ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

BRUNN, P. Welche Lehren ergeben sich aus der öffentlichen Angestelltenversicherung für die Sozialisierung der privaten Lebens-Versicherung? (Berlin: Mittler. 1919. Pp. 26. 1 M.)

DOUGHERTY, H. Notes on deposit pension schemes. (London: Effingham Wilson. 1919. Pp. 16. 2s.)

DU PASQUIER, L. G. Introduction à la science actuarielle. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars. 1919. Pp. 176. 5 fr.)

FLITCRAFT, A. J. Life insurance manual; application agreements and complete policy forms of prominent life insurance companies, including the special contracts, war clauses, disability and double indemnity provisions. Thirty-second annual edition. (Oak Park, Ill.: Author. 1919. Pp. 1187.)

HARRIS, J. H. Maternity benefit systems in certain foreign countries. U. S. Department of Labor. Children's Bureau. Legal series no. 3. Bureau publications no. 57. (Washington: Supt. Docs. 1919. Pp. 206.)

Three general methods of providing maternity benefits are distinguished: the mother may be provided, both before and after confinement, with skilled nurses, medical attendance, and helpful advice; the state may on the birth of a child pay its mother a fixed sum; or some form of social insurance may be developed. The systems prevailing in the chief European countries and in Australia and New Zealand are each outlined and such points covered as origin of plan, occupations covered, persons included, benefits, sources of income, administration, operation, and opinions as to success of system. In most cases the benefits are limited to the wage-earning population and salaried workers. Workers earning more than a specified sum are usually excluded. The unmarried mother is generally allowed to participate as a beneficiary. The payments ordinarily vary from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the wages received and continue for a period of from two to twelve weeks. In all countries except France, Italy, and Australia, the maternity aid is part of the health insurance system. The Australian plan is exceptional in that it provides for an allowance to every mother regardless of financial conditions. The grant, however, is limited to 5 pounds sterling.

The German system was established in 1883, but has been repeatedly modified since then. Although aid is restricted to the more poorly paid workers, under certain circumstances wives of insured men may gain maternity benefits. A cash benefit is furnished during a period of eight weeks, but medical and institutional care may be substituted. Provision is made for voluntary members of which there are a considerable number. The British system indicates a considerable advance in thought and deliberately provides maternity benefits not only for working women but for a large mass of the wives of working men. It assumes that pregnancy and confinement

increase the cost of medical service and that benefits are, therefore, needed. Usually the benefit is 30 shillings; under certain conditions this amount is doubled. In 1916 more than 6 million dollars was expended for maternity benefits. The cost to the workers averaged about 63 cents per individual man and 20 cents for each woman. In 1910 Italy established the first national compulsory maternity insurance system. Under this law, wage-earning women may receive an allowance of $7.72. The recent French law provides for two types of benefits-a rest and hygiene benefit and a nursing benefit. The latter is intended to stimulate maternal nursing and thereby reduce the infant mortality. The women are not required to contribute to the pension fund. The laws in the smaller European countries are mostly of recent origin and follow the plans developed elsewhere.

A study of the legislation in these countries indicates that maternity benefits will constitute a permanent part of the insurance plan. They are generally regarded as successful, and voluntary systems are gradually being displaced by compulsory measures. The Children's Bureau does not advocate any plan for the United States but simply presents the operations of the laws in various countries, and Great Britain in particular, so that American readers may become conversant with this phase of social legislation. GEORGE B. MANGOLD. MANES, A. Versicherungs-Staatsbetrieb in Ausland. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Sozialisierung. Third edition. (Berlin: Sigismund. 1919. Pp. iv, 128.)

VATKE, H. Die Verstaatlichung des Feuerversicherungswesen. (Berlin: Author. 1919. Pp. 111. 4 M.)

WARREN, B. S. Sickness insurance: its relation to public health and the common welfare. (Washington: Supt. Docs. 1919. Pp. 15.) Annual cyclopedia of insurance in the United States, 1919. (New York: R. R. Caverly. 1919. Pp. 613.)

Fire insurance in New England for ten years, December 31, 1909-December 31, 1918, inclusive. Twentieth edition. (Boston: Standard Pub. Co. 1919. Pp. 253. $7.50.)

Industrial pensions. (New York: Russell Sage Foundation Library. 1919. Pp. 4.)

Premiums and losses in the various states of the United States, Alaska, District of Columbia and Hawaii, reported to the National Board of Fire Underwriters, showing the premiums written and losses incur red on fire and lightning business only during 1917 and 1918. (New York: Nat. Board of Fire Underwriters, Actuarial Bureau Committee. 1919. Pp. 164.)

Proceedings of the thirteenth annual meeting of the Association of Life Insurance Presidents. (New York: 1919. Pp. 192.)

Proceedings of the National Convention of Insurance Commissioners, forty-ninth session, 1918. (Columbia, S. C.: F. H. McMaster. 1919. Pp. 213.)

Report of departmental committee on old age pensions. (Washington: Treasury Dept. 1919.)

Report of the Pennsylvania Commission on Old Age Pensions. (Harrisburg. 1919. Pp. 293.)

Rijksverzekeringsbank. Wetenschappelijke balans op 31 December, 1917. (Amsterdam: State Insurance Institute of the Netherlands. 1919. Pp. 114.)

