The period was introducea out of consideration of the strong opposition offered to the Act during its passage through Parliament, which took several years. Opposition was offered not only by small or medium-sized firms concerned, but also, more especially, by the officials whom it was proposed to place under the Act, who disagreed, in particular, with the proposed arrangements regulating payments and counter payments.

The following table, showing the monthly premiums and the most important benefits payable