a rule, a member becomes entitled to the benefits only after a period of membership of one year or more, and in some cases-such, for instance, as the Magdeburg printers—a membership of 75 weeks is required.(") The usual waiting time after the beginning of the unemployment seems to be about one week, though in a few instances it begins either in a shorter time or at once with the loss of the position. The period for which benefits are paid is always carefully specified in the by-laws, and in the case of Magdeburg it may be assumed to be typical in this respect. The usual practice seems to be to pay benefits for a specified number of days included within each 52 weeks. The number of days for which benefits are paid varies in the different unions, and in each union it is often made to vary with the length of the membership of the beneficiary. Thus, in the case of the printers of Magdeburg, the duration of the benefits ranges from 10 to 40 weeks, according to the length of membership. The amount of the benefits likewise varies in many of the unions according to the length of the membership. In the case of the Magdeburg printers, for instance, the amount ranges from 1 mark (23.8 cents) to 1.50 marks (35.7 cents), though in this case the amount is increased by a supplementary benefit added by the local union to that provided by the national organization.

The methods of supervision and control in use by the unions consist most frequently of having the person in receipt of a benefit present himself at the office of the union once each day or oftener, at which time his card is stamped, and the benefit is paid only for the days stamped on the card. The benefit is not paid for days on which the member had work, either in his own trade or elsewhere. As a rule, the unions make little attempt to ascertain whether the unemployment was due to the fault of the worker, the rates of the benefit paid being so low and the waiting time after the beginning of unemployment is so long that there is little inducement to give up a position for the sake of the benefits provided. Thus, in Magdeburg in 1907, out of 1,828 cases of unemployment, the cause was lack of work in 1,187 cases, or 64.9 per cent; disputes in 115 cases; sickness in 159 cases, while "other causes" appear in only 367 cases.

One of the unions of commercial employees has an unemployment fund which requires special mention. The German National Union of Commercial Employees (Deutschnationalen Handlungsgehilfenverbandes) conducts a special unemployment insurance fund which provides benefits to which the members have a contractual right. The fund is subject to the supervision of the imperial insurance office for supervising private insurance companies. The Magdeburg study

a Die Bisherigen Erfahrungen auf dem Gebiete der Arbeitslosenversicherung; Mitteilungen des Statistischen Amts der Stadt Magdeburg, 1908, p. 12.

already mentioned quotes the following statement from the annual report of the imperial supervising insurance office:

Each year one-fifth of the dues of the regular members must be turned over to the unemployment fund, the accounts of which must be administered separately. Of the amounts regularly turned over to this fund each year one-fifth must be placed to the credit of the reserve fund for the meeting of the accrued obligations, and this reserve fund must be accumulated until it is ten times the annual amount expended for benefits during the last five years; as soon as the reserve fund reaches the amount mentioned, then one-tenth of the regular income of the insurance fund must be put aside for the accumulation of a crisis reserve fund, until the last-named reserve is equal in amount to the reserve previously mentioned. The insurance against unemployment-or, as it is called, lack of position-is closely affiliated with the employment agency organization. The claim to the benefits of the fund arises only when the insured person has made formal application for a position through the employment agency, and under specified conditions he is granted the regular benefits until such position is provided for him. The question of whether the unemployment was due to the fault of the insured person and the control of the actions of the beneficiary are regulated by the obligation of the members to use the employment agency. The supervising insurance office is of the opinion that it should not oppose this first attempt to meet the risk of unemployment on an insurance basis because at the present time there is already a considerable reserve accumulated for the unemployment fund, such as would be of especial importance in meeting obligations during a period of industrial depression; furthermore, because the insurance is obligatory for all members, the unfavorable risks will not form the majority of the insured persons, and since the society is an association organized on trade lines, it is peculiarly adapted to restrict unemployment by means such as an employment agency, and through such means can diminish possible abuses. In addition, the commercial employees have much greater permanency of tenure of position than is the case with workmen.

EXPENDITURES BY TRADE UNIONS.

The summary of expenditures for benefits of various kinds is shown for three groups of unions for the year 1908 in the following table:

EXPENDITURES FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AND OTHER BENEFITS BY THREE GROUPS OF TRADE UNIONS IN THE YEAR 1908.

[Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, 1969.]

Gewerkschaften)... $1,935, 984 $1,147,017 $342,783 $281,876 $69,057 $2,396, 447 $6, 173, 164 $10,009,089

Liberal unions (Freie

Hirsch-Duncker

This total does not agree with the sum of the items; the figures are the equivalents of those given in the original source.

As shown in the preceding table, the first-named group of unions, the liberal unions (Freie Gewerkschaften), out of a total of expenditures of approximately ten million dollars, devoted nearly two million dollars for unemployment benefits. The other two groups spent comparatively small amounts for this class of benefits, so that the largest amounts expended for unemployment relief are provided by the firstnamed group. In the following table the industries in which the membership of the unions in this group are engaged are shown, together with the number of members, the total expenditures, and the proportion of total expenditures devoted for benefits to relieve unemployment:

EXPENDITURES OF THE LIBERAL TRADE UNIONS (FREIE GEWERKSCHAFTEN) FOR UNEMPLOYMENT, TRAVEL, ETC., BENEFITS IN THE YEAR 1908. [Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, 1909.]

EXPENDITURES OF THE LIBERAL TRADE UNIONS (FREIE GEWERKSCHAFTEN) FOR UNEMPLOYMENT, TRAVEL, ETC., BENEFITS IN THE YEAR 1908-Concluded.

A few of the German unions have had systems of unemployment relief for considerable periods of time. Among such may be mentioned the German Book Printers' Union (Deutscher Buchdruckerverband) which has paid this benefit since 1880. As an illustration of the activity of a prominent union in this direction, the following table is given to show the expenditures for benefits of the union just mentioned since 1867:

EXPENDITURES FOR BENEFITS, ETC., BY THE GERMAN BOOK PRINTERS' UNION (DEUTSCHER BUCHDRUCKERVERBAND), 1867 TO 1907.

EXPENDITURES FOR BENEFITS, ETC., BY THE GERMAN BOOK PRINTERS' UNION (DEUTSCHER BuchdrucKERVERBAND), 1867 TO 1907-Concluded.

The sources of information in regard to unemployment in Germany consist of, first, the data secured by the two censuses of 1895; second, the data secured by a number of municipal unemployment enumerations; and, third, the statements of the labor unions in regard to the proportion of their members out of work. The statistical data collected in connection with the sickness insurance have also been utilized by the imperial statistical office to show the fluctuations in the degree of employment and form an important source of information on this point. Also, some information has been collected from the numerous employment agencies which cover the industrial areas of the Empire as to the fluctuations in the labor market. Of all these, however, the data collected by the two censuses of 1895 and the reports as to the number of members of trade unions out of work, are the most important sources of information from which data can be secured to form the basis for a system of unemployment insurance. At the time of writing this report the information collected by the industrial census of 1907 on the subject of unemployment was not available.