The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-08

the act, because they regarded the
stipulated remuneration insufficient,
have now withdrawn practically ALL
opposition Employers who once
swore that they would never lick
stamps for Lloyd George are now
meekly affixing the tinted bits Of
paper to their employers cards each
week, and admit that they haven't
found it any greater hardship than
paying wages. The general approval
of the employees themselves is indi-
Gated in the enormous and unexpected
percentage Of those who have become
members of the approved societies.
About the only class in the conf
munity that can legitimately claim to-
have suffered at all is che druggists.
There has been tremendous falling
Off in the sale of patent medicines, as
the man who formerly prescribed for
himself now goes to a government
doctor and gets a government pre-
scription. The complaint Of the drug
gists that the amount allowed by the
government for filing prescriptions is
too low is now being investigated.
sThe success of the act has really
been amazing, In fact beyond all our
dreams, considering the magnitude OF
the nnderts king" today said G. F. G.,
Masterman, NJ p, chairman of the in
surance advisory committee and who
was Lloyd Georges first-mate in pill
citing the bill through parliament last
year. Every obstacle has been over
come. The fear that we couldn't get
people to join the approved societies
proved to be utterly unfounded. Our
success in this respect alone has been
little short of miraculous.
"The German scheme, which can
not be too highly praised, with one
fourth the complications which we
had to provide for, took two years 10
launch. Ours is enjoying smooth sail
ing after less than six months, thanks
largely to the workers having learned
the benefit of combinations in friend
ly societies. trade unions, and other
insurance organizations approved by
the government.
"The almost universal acceptance
OF the law by the employing class has
proved another surprise. When one
considers the normal difficulty OF col
lecting any tax at all, even the income
tax with It's special machinery set up
all over the country and gagged in
the working, 1t Is astonishing to find
these enormous sums of money col
lected by stamps purchased weekly by
the employers, and, In ninety-nine
cial intimation of any sort from any
government official that 1t Is neces-
sary to procure the stamps Actual
resistance on the part OF employers
was from the first confined to very
limited and special cases, and today
has all but ceased.
"That the opposition OF the doctors.
which was strongly famed for purely
| political purposes, has been practical
lIy overcome is shown by the fact
| that they are now treating half mil
| lion persons weekly under the act
and more than thirteen million are
absolutely assured that il they are
taken III at any time they will have
no doctors bills to pay.
Already the act is firmly imben
ded in the normal life of the nation,
at once an achievement and a chal-
lenge, the removal of an ancient re.
proach, the basis of fresh endeavor.
The most gratifying feature of the
laws success is the present attitude
OF the workingman. He regards his
insurance card as the very opposite
of an emblem of serfdom,' as our OPP
ponents used to characterize It, He
feels himself freer man than he
ever felt before, because that card
is the guarantee of bedrock basis
below which he cannot fall. 1t is the
charter of his exemption from some
of the cruelest and most wearing OF
his anxieties.'
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