The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-01
 INSURANCE AND
 ITS PROGRESS
Remarkable Strides Made by Foreign Countries Shown by U. s. Labor Re- port.

port.
 The remarkable progress made in recent years by foreign countries on the subject of employers liability and workmens compensation Is brought out by tke first of two volumes co,n- prising the twenty fourth annual re- port, jus: issu~d hy the United States Bureau of Labor, Department or Commerce ard Labor emitted Work mems lnsvraIc~ and Compensa lio T Systems in E!rope." This volume mark, France s...d Germany. Volume II, now in the hands of the printer, relates to Great Britain, Italy, Nor way Russia, Spain and Sweden.
 Although systems of insurance and compensation for cases of industrial accidents are the best known forms of workmen's insurance. the report shows that many European countries also possess a wide variety of insur- ance institutions for the relief of dis tress caused by sickness, invalidity, old age and unemployment. Besides these forms. the methods of provid- ing maternity benefits for wage earn ing women and the systems of pen sions for widows and orphans of wage earnerS are described.
 The country with the most complete system of workmen's insurance is Germany, where practically the entire wage-earning population is required by law to be provided with some form of insurance against industrial acci- dents, sickness, invalidity and old age. Benefits are also provided in case of maternity for wage-earning women, while for some industries there is a system of insurance to pro- f1n xxyid ySd phans of wage earners. Since a num- Der of American states are consider ing the enactment of laws on em- ployers' liability and accident com pensation. the compulsory accident insurance system of Germany is of and in this field the German system makes an impressive showing. The employers defray the entire cost of the accident insurance, and it in- cludes nearly all tie industrial work CTS in the country. The most striking was 143,00o. Separate laws provide evidence of the wide scope of this system is contained in the figures for the operations of the year 1908. In this year the number of persons in- sured against accident was about 27,- 0OO,00o, the total receipts were about were about 48,000,000, and the am- ount of the reserve was $65,000,000. The number of workmen compensat- ed for the first time in the year 1908. was 1430,00. Separate laws provide system of compulsory sickness in surance for wage earners in which the employers pay one-third and the In 1908 the number of persons (not including agricultural laborers) insur- ed against sickness was about 13,- 000,000, the receipts were S95,000,- 900, and the expenditures were $91.- 000,000. Besides these two branches there is a third national compulsory system relating to insurance for old age and invalidity, in which the em- ployerS and the workmen each pay equal amounts while the imperial government provides a liberal sub sidy. In 1908 the number of persons insured under this branch was B. 000,000, the receipts were $68,000.- 900. the expenditures were $48,000,- 900, while the reserve amounted to $355, 100000. The three systems of insurance have been in operation for nearly 25 years. and the experience under them has been so favorable that in response to widespread de- mand the German Government is now preparing to revise and extend the system, and it is expected that in a few years even greater results will be shown than those now obtained.
 
 now providing subsidies for organ iZations providing benefits in case of unemployment; this is usually done by repaying to trade unions and sim liar organizations a percentage of the expenditures they make for out-of- work, travel, etc, benefits.
 In Austria the system of work mems insurance is patterned closely after that of Germany and provides relief for cases of sickness and accf- dent to workmen engaged in manu- featuring and similar industries, tion for the mining industries. The expense of the accident insurance is borne nine-tenths by the employers and one-tenth by the workmen, while the expense of the sickness insurance is defrayed in the proportion of one- third by the employer and two-thirds by the workmen. For the mining employees there is insurance for sick ness, accident and old age. One feature of workmen's insurance in Austria which no other country pos sesses is a national compulsory sys- tenn of old-age and invalidity insur- ance for salaried persons, such as cler- pense of this is defrayed partly by the employer and partly by the insur- ed person. In Austria the figures of the operation of the insurance sys- tenn were also large: in 1907 the num- Der of persons insured against indus trial accidents was over 5000. 900; the total receipts were s10,500,000, the total expenditures were 1,S00,000 and 33,500 persons received compen- sation for industrial accidents sus- tained in the course of their employ ment during the year. Equally large are the figures of the sickness insur- ance in 1907; the number of persons insured was over 3,000,00O. the re- ceipts were over $14,000,000, and the expenditures were about $13,500,oO0. The miners insurance in 1907 in- .cluded 145,000O persons; the receipts were over $3,00O.O0O, and the expen- ditures were over $3,O0O,O0O.
 While in Germany and Austria the workmen's insurance systems are pro- vided by a great variety of institu- tions and regulated by series of separate laws and decreees. The in- surance of workmeu against indus trial accidents is regulated mainly by the law of 1898. The employer s required to provide at his own ex- pense a specified system of benefits to injured workmen, and in order to protect himself he is allowed to in- sure his liability under the law in a variety of institutions, such as volun- tary associations of workmen or of employers, private insurance com panies, government insurance funds. etc. In some industries insurance against sickness is cOmpulSorv but in