Workmen's compensation supplement to department reports of Pennsylvania. (Harrisburg: Dept. Repts. Co. 1919. Pp. 1010.)

Pauperism, Charities, and Relief Measures

Justice and the Poor. By REGINALD HEBER SMITH. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin No. 13. (New York: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 1919. Pp. vi, 271.)

This report deals with the administration of the law as it affects the poor. Failure to obtain justice has tremendous effects. The author says, "It leads directly to contempt for law, and disloyalty to the government, and plants the seeds of anarchy." There is an amazing amount of injustice for which no redress is made, and as a consequence, the poor become embittered against law and American justice. The difficulties are not due to injustices in the body of the substantive law, which is fundamentally democratic, but to inequalities and defects in the administration of justice. There are three principal defects-delay, court costs, and fees and expense of counsel. Delay forces unfair settlements, prevents settlements, and often practically results in imprisonment for poverty. Court costs are not based on any definite principle. They deter the poor but not the rich. At best they are an anachronism. For the poor to appeal cases is an impossibility. Attorney's services are costly. The author estimates that 35 million persons in the United States are unable to pay any appreciable amount for such a purpose and that 8 millions live in the large cities where this inability may become a serious problem. Part II deals with the agencies established to secure a fairer administration of the laws. These are classified as small claims courts, conciliation courts, arbitration, domestic relations courts, administrative tribunals, administrative officials, assigned coun

sel, defenders in criminal cases, and legal aid organizations. Each of these agencies is discussed with examples of its establishment and services in various cities or communities: e.g., the small claims courts have practically eliminated defects of administration of justice so far as small civil cases are concerned. Conciliation, which has been notably successful in certain European countries, has been introduced into the courts of several American cities, such as New York and Cleveland. Domestic relations courts are being established in many cities to cope with the domestic difficulties of the poor. These courts are more and more using the machinery of the criminal law, but not in its forbidding aspects. Their jurisdiction is being widened and they have developed a remarkable capacity for securing freedom and equality of justice. Administrative tribunals are typified by workmen's compensation commissions whose work has greatly reduced the need of costly attorneys. The poor accused of crime have been subjected to most serious forms of injustice. The author discusses the function of the public defender in behalf of the poor and concludes that this official furnishes the best immediate method for securing freedom and equality of justice to poor persons accused of crime.

Nearly one half of the report is devoted to legal aid organizations and their work. There are 41 of these agencies in the United States and they represent five distinct types, as follows: private corporation societies, public bureaus, departments of organized charities, and bar associations or law school societies. These organizations are conceived of as a second line of defense, constituted to protect the poor if the various special courts are unable to perform this function with unqualified success.

The field of legal aid work is constantly expanding, but certain subjects, such as divorce matters, should be avoided. When a clash occurs between assistance to the poor and competition with the bar, the interests of the poor should be given priority, nor should justice be denied if the person cannot pay the price fixed. In the cities the annual legal aid clientele numbers about one for every 75 inhabitants. It seems that the public bureaus approach a higher standard of efficiency than the other types of associations, but all suffer from lack of funds. The work also suffers from the lack of centralized control and effective leadership. The bar as a whole has been quite indifferent and has given little financial support. Laymen not lawyers have made the growth of legal aid

work possible. The movement must grow and perform an important function in securing justice for the poor.

This report is most timely in calling attention to one of the serious problems of the day. The wrongs and injustices from which the poor suffer are responsible to a considerable degree for the current social unrest. It is well, in this day of repressive measures, to obtain some information about the legal problems and difficulties of the poor that lead to bitterness and resentment. The author presents a dispassionate account of the forms of injustice and proposes a series of measures for the alleviation of these wrongs. The report should stimulate better methods of providing legal protection for all.

St. Louis, Mo.

GEORGE B. MANGOLD.

NEW BOOKS

NOBLE, J. The law of charity trusts under Massachusetts decisions. Second edition. (Boston: A. C. Getchell & Son, 185 Franklin St. 1919. Pp. 112. $2.)

Organized love. Forty-second annual report of the Charity Organization Society of Buffalo. (Buffalo, N. Y. 1919. Pp. 88.)

Socialism and Co-operative Enterprises

Matériaux d'une Théorie du Prolétariat. By GEORGES SOREL. Etudes sur le Devenir Social, XV. (Paris: Marcel Rivière et Cie. 1919. Pp. 413. 7 frs.)

In this last publication of this remarkable man we see still more clearly his passion for metaphysical justification. The book is made up of articles mostly in print before the war. It had been rumored that Sorel had lost faith in syndicalism and had passed into tory reaction. How little this appears in the present volume may be seen in brief comments written as the war draws to an end. He says the events are too overpowering for any present estimate or measure. They have brought problems "que je n'oserais pas aborder en ce moment." But the victory of the Allies is the triumph for la plutocratie démagogique. They could not finish up their job "without trying to suppress Bolsheviks who filled them with terror. Even if the plutocracies crush the revolutionaries, shall we not have again the blood of the martyrs more fecund than ever? He reminds us that the massacres of 1848 and again in 1871 (which also crushed revolutionaries) had for result the

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »