The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-26
SOCIAL PROBLEM
 WORRIES BERLIN Insurance Against UnempIoy-
 ment Is Desired ELIMINATE HELLO GIRL German Towns Want System By Which They Can Call Up Any Subscriber Without Central
 Connection.
BY STEPHEN BURNETT.

tosrul, DecenDef Eo.--DHe or the SOclal problems this admirable Berlin of ours is trying to solve is that of insurance against unemployment, assuredly one of the most difficult and complicated ever presented to the ingenuity of man; one too, which, if it could be solved, would enormously diminish the swelling volume of misery and crime and deprive the ranks of anarchists of many of it's most desperate auxliaries.t But with all the will in the world the Berlin city fathers cannot solve 1t, and not solely owing to want of means.
 A commission, consisting of some of their members, reports that the chief hindrance lies in the impossbility of ascertaining whether a given case is one suitable for insurance that is, whether the unemployed, in fact, possess the will and capacity to work, and whether in reality the labor market has no work to offer.
 The commission considers that an un- employment insurance scheme could only be carried out by large unions of parishes equipped with a certain amount of com pulsory power by the legislature. and proposes q congress of municipal repre- sentatives from various towns to lay down the fundamental principles to be ob served by all parishes.
 An institution the work registry offices, would play an important part in any practical system that might be devised. These offices are a species of exchange or labor market, where the unemployed attend and into which pour, chiefly by telephone, offers of employment from firms throughout the city in permanent or temporary need of workers. The off cials of the exchanges are acquainted with the unemployed and their capacities. their family conditions, their place of residence, with it's street car connections to the work-offering, firm or factory, and other details enabling them to act as valuable counselors to the attending workmen and work women. The offices are at present only assisted by munich pal funds. but the commission suggests that they should be taken over and who'll ly administered by the municipal au- thorities.
 There is town in Germany, that of Hlildeshein, where a telephone subscriber may now call up on his phone any other subscriber he wants without submitting himself to the mercy of hello girl" and experiments are being made in cer- tain localities of Berlin and Munich to test the possibility of introducing the automatic system of direct connection into the capitals of Prussia and Ba- varia a large scale.
 The results, however, of the experi- ments in Berlin and Munich, as well as of the regular system at Hildeshein, go to show that the use of the directly connecting system, on a large scale, Is out of question, at least until some gift ed individual invents a much more sims pie apparatus than is now used. The difficulty is found to be not so much a technical as an educational one, since it arises from the natural want of in- teligence and consequent skill on the part of the public.
 A small portion of people, 1t turns out, can quickly learn to handle the directly connecting apparatus with success but it is otherwise with the vast majority who make more mistakes and cause more delay, injury and wrong connec- tions than all the telephone officials put together
 The direct system is reported, how ever to be easily misusel and cases are described in which subscribers have been completely isolated for purposes of crime or had to suffer hideous and in- cessant ringing of the telephone bell set going from motives of revenge or pleasantly
 Count von zeppelin's fame has reached its zenith. A German orchestral symph- ony has been written around him and him airship. It was performed by the orchestra of the Municipal opera at Coblenz on Wednesday night and aroused much enthusiasm. The work of 8. composer named August Bungert, the symphony is entitled 'Zeppelins First Great Flight and depicts the cruise which ended with the destruction of Zep- pehn ", on the wind-swept plains of Echtordingen in August, 1868.
 Herr Bungert has succeeded in com posing "motifs' which interpret real istically the start from Friedrichshafen, the triumphant flight through the joy crazed Rhine valley and the final dis aster. The finale portrays the national paroxysm of patriotism which Zeppelin's troubles evoked and presages Germany's glorious future in the air"
 An interesting municipal experiment is to be made by the city of Charlottenburg from the commencement of next year with view to controlling and improving the housing accommodation of the fast growing city. The municipal authorities have arranged for the institution of a housing office. which will not only in spect all small dwellings, but will act as a complete and compulsory dwelling agency, as a statistical office for hous- ing accommodation and as a mediating authority for the encouragement of the construction of model dwellings and houses for unmarried persons of both sexes