larly constituted and shall not have the right to adopt decisions, unless they comply with the conditions enumerated in article 8 above concerning a constitutional general meeting. Nevertheless, in case of expected dissolution, if two calls for meetings as prescribed in article 8 have not given the necessary results, a third call shall be issued after an interval of 15 days, and the decisions of the meeting thus held shall be binding no matter what the number of members present.

ART. 19. The annual general meeting shall designate one or more commissioners (auditors) selected from the members of the syndicate who are not members of the administrative council, to report to the general meeting of the following year concerning the financial condition of the syndicate, its balance sheet, and the accounts presented by the municipal council.

This report shall state the results of the last fiscal year, as well as the condition of each of the preceding fiscal years which have not yet been finally adjusted.

The resolution of the meeting, containing approval of the balance sheet and accounts, shall be null and void if it is not preceded by the report of the auditors, which must be printed and distributed among the members of the syndicate 15 days before the meeting.

ART. 20. The auditors shall have the right to take possession of the books and examine the operations of the syndicate whenever they think that expedient in the interests of the syndicate. They may always, in urgent cases, call a general meeting. ART. 21. Within the 15 days preceding the opening of the general meeting each member of the syndicate may examine or have examined by legal power of attorney, and copy or have copied, at the headquarters of the syndicate, the inventory and the list of the members composing the general meeting.

ART. 22. When the accounts of the fiscal year have been finally audited after the expiration of the time permitted for revision, a general meeting must immediately be called to proceed with verification and approval of the accounts of that fiscal year, if such is to be given. If necessary, the meeting decides concerning the application of the regulations contained in the third and fourth paragraphs of article 28 and the first paragraph of article 32.

ART. 23. In order to assure the exact application of this constitution a set of by-laws, adopted by the general meeting and communicated to the minister of labor before it is put into force, shall regulate the reports of the syndicate and of its members in detail.

ART. 24. The contract of membership delivered to the members of the syndicate shall contain the special conditions of the agreement, its duration as well as the conditions of cancellation, and of implied extension if such is to take place. They shall further inform the member of the forwarding of a copy of the entire text of the constitution and the by-laws, and shall reproduce the entire text of the articles 3, 9, 19, and 30 of the act of April 9, 1898, as well as the other provisions of the law as enumerated in article 11 of the decree of February 28, 1899, and article 21(a) of that decree.

In case of any amendment of the constitution or of the by-laws, each member of the syndicate shall at the same time receive the text of these amendments.

ART. 25. The benefits of the guarantee syndicate shall accrue to each member of the syndicate from the date stated in the contract of membership.

ART. 26. The by-laws shall determine the mode and the conditions of notices to be given by the members in case of accident. They shall enumerate the list of documents which must be forwarded.

Compensation for injuries shall be paid to victims of accidents or to their surviving beneficiaries by the syndicate, and the syndicate shall not have the right to plead any accounts or matters in dispute between the syndicate and its member in whose establishment the accident has occurred, as an offset against the employee to whom payments are due.

CHAPTER III.-FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION.

ARTICLE 27. The charge against each member of the syndicate is calculated in centimes for each franc of wages paid by the member, in accordance with a coefficient of risk indicated in the contract of membership. In addition, the general meeting may impose upon the members of the syndicate an admission fee, of which it shall fix the basis, the rate, and the mode of payment.

ART. 28. The administrative council shall each year determine the rate to be paid for 100 francs of wages of each occupation. These rates shall be worked out in such a manner that they themselves could cover all the charges of the fiscal year, includ

a Since the modifications of the decree of February 28, 1899, by that of December 27, 1906, article 21 became article 20.

ing the complementary reserve prescribed in article 29 and a general reserve prescribed in article 32.

If the computation of the balance sheet of a fiscal year not yet definitely liquidated should establish the insufficiency of the resources of that year, then the general meeting may decide to impose supplementary rates in proportion to the rates originally paid for that year.

Such assessment shall be obligatory at the time of the final liquidation of the fiscal year, unless the insufficiency of the resources is covered by the reserve fund.

Whenever a fiscal year leaves a surplus, this surplus shall be divided among the members of the syndicate in proportion to their assessments after the reductions necessary to constitute the reserve fund have been made.

ART. 29. The operations of the syndicate are annually regulated according to the following conditions:

The capital sums necessary to constitute the pensions arising from the operations of that fiscal year shall be turned over to the National Retirement Fund not later than one month after the approval of the accounts of that fiscal year by the general meeting;

Second. For all such pensions which have not been definitely established during the fiscal year, the balance sheet must show an amount equal to the value, on December 31, of the capital payable to the National Retirement Fund, estimated according to the tariff established by the National Retirement Fund.

Otherwise, for other pensions due because of accidents resulting in permanent disability, there shall be established until the expiration of the legal time limit for revision a complementary reserve, calculated in conformance with the schedule adopted for all industrial accident insurance societies;

Third. As far as such accidents are concerned, of which the consequences are as yet unknown or which can not as yet have given rise to a pension, a sufficient provision must be made for them on the liability side of the balance sheet of the fiscal year during which they have occurred;

Fourth. The accounts of a fiscal year have not been definitely regulated until all pensions due in consequence of accidents arising in the course of that fiscal year have been arranged for with the National Retirement Fund, and until all other corresponding charges have been provided for.

ART. 30. The administrative council shall submit each year to the general meeting an inventory of the last fiscal year.

This inventory shall be accompanied by an account of profit and loss and a balance sheet giving the situation, year by year, of each fiscal year previously reported for and not yet definitely liquidated.

These documents must be published and furnished to each member of the syndicate upon request, on payment of an amount not exceeding 1 franc (19.3 cents).

To each fiscal year only such receipts and expenditures shall be credited as properly belong to it, except for the employment of the reserve fund when necessary.

ART. 31. All speculation by the syndicate is prohibited. Its funds shall not be employed for any other purpose except the normal functions of the syndicate in the application of the law of April 9, 1898.

Investments of the funds set aside in compliance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 29 shall be regulated by the same conditions as the similar investments of insurance companies.

ART. 32. A reserve fund shall be established in the meantime: First, by assessment upon the surplus remaining for the final liquidation of fiscal years, the amount of which is to be determined by the general assembly; second, by an assessment of per cent upon the total amount of contributions.

The reserve fund shall serve as a special account. It is destined to cover, partly or wholly, any eventual insufficiencies of resources for all fiscal years, without distinction. At the same time not over one-half of the amount of this reserve fund may be used to cover the deficit of any one fiscal year.

When the reserve fund has attained the amount of the general meeting may, upon suggestion of the administrative council, decide that assessments referred to in the present article shall be partly or wholly suspended.

The reserve fund is the property of the syndicate. No member or ex-member may claim any part of it whatsoever.

In case of dissolution of the syndicate the application to be made of this reserve fund shall be determined by the conditions stated in article 33 of this constitution.

CHAPTER IV.-DISSOLUTION AND LIQUIDATION.

ARTICLE 33.-In case of voluntary dissolution of the syndicate a special general meeting shall name one or more liquidators, shall determine their powers as well as the form and the duration of the liquidation, and if there be any remaining

assets after all charges have been met, shall decide concerning their application to some work of social welfare.

In absence of such resolution of the meeting such liquidation may be ordered upon advice of the consultative committee of insurance against industrial accidents by decree of the minister of labor, who shall designate friendly liquidators, charged with the liquidation, under his control, of the fiscal years which have not yet been definitely liquidated.

STATISTICS OF OPERATION.

In the official reports of the office of social insurance the statistics of operation of these three classes of accident insurance organizations are published together since the accident compensation law went into effect, and for convenience the same plan has been followed in this presentation. Annual reports are available since 1901, and these are studied in the following tables, given on pages 749 to 760.

Even as early as 1884 the amount of accident insurance written in France is found to have been considerable. No information is given as to the number of workmen insured or the amount of wages insured, but the premiums received exceeded $2,000,000. It will be shown presently that even under the new law the premiums did not much exceed 2 per cent of the amount of wages insured, and it is a well-known fact that with the introduction of the law the rate of premiums was generally increased by the private insurance companies by about 25 per cent in order to adjust the premiums to the more liberal scale of compensation. Assuming, then, the average rate of premiums before the compensation law went into effect to have been about 14 per cent, the amount of wages insured back in the early eighties must have been anywhere from $125,000,000 to $150,000,000, and, with the average wage of a French workman at $250 a year, that would give over 500,000 persons insured. This computation is naturally a very rough one, but it serves the purpose of indicating the development of voluntary accident insurance more than 25 years ago. The following table shows the data for the period 1884 to 1899.

PREMIUMS RECEIVED AND EXPENDITURES OF THE FIXED-PREMIUM ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANIES, 1884 TO 1899.

[Source: Congrès International des Accidents du Travail et des Assurances Sociales. Bulletin du Comité Permanent, XI, 1900.]

INSURANCE COMPANIES.

As far as the volume of insurance is concerned the fixed-premium companies still hold the predominant position, but within the short period of 7 years for which a comparison is possible the growth of other insurance institutions has been very great. In the following statement the amount of wages insured by the various insurance institutions is given:

AMOUNT OF WAGES INSURED BY INSURANCE INSTITUTIONS, 1901 TO 1907. [Source: Ministère du Travail et de la Prévoyance Sociale. Recueil des Documents sur les Accidents du Travail, No. 34.]

The exact number of insured is not available, the form of insurance usually being by the annual wage expense of the employer. Recently, however, an estimate of the number of annual full-time workers was published (") by the office of social insurance of the ministry of labor and social providence. The estimate shows that by 1905—i. e., before the extension of the law to commercial establishments, the total number of full-time workers insured was over 2,500,000.

Recueil de Documents sur les Accidents du Travail, No. 36. Statistique des Accidents du Travail Assurés de 1899 à 1905. Paris, 1909.

46598°-10--48

TOTAL AMOUNT OF WAGES INSURED AND ESTIMATED NUMBER OF FULL-TIME WORKERS INSURED, BY BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY, 1899 TO 1905.

[Source: Ministère du Travail et de la Prévoyance Sociale. Recueil des Documents sur les Accidents du Travail, No. 36.]

Total...

135, 015, 749537, 732 543, 796, 501 2, 159, 820 589, 972, 971 2, 356, 010, 643, 530, 140 2,571, 925

Though insurance companies are required to furnish the Office of Social Insurance of the Ministry of Labor with reports of all cases adjusted either voluntarily or through courts, nevertheless no complete report of statistics of the cases compensated by the insurance companies is as yet available. The special statistical report concerning the activity of the insurance companies for the period 1899 to 1905, which was referred to in a previous section, contains some data concerning what the French reports designate as serious accidents. These include only accidents resulting fatally or in permanent disability. As is shown in the subsequent chapter dealing with statistics of accidents reported, such serious injuries constitute only a very small proportion of the total number of accidents reported; but as the cost of these serious injuries is twice as great as that of the many injuries leading to temporary disability only, it is worth while presenting here the accident statistics of the insurance companies, notwithstanding this limitation. In the following table these accidents are shown by the 12 large industrial groups, and the estimate of the number of full-time workers, made in the French