| Show t J It I H H U 0 It It Ii It It U It A A A It It A A It A It A A A A A A A A A A r How Ilow The German aerman Insures Th The Workingmen t i b Jhn BY JOliN t a w w w v ow v v v w w w L I Bochum Germany Sept 15 Nl or Of the greatest evils In the life ONI of We he average workman Is the un Uncertainty certainty Not only J ie e liable to be thrown out Of em at R a weeks reeks notice but with thE increasing a and d Intensity or of orthe the work he mu may Ye very tell bl be an old man at is 45 or 50 O un ble longer to a living Jiving wage The worker like all other men Is also subject to C upon him bosa ot of w wag And his famil family many Fl FI 1111 there is death lurking In eer every and the man who began work iI Hie In iii full Cull health may be iJ or or crippled before the evening in inThe inThe The workman himself has sought to the problems which h this in his life Through trade unions and friendly societies s he hote or 01 organized in England France the Unit cd d States and other countries funds Ut lut of which are paid to him certain In III ease case of accIdent or sudden udden death This Insurance b by unions however has bus never been upon rt p scale ale embraces all the peOple If the nation and no at attempt was nade In this until the Ger German German man succeeded ded in the thein Sue in insuring practically aU all of the work men within its borders ac accident sickness old age and Invalidity e In G Germany i organIzed b by the government and is compulsory A minor or a tex textile textile tile worker a bricklayer or a carpen t r must insure whether te will or not The government recognized that In the list no sufficient provIsion had or could have been made by the Working Workingman man death and that many or of them would not Insure except under lon The workingman who t wa injured UI b bt he t Q upon pUblic and the of r the es children uC In InJured jUl a artisans were vei recognized as ut The low how wageS exist existing Ing in Germany German as In most countries of the work dId not allow altow the work worl workingman ingman to lay by enough h money monCy to to came curlier than the age ills It is allotted t to man to live in vigor he J laws of Germany Were b by th the Iron Chan Chain Chancellor although the were not his original 1 Inal con For many years th tILe of government aliee of was a matter maUer of oC common and the plans for zUrl sur an In had h Pen carefully worked out were in cx x of a quasi public nature which s served as a pro prototype for Cor tio te n new w T legislation The purpose of f seems to have been to Comba the growing socialistic ic I party by outbidding it fo Co the votes or of the The socialistic party II had baa grown ler largely ely after the war with France had been re I pret sed after but notwithstanding an all p r the movement grew In I numbers and power and the ultimate II failure of oC the repressive legislation against it began to be recognized The plan of Bismarck did not succeed In its I object t of Injuring the so socialistic party which has since grown I largely attracting to It r rans n not only but peasants arid mem members i bees bers of the prof professional and even bust busi business bustness ness circles who are ted wIth th the prevalent militarIsm and absolutIsm absolutism Ism The result ot of ils ulan Dlan how however Ver has been extremely beneficial and the system of ins rance worked out in inGerman Germany German has been of oC enormous bene benefit lIt fit to the workIngmen ot of that country w and ami has led to the inauguration of more or less similar legislation in most of the countries of Europe The insurance of the German erman empire Is into three parts sick insurance accident Insurance and old age ae and invalidity Insurance The laws law providIng fOI insurance against sick sickness ness were wert first to be passed the law of 1883 providing that all workingmen n and officials ed In mines factories and other Indu trial establish ments a salary or of less than Uan were to be compulsorily Insured As the vast majority of oC German work ors earn very hunch less than thap this amount till the number or of persons thus exempted was small Later the pro provisions visions of the law were wert extended to commercial firms offices so that at the present time about ten fen of C persons are insured In this ivay Uy It was nece necessary fur for the s success of the insurance against that fraud be prevented and that the officials who paid the Insurance should know the person who claimed Under the act In oth othir r words was a necessary essar essary to organize the insurance lo 10 call cahty There were in nce more moreover moreover over thousands or Of lo local bodle bodie already Issuing sick insurance some of these societies having large accumulated funds Instead ad of tearing down th old s system stem th the it and kept In existence the tens or of of already givIng lug Ing Insurance to workingmen The lo 10 cub societIes 3 t large pall pait pallor or of their independence but the compelled by the new law to make annual reports and certain n payments In all cases of illness throughout the empire were d dupon upon There are at the present time many kinds of Insurance societies societies sickness ss forming a part of th govern meat ment system some of thorn associations embracing all tle work workpeople ork people cople In a city others othIS Including persons within a single facto factory which are voluntary associations cx x before the p passage J sage or of the act still sUIl others composed of en engaged engaged In temporary building opera an and others again organized b by bythe the sep separate rate states All O of these as associations are under the otie ohe law Jaw and nd are arc a part of the tho system Rt and andall Y YI all must grant at least free medical I I attendance medicine and aCt after r L the first three Ia lays s of illness n a tt payment equal to o dailY wages of the invalid for i of I thirteen we weeks k In It a year yar provided tIl lh workman is that len length th of time I In case ot of death from the I heirs sum equal to HIP nage of the decea dec ased ea for twenty as burial burla exp art are al also defrayed To 10 1 women yes relief IS accorded for forI I four our neek during c confinement J JI I The sums so determined are usually estimated to b be e no less than three II I fourths oft the rate of oC wages w usually Jb earned by t man pay payments 1 ments are re onIa a minimum and art ar I frequently if not exceeded Isa iome cases Lull wages are grantEd in O of f halt wages ages an and 1 the or of the benefit Is sometimes times f throughout the instead adoC of ceasing after thirteen weeks The sums so pid oUt ore are derived d from a fund to which the workingman con tes t wo and the employers ers but the amount demanded of the workingman cannot In an any case exceed from roll 2 to J 1 per cent or of his wages The employer advances the motley money and checks off th sums against the of r the work In Ingman He Is also aIo obliged to keep I records of the men insured and of th ume Paid b by thc and Is not reimbursed reimbursed for fol this clerical work The German insurance against sick hess has now been in operation for I about twenty years and th the results furnIsh the most interesting i tion about the prevalence of mong workIngmen and women Ther j jre are re at present over associations I under the government 5 system and I Iyer 1 yer ver nine and a half million men meli and anel 0 me insured the average association association tion having about mt members The amount of mone money spent Is very large larg I tile the receipts amounting in 1901 to ai I ost and the I 10 o almost On an average I there Is one case of sickness counting I Ionly only tho those or of over three days duration I IJo Jo to every ery three workmen any nn the th air lasts about eighteen I days das Taking the whole working clas there hi loss of population a about even even da days s per year ear for each working I pa pau a arid d woman r It is not possible to determine front from the G German experience whether or no sickness is ii increasing among working workingmen men What is certain is that the pa pay payments ments which have been made to per kons ions who are ure sick have been largely in increased creased th the a average n cost per working Insured having 1 riven llen from about a en years ago to about 1 It at This aroma to be due to u a amere J mere Inore generous generous treatment of the sIck t than ban to a Ino percentage of illness 8 The average payment to p per ba of 01 sickness ranges be bew w 50 to 60 cents J The Tue German Insurance against acci I was originally limited to persons I a m in m manufacturing and Ie i pursuits but It has now been ox ex extended tended to include per persons ons engaged in transportation in the postal and railway servIce and in HH the arm army and navy as tell rehI as agricultural tural workers seamen and nd people em employed In building and construction Ever Everyone one so employed ed earning a or wage of less than per year ear must be insured and lie he is paid for all acci accidents accidents dents provide they arc ar not Intention Intentional al The sum granted must be sufficient to pay for the cure and to provide an allowance during the period of Incapacity It also Includes burial money in case of death and an allow allowance allowance ance to the surviving or chit hil dren or parents parent of th the deceased The cost of the gOvernment insurance ance against accidents is borne by the employers who are formed into trade associations with their own rules and regulations and their own independent and government lIt is isto isto to the t of each association to tomake tomake make the factories or mines under its control as safe as possible and where an t employer el ref refuses s to put in proper 1 safety appliances demanded b his as so sedation l le e may mar be assessed at a higher rate by that bo body while the workingman on the other head hand ma mabe may maybe be fined for dho disobedience of rules look looking looking ing to hIS hs safety and Payment for aU all accidents accident is made through the but the mone money so advanced is refunded to the govern government meat ment b by the employers association llY the whole working class of G or in other words almost antI and i are insured Ill in this m manner against accidents As every accident nt It ft reported to the government statistics exist for ouch industry show showing lug ing the danger of that The num number her ber of slight accidents is enormous even In a 3 country like Germany where every precaution is taken to avoid in injuries injuries juries During the year ear 1 01 there were and women injured Of whom however only S SOO OO were pf killed Accidents ar are of course muCh more frequent in industry and in tra than in The workingman who Is Jr permanently aa completely dIsabled tw of his salary as a pension i while the person pErron who is but oy partially injured receives a sm ne nesum sum In proportion to his disability The I total sum suan expended In 11 in accident insurance was about the t to total tal reserve resene fund being over o It was claimed b by the opponents the government Insurance that it If the were Insured 1 they W id I become more carelee This hs not DOt proved to b be the case The ot slight accidents reported has beon greater out but t there ere hAS no Ie proof that the actual number of oC J has increased ald the of deAths has tended rather to grow smaller as gre greater ter and greater pr are taken The industry of co coal d mining is ranked by the Ger Germans MIAS as a aone one of the most dangerous or of aU all ce e The old age and invalidity was organized in and has been successful operation for tor fifteen ealS The amount of this Insurance ot 01 smaller according to tIe the the workingman and the amount whIt he eon contributes tributes per week the contrIb being in proportion to the wages of the men The expenses of this are met b by a contribution of 60 50 marks 12 Iby by tile government to evy workingman old e orm or ta validity pension while the rest or of t tim c cf f expense is divIded evenly between e workmen and the employer Despite the opposition which the Gr Ger German men man insurance plans at firt first the they are to vantage of the n and ar are meeting ech each yer year wih with increased r |
