureau and other offices of the Government and 24 are persons appointed for a term of 3 years by the minister of commerce. Of these 24 one-third must be employers of labor, one-third workingmen, and one-third persons whose technical knowledge makes their cooperation in the work of the council desirable. These members receive no salary, but those living outside of Vienna are paid a per diem of 8 gulden ($3.25) while in attendance at the council, in addition to traveling expenses, and the workingmen members resident in Vienna receive an allowance of 5 gulden ($2.03) per day's attendance.

This council was constituted on September 25, and the bureau of labor commenced operations October 1, 1898. The bureau issues a monthly bulletin in addition to regular reports.

In New Zealand there is in the Government a department of labor, and in June, 1891, there was created under it a bureau of industries, with duties similar to the bureaus of labor statistics provided for in many States of the Union. This department publishes an annual report giving the results of the working of the arbitration act, etc.

Canada.-The act of July 18, 1900, sections 10 to 12, makes provision for a department of labor, having the usual duties of collecting statistics, issuing reports, etc. A monthly bulletin, under the title of Labor Gazette, is published by this department.

Ontario. In 1900 an act was passed creating a bureau of labor, with the sole function of publishing statistics.

Austria. The decree of May 23, 1899, creates an imperial labor council, consisting of the director of the bureau of labor statistics, his assistant, and of I representative each of the ministers of the interior, of justice, finance, agriculture, railroads, and commerce, the president of the council of hygiene, and 30 members named by the minister of

commerce.

New South Wales.-The Government labor bureau, organized in 1892, belongs to the department of labor and industry, created in 1895. It is not a statistical office, but confines its work chiefly to the assisting of the unemployed, besides having charge of the factory laws, etc.

SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT OFFICES (STATE).

Public employment offices in the cities or communes are extremely common in continental countries, but there is no general legislation upon this subject.

SEC. 3. STATE INSURANCE FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

Switzerland is apparently the only country in which serious efforts have been made to lessen the evils of lack of employment through the creation of special State insurance institutions. These experiments relate to, first, the voluntary insurance institutions against lack of employment organized by the town of Bern; second, the obligatory insurance institution against lack of employment created by the town of St. Gall, and, third, the various propositions to introduce similar institutions in Basel, Zurich, and Lucerne, and the official investigation of the question of idleness now being conducted by the Federal authorities of Switzerland.

The first attempt to provide for insurance against idleness under Government auspices was made by the town of Bern in April, 1893. It provided for the creation of an institution, membership in which was to be purely voluntary. Each member was required to pay monthly dues of 40 centimes ($0.077). To the fund thus accumulated the town agreed to add a subsidy, the maximum amount of which was limited to 5,000 francs ($965) a year. The constitution also provided for the receipt of gifts from employers and other individuals. The value of the out-of-work benefits was fixed at 1 franc ($0.193) for unmarried and 1.50 francs ($0.29) for married men per day. This relief would be granted only during the months of December, January, and February. Only members of 6 months' standing who had paid their dues regularly and had been unemployed at least 15 days are

entitled to benefits, and then not for the first week that they are without work. These members must also present themselves twice a day in a room set aside for that purpose, where they can spend the day if they desire, to respond to a roll call. This is in order to safeguard the institution against impositions. A workingman who refuses work of any kind loses all right to aid of any kind. The members thus do not have the right to refuse any work because it is not in their trade. There are also other cases in which the workingman loses his right to a benefit. Such, for instance, are the cases where he is unemployed as the result of his own fault, and especially when he has engaged in a

strike.

The fund is administered by a commission of 7 members, of which 3 are named by the municipal authorities, 2 by the employers contributing to the fund, and 2 by the workingmen.

This institution has now been in existence a sufficient length of time to furnish some indication of the character of the results. The number of members during the first year, 1893-94, was 404. Of these 166 were aided during the year. There were paid to them $1,319.16, or an average of $7.95 each. The highest sum paid to any one person was $20.27. The total expenditure of the year was $1,508.30. Receipts for the year consisted of $212.30, dues of members; $382.14, gifts from employers and others, and $913.86, municipal subsidy.

It will be seen that the members contributed but 14 per cent of the total receipts and that they received in actual benefits 6 times the amount paid in by them as dues. One would think that under such exceptionally favorable circumstances membership would increase rapidly. Such, however, has not been the case. During the second year, 1894-95, there were but 390 members, or 14 less than the preceding year. Two hundred and nineteen persons, or more than half the members, were aided. They received $1,869.06, or an average of $8.53 each. But $263.79 out of a total receipt of $2,249.86 were from members' dues. The ratio of this sum to the amount paid out in benefits is 14 per cent, the members thus receiving on an average 7 times the amount contributed by them.

This institution had been founded for but 2 years as an experiment. In 1895, the 2 years having elapsed, the town council determined by an almost unanimous vote to continue it in operation. Some modifications, however, were introduced in its organization. Dues were raised from 40 to 50 centimes ($0.077 to $0.0964) per month, and the maximum amount of the municipal subsidy was raised from $965 to $1,351. Daily benefits were also increased from 1 to 1.50 francs ($0.193 to $0.29) for single and from 1.50 to 2 francs ($0.29 to $0.386) for married members. In addition, the municipal employment bureau, which had until then been an independent service, was attached to the work of the insurance fund.

