Show malan making 0 97 mr tomorrows s world J by WILLIAMS dan school fifths O INSURING A NATION london eug i land an act j to provide tor for in euranio against I 1 1 I ul k i loss of health M t and tor for the prevention and cure F of sickness and tor for insurance against unemployment U n e m such euch Is tho the comprehensive I 1 title 0 of f the most moat ambitious measure for social reform yet attempted in great britain Drita ln it will make over the united kingdom declare the liberals and their allies who wh 0 enacted it into law it will ruin tho nation assort in public the conservatives va tives who appos opposed ed its enactment in 16 private all parties appear committed to acceptance of the general principles of the national insurance act ac as aa it is popularly called hough at aa to 0 omo borne of its practical workings there is contention it does not appear probable that the act will bo be repealed though it will doubtless to quote bonar law the conservative leader be drastically amended it his party turning out the liberals Li bervIs s placed in power at the next general election the insurance act became a law do comber cember 16 1911 it was a government measure presented and supported support od by the liberal government such a scheme said worthington evans evansa sM M P ono of its most vigorous us crettes cr critics ittes could never have been brought in except by ono one with the pluck of mr lloyd george and with the help of those he r connected with insurance in many respects the original measure was crudely drawn showing the marks of haste baste in its ite preparation some of the crudities have been corrected by supplementary legislation compulsory insurance against sick nets neis what Is the purpose of the insurance act and what are its practical workings since it has been british law while the act was passed in De december deamber ember 1911 the insurance features became becala effective only in july 1912 under the ac every employed person from sixteen to seventy years ot ol age whose income does not exceed SOO a year Is compulsorily insured against micklos sic sickness kLos in whatever manual or other occupation engaged with certain rather unimportant exceptions earning more than iban BOO a year by manual labor alone are also compel insured in ft a british population of the act includes approximately in its provisions the act also provides that other persons not included in the compulsorily insured class may join under certain conditions 1118 18 cents cent worth for 8 cents the insurance fund is derived from three sources the worker the employer the national treasury here arises one of the strongest criticisms of the act both employer and workman claiming his contribution to be too targe large the weekly subscription of the workman earning more than a geekas week as IS 18 cents ot of which the workman pays eight cents the employer six elx cents and tho the national treasury tour four cents or its equivalent in addition the state pays the cost of central admi administration n and large grants towards wards hospitals and medical benefits when a workmans work mans wages are less than a week he pays paya a less proportion V or tion to the insurance fund and the employer pays more insured women pay one fourth less than insured men tiia the workman thus buys 18 cents worth ot of insurance tor for eight cents those nanze aneo wages are less than amk are without cost coat to te diem fitel fit el not paid by to 04 workman during or anem A ament and ciago entirely roly zhen nen ho he ni reaches clies the age ot of seventy years tho the act makes it illegal tor for the employer to deduct his own proper contribution from tho the workers wage he bo must do duct only the workers sharo share A ape special provision modifies contributions in cases where employers maintain their workpeople in sickness men alon and women of all ages up to sixty live five years are treated alike in respect to contributions insurance cost Is no more at forty years ot of ago age than at sixteen the ago age handicap necessarily imposed by private insurance companies la Is entirely absent from the british scheme what are the benefits the member of parliament from northampton 11 D B lees smith and tile tho managing director of a great whole wholesale sato establishment of 0 london wilkle calvert brother ot of dr sidney calvert professor prOte saor of chemistry at the university of 0 missouri these benefits sickness and other tho tha workman cht cents a week or loss less his benefits aro arc the same whatever he bo pays those these benefits include tree free medical attendance and freo free medicine sickness bone disablement or invalidity pension maternity benefit sanitarium bone benefit fl t free medical attendance and free medicine are provided to the worker who becomes ill this provision hah been sharply attacked by the british doctors the benefit varies in amount ordinarily it Is a week for men and a week tor for women tor for 26 weeks sickness benefits cease at seventy years of age when the old age pension becomes payable it if sickness continues longer than 26 weeks a week Is paid during the remainder of tho the sickness however long it may be provision Is IB made for certain reduction lon in benefits when members are am in arrears with their contributions but no one Is suspended from medical sanitarium and maternity benefits until more than 26 weeks in arrears insured women married or unmarried and the wives of insured men whether insured re d or not receive a maternity benefit of 0 in addition to ito pic sickness kness benefit I 1 cheapside london and relief from payment ot of contris contrib contributions u it la Is estimated that when whan the scheme Is fully at work a million mothers in great britain will each year receive this benefit at a cost to the nation on this account alone of under the sanatorium benefit the state provides tor for free treatment and carein sanatoriums or at home of persons persona who contract tuberculosis the insurance commissioners may schedule other diseases also tor for institutional treatment these are the minimum benefits other benefits possible with prudent management 0 of tho the insurance funds include larger old age aga pensions and higher sick disablement and maternity pay and convalescence allowances administered through fraternal societies the administration of the act la Is through