Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-08

tSTeSS WOULD De dropped.
4 The American committee having
| charge of the preparations for the
congress. of which Commissioner Meek
Ter is member. will continue with its
work in the hope that the war will be
over in time for the foreign delegates
to make all arrangements to attend the
meeting. Should the conflict. however.
continue into next summer it is possi-
jgress will be- postponed to the follow
ing spring or even later. Owing to the
fact that the congress, which is sup
posed to meet every three years. has
| Americans who are Interested hope
that another postponement of the event
will not be necessary.
The term social insurance is none
too well understood by most people in
this country. and even among experts
there is slight misunderstanding of the
field covered by the subject. Com
| missioner Meeker, who is a member Of
\ the executive committee Of the Amer
lean section of the congress and chair
man or the program committee, defines
| social insurance as all insurance, in
Guiding workmen's compensation laws,
which has as it's object the protection
1 Of the working population. and which
is carried on under the direct or ind1-
rect control of the state. Covering
| workmen's compensation in all fields,
1t therefore includes insurance against
accidents. sickness, invalidity, unem-
| ployment and old-age pensions The
| sation laws in the United States, and
Il the increasing number of states adopt
Il ing such laws, insures a widespread in
terest. government: experts say, in next
falls -Internationa1 Congress sons$Social
Insurance. J. g
4 More than one-half of the! states in
this country now have workmen's s. com
pensation laws on their statute books,
and there is Z: growing interest in the
United States in other subjects relating
to social insurance. Studies and in
vestigations in this. field are more ad.
vanced in Europe than in the United
States. and the attention of the lead
ing statesmen and economists" of many
of the.countries Is devoted to the work.
NJ. Leon Bourgeois. formerly prime
minister of France and author of the
first Workmen's compensation bill pre-
sented TO the French parliament. is the
president of the permanent interna-
which carries on the work of investi-
CATION and propaganda between the
congresses and conferences, maintain
ing headquarters in Paris
None iof the International congresses
has paen held in the United States
The first congress was held in Paris
IN sSs;fa and the last was held in Rome
/ IN 1sess;. The International gathering
n of sociaf insurance experts which is
now planned for next fall should have
been held in 1911. but for one reason
or another has been postponed FROM
time TO time during the last six years.
surance are triennial affairs, the. in
.,ftsrnatiohai experts have held confer
Il shoes on the subject annually since
fine international conferences have
taken place at The Hague, in 1919;
+ Dresden, 1911: Zurich, 1912, and Client,
f'19I3.-. The fifth international confer
ence was scheduled to be held in Paris
In September last. but was postponed,
OF course. because of the war This
was to have been called the -Iiu bilee
-|yconference" because 1t was scheduled
I to;; take -ff,iace Just twenty.ive years
!! t'committee Of the international con
gress on industrial accidents, which
later became the permanent committee
| on social insurance. Various experts
subjects included under the term of
social insurance will attend the con-
2ress and a number of them will take
part in the program.
The members elected to the perma-
nant committee representing the United
| Sates are Mr.. Niles NJ. Dawson, De.
Lee X Frankel, DIR. e r. L. Goufd.
Prof. Charles r. Henderson. DR.
Tharles r. Neill and DIR. William H.
me permanent International commit
tee on social insurance is allied with
the International Association for Labor
.eelsiation and with the International
| association on Unemployment. and
whenever it is possible all three or
CARNATIONS meet at the same time
and place.
PERSONS interested In public health
work Will urge the early action of
Congress on the bill
Interstate passed by both the
| Sanitation House and Senate pro-
i viding for the sani-
tary inspection OF all trains, ves-
sells carriages and conveyances of
any kind entering into interstate coma
merce. Although this bill was passed
by both branches of Congress, it was
sent back to the committee to be re-
considered after passing the Senate
and did not go to conference.
| Overcrowding, poor Ventilation. i'm
}pure drinking water and insanit
fconditioh Of Interstate carriers viii
come under the ban Of the government
u the proposed bill becomes law.
Gnder the authority of the Treasury
regulations. the United States public
health service now does some of the
work which is covered by the bill but
strengthen the authority Of the gov
Il ernment officers by changing these
j:resulations into law and make IL pos
;, sible for Representatives of the public
health service to enter interstate car
rlerS at any time for the purpose of
sanitary inspection.
Although most of the large railway
lines of the country now recognize
their duty to the public in keeping
their equipment in sanitary condition
| health officers point out that in many
cases the roads have become careless
and allow insanitary conditions to
exist.
There are many opportunities for
ready exchange of organisms of dis
ease in the average railway car, be-
cause of considerable numbers of peo-
4 pie coming more or less in intimate
contact. Passengers are frequently
compelled to breathe the vitiated and
overheated atmosphere for consider
able periods of time. Up until recent
years very little attention has been
paid to the purity of drinking water
supplied on trains. and the common
drinking cup or glass was usually in
| evidence. Interstate quarantine regu-
| lations have been made, however, which
prohibit the use of the common drink
ing cup, and which provide standards
of purity for the drinking water which
is furnished to passengers.
I The new car sanitation bill pro-
vides that the Secretary of the Treas
ury, In whose department the public
health service is included, and the
4 chairman of the interstate commerce
commission are authorized to make all
| reasonable rules and regulations as
may be necessary to secure the keeping
of all railway trains and vessels In