Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-09-11

wv ASHINGTON D. c., Sept. THE Dill pro-
wv vidng for comprehensive system OF in
surance for Uncle Sans fighters now De-
fore congress, is "a part of a worldwide tendency
toward the of the individual blythe state
which has been greatly stimulated by the war
This insurance plan will authorize and enable
the government to provide fund which, with the
contributions from the fighting men themselves,
will keep their dependents safe This fund VIII
compensate soldiers and sailors who injured In
the of duty and will assist those who nave
been disabled to learn trades and otherwise
help themselves Finally, it will enable the gov
eminent to insure the lives of its defenders on
land and sea, thus providing for their dependents
in a quicker and much more efficient way than
could be done by the payment of pensions
This gradual substitution of the insurance prin-
ciple for the pension idea in caring for those
needy citizens for whom the state acknowledges
responsibility is one of the significant social and
economic developments of our age. The modern
state has come to realize that its own welfare Is
bound up in the welfare of its individual citizens
The greater the health, strength and length of the
individual, the better the prospect for the nation,
particularly in these days when nations fight for
existence in war and trade.
OF course there ethical motives underlying
the social insurance movement-our modern social
conscience is a very sensitive one-but the prin-
cpal actuating motives concern themselves with
the conservation of men as workers and producers.
National, state and social insurance, that is to-
say, some sort of community care for the individ-
ual has grown up in the countries of the old
world as a sort of scientific blend of three differ
schemes of cooperative provision against risk;
the pension, mutual aid and the business Of in
surance.
The practice of pensionng those who had
served the state the sovereignty and had
tired because of age or any other incapacity is al
most literally as old as the hills. The kings Of
Chadea and the Pharaohs of Egypt did it. The
mutual aid society is even older than the pension
Voluntary aid has been human habit ever since
the days Of the cave man. Before history was
written there were burial clubs In the middle
ages there were the guilds. Today have the
fraternal orders, all bearing testimony to the in
clnation of to CLUB together for the pur-
pose of aiding themselves by helping their fellows
AS for commercial or actuarial insurance 1t is
also of very ancient origin.
Social insurance systems providing against loss
by death, sickness, accident, unemployment, old
age and other impairment Of capacity to worm
are in working order in many countries of the
world.
Compensation, or insurance for accident, has
been established by law generally throughout Eu-
rope, in many of the British colonies we'll
in most of the states of The American Union
Compulsory old age insurance already exists
in Germany, France and Luxembourg. Old age
pensions are provided by law in Denmark, Great
Britain, France, Austria and New Zealand, while in
Italy Belgium, Serbia and Spain there state
by the state.
Legislation for compulsory insurance for ILL
ness has been introduced in most of the large
tries of Europe, including Germany, Austr1aHun-
gary, Norway Great Britain, Serbia and Russia.
There is voluntary sickness insurance subsidized
by the state in France, Belgium, Denmark, Swe-
den and Switzerland.