The result of these changes was to increase the operations of the fund. On December 31, 1895, there were 605 members enrolled, of whom 169, or 49 more than during the preceding year at the same date, had been aided. The total receipts during the year 1895-96 were $2,213.99, of which $312.70 were derived from dues. Total expenditures were $2,121.30, of which $1,932.22 were for benefits. In this third year, therefore, slightly over 6 times the amount received as dues from the members was paid in benefits.

St. Gallen, a town of about 30,000 inhabitants, was the first to, follow the example of Bern and provide for the insurance of workingmen against idleness. Its policy, however, differed radically from that of Bern in that it adopted the policy of compulsory insurance. Its institution was created June 23, 1895. After an existence of about a year and a half, its suppression, after June 30, 1897, was voted by a majority of the electors of the town November 8, 1896. The reasons for its abolishment were that the system of compulsion worked badly. It was difficult to compel the workingmen to become members; injustice was done by putting workingmen in industries in which the likelihood of lack of employment was slight on the same footing as those in industries, such as the building trades, where interruptions to work were of almost certain occurrence. Finally, it was claimed that the efforts of those out of work to obtain employment were lessened.

At Basel, though no scheme of insurance has as yet been put into operation, a proposition for the compulsory insurance of workingmen against lack of employment through a municipal institution has been elaborated, in which the attempt has been made to meet the objections that were urged against the St. Gallen experiment. The question of insurance against lack of employment has also received attention in other Swiss cities, notably Zurich and Lucerne, but no actual steps in this direction have as yet been taken. The Federal Government is now prosecuting an investigation of the whole subject of lack of employment and the means of preventing or lessening the evils resulting from it. The complete report of this investigation has not yet been made. (U. S. Labor Bulletin, vol. 2, pp. 169-172.)

ART. C.-STATE INSURANCE.

SEC. 1. COMPULSORY STATE ASSURANCE AGAINST OLD AGE,
DISABILITY, ETC.

In the introduction to the report to Parliament by the board of trade on the subject of "Provision for old age by Government action in certain European countries," Mr. Llewellyn Smith, of that department, says that of the 11 countries which have gone into the subject in their legislation only 2, Germany and Denmark, can be said to have adopted a general system of pension or relief in old age. This, however, was before the law just enacted in France, and I think before the latest statute in Italy. Under the German law (more fully discussed below) there is a general system of compulsory insurance against old age and invalidity, and in the year 1897 over 400,000 pensioners drew pensions, amounting to not less than £2,750,531, of which £1,079,823 was provided by the State. Of the above amounts about half was expended on old age and half on invalidity pensions. In Denmark the system adopted is very different, providing for a special form of old age or relief to necessitous persons of good character. There are no direct contributions by the recipient, and the amount of the pension is not fixed by law, though it must be sufficient for the needs of the applicant and his family, though receipt of this relief does not impose electoral disabilities. In 1896, 36,246 persons, with 14,223 dependents, were receiving pensions in Denmark under this

law to the amount of £216,317, of which, roughly, half was paid by the State and half by the communes. Mr. Llewellyn Smith follows this introduction with a detailed account of the old-age pension system of the following States, in so far as they have any system: Russia, Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, and Roumania.

The following account of the German law is, however, based directly on the law itself as printed in the French translation, which appeared in the Belgian Labor Annual for 1899:

GERMANY.

As is well known the most momentous innovation in legislation affecting the well-being of the laboring classes that has been made in modern times is the assurance against disabilities law of the German Empire, passed June 22, 1889, and substantially amended July 13, 1899. This law comprises 194 sections, and fills about 150 printed pages. Its whole theory, being based on paternalism, not to say State socialism, is entirely foreign to American theories of government as well as legislation. Nevertheless, a law of such immense importance should be mentioned in this report, particularly as there is already English legislation tending in the same direction, and it is possible that the movement may extend to this country.

In brief, the law establishes a system of compulsory assurance against old age, illness, and disability, but with the State itself for insurance company, and the State itself or its functionaries charged with the receipt and management of funds, which are derived one-half from premiums paid by or withheld from wages of the persons insured, the other half being met directly by the State itself.

The law applies to the following classes of persons: (1) All persons, male and female, employed under salary or wages as workmen, aids, journeymen, apprentices, or servants; (2) all industrial workmen, including submasters, mechanics, skilled labor of all kinds, clerks, porters, and assistants (with the single exception of assistants or apprentices in drug stores), and also all other persons whose occupation consists principally in the service of others, such as instructors or preceptors, so long as such persons do not receive an annual salary in excess of 2,000 marks (about $500); (3) the law also applies to all persons serving on seagoing vessels or ships for wages or salary, and also to persons employed in the internal navigation of the country, including all captains or masters whose salary or normal wages does not exceed 2,000 marks per year, and by the decree of the Federal Council the first class may be extended so as to include all heads of an industrial enterprise who do not employ regularly at least one salaried workman under their orders; and also, without regard to the number of workmen employed, to all mechanics, or wage earners working at home upon the order and for the account of other persons (sweat-shop labor), even when they themselves furnish their own materials and even for the time during which they may temporarily work for their own account. The Federal Council may also decree that the employers of such sweat-shop labor, etc., shall have the same obligation to see to the insurance of their help; that is, it may impose fines upon the heads of factories, etc.