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Show I Mortal ICgtjsilatmn Nnrii By PROF. HENRY It. S EAGER, Of Columbia University. fI r1"! N the Held of social legislation the United Stntc8 is behind I IT I the more progressive countries of Europe. The' ends to bo W 1 aimed nt in any program nro: 1. To protect wngc-cnrneri m Kg9X3 in the continued enjoyment of standards of living to which am BBmBJ they arc already accustomed ; and 2, to assist them to attain mm Blltnl lo a'Sncr standards of living. lB iWfibl nc Pr'nc'Pal contingencies which threaten' standards ol liLB I'J&llll "v'no already acquired nrc industrial accidents, illness, in-jH in-jH 'uShBI validism nnd old age, premature death and unemployment. HH These contingencies are not in practico adequately provided HI against by wage-earners themselves. In consequence the losses they entail, B in the absence of any special provision against them, fall with crushing force on the families which suffer from them, and only too often reduce H. such families from a position of independence and self-respect to one of B humiliating and efficiency-destroying social dependency. K The following remedies for the evils resulting. from this situation Hj may be suggested: Adequate indemnification must bo sought along the K line of workmen's compensation for industrial accidents at the expense V of tho employer (the British system) or of compulsory accident insurance B (the German system). The former sccins to accord better with Amcrl-HE Amcrl-HE -can ideas and traditions. jB The primary conditions essential to raising standards of living arc R energy and enterprise on the part of wage-earners and opportunities to make energy and enterprise count in the form of higher earnings. The HrW principal contributions which social legislation may make to this end arc HJ believed to bo measures serving to encourngo saving for future needs by iBr providing safe investments for savings; measures protecting wagc-earn-IB -crs from the debilitating clTccts of an unregulated competition; measures IB serving to bring within the reach of all opportunities for industrial train- njR ' The greatest present need is for a postal savings bank like those of l European countries. If energy and enterprise arc to be kept at a maxi-BB maxi-BB mum, wage-earners must bo protected from exhausting toil under un-BY un-BY licalthful conditions. Laws prohibiting the employment of children bc-jgEI- low 14 in all gainful pursuits should be uniform throughout tho United ijdif' States and rigidly enforced. There should be laws limiting tho hours n of labor of young persons over 14, nnd protection should extend to 18 in factory employments. There should be laws limiting the hours of labor B of women, and regulating their work, with machinery for efficient enforcc-V enforcc-V ment. And there should be prescriptions in regard to sanitation and W safety appliances. |