the government which utilizes the friendly societies trades unions and other approved organizations and through the postal savings bank for deposit contributors whom no friendly society would insure the friendly societies correspond to a degree to mutual insurance companies in the united states the insured thus control the working of the scheme schema the act makes sate safe and solvent the fraternal or friendly society and increases its benefits provided upon repeated examination the society or lodge shows management but bow how does the insurance act ben bea alit the employer what does he re ceibo in return for his contribution of six cents a week weeter anything which keeps tho worker to in good health and good heart hearl said mr smith which relieves him from the necessity of working when ho he la IA physically unlit unfit toworu to work ond and frees freaa olar hlib in the me case of illness from aiom worry as aa to the future must increase tha th 0 of o labor in no way can this be dono done so cheaply as by pa n system 09 0 Ins insurance such as tho the act pra the increased efficiency of tile iho will be ter I 1 la ka ol 01 the total latal WB of 0 auy the v AB pay A small part of tl tle q 1 soot it nay be that th jha 1 till in the long vi ai receive b benefit eneato far weighing outweighing out their S Re llaves undeserved poverty in judging the wit ant continued mr smith you must not consider it at a final measure it Is only a start atari though ft a good start in the n for establishing a minimum stand standard ird of living and comfort below which no briton fall unless it bo be through deliberate fault ault of his own to properly judge this act you must regard it as part only of a wider program for dealing with the preventable causes of poverty and unemployment and raising the standard of living for the working classes in this country poverty and unemployment have existed and still exist in every country and under every form of government like disease and death they cannot bo be wholly banished by net act of parliament tha insurance ranco act strikes at certain ca casioa of poverty and unemployment which are preventable in conjunct conjunction loit with the work mens compensation acts tho old age pensions act the public health acts and the factory acts all of socia I 1 reform which seek to make tomorrows world better than oun world today the insurance act end endear eav ors ora to tb remove poverty and distress buoi fo 0 o accident sickness infirmity old ago workshops and unhealthy dwellings it attacks the slum owner penalizes the sweater and makes the health of tho the people thea first caro care of the state it lays broad a and n d firm the foundations of a new so ao 1 caal policy a policy of mutual felpi and good will among all members cf the community based upon a I tion of the tact fact that the undeserved poverty or undeserved unemployment of the humblest member of society to isi something which closely affects thol tho general well being of the state and ad mr air calvert who represents note a liberal labor constituent constituency cy but thi thel c city ty w which aich e employs mp I 1 0 ys labor labo r g guvo v c em I 1 phario assent 2700 get sick benefit weekly some things are certain in regard tol to the acts workings about pe persons geons in groat Great britain and Ire Irelan landl dj a are ro now in insured against knessi sic when before the act there were about the act raised the first yearl ot of this thia amount the work 1 men contributed twenty thousand doctors are employed to givel fro frao medical treatment and nine thou j sand chemists who are the british 1 druggists furnish tree drugs pre I 1 by these doctors to the poor t 1 ost ast workingman is given the same samel medical treatment and tho the same eurof medicines and drugs as the ri richest chesti duke can afford about has been paid during the year to doctors and to chemists SIck benefits are paid weekly to workers the men get a week and the women a week because they pay less maternity benefits amounting to have been paid the birth rate has at least not been discouraged for tuberculosis sanatoriums has been set aside twenty five thousand workmen have been treated under the act in sanatoriums these are the figures but tor for the real facts as to the benefits brought bythe act one must note the changed conditions in the working mens homes see the cures wrought tho the shadows lifted no man or woman in the united kingdom need lack under this act insurance against sickness unemployment or the unmerited poverty w which to the underpaid so frequently comes with old age but Is this not queer business for W great empire let the best beat hated and best loved statesman in great britain the author of the national insurance act david lloyd george make reply adds now new glory to empire since 1908 when we had bad old age pensions tor for the first time we haven have had a great empire for the first taking a direct interest in the condl r tion of those aged those infirm those sick and those broken the old theory was that this was beneath the dignity ot of an empire the concern of an am empire was to see tat the machinery of human slaughter was perfect thai was the concern of an empire to tax the food of the people that Is IB thinking imperially but to heal the sick eick to teed feed the hungry these are thoughts fit only tor for a parish beadle there was waa a great emperor once who added toi to the luster of his fame by visiting the wounded after the battle now woj voi have got this great british empire tor for the first time walking the hospitals visiting the sick inquiring how the infirm are getting on helping them to tal mend and curing and assisting them you ask me it if this Is not busl buel nose for a great empire why it 1 adding a new dignity and glory to the F british h empire m I 1 re it la is tho the beginning ot of a new era in the history of imperialism the newest imperialism and the best in a certain old book it may be b read for I 1 was an hungered hun gred and ye gave mo me meat I 1 was thirsty and ye gave me drink I 1 was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye ya clothed me I 1 was sick and ye visited me ans I 1 was waa in prison and ye cams came unto me and of the great exemplar of tola this high duty of man to man lils it is recorded that hla his empire hall have no end 1113 1213 by joseph B U Bow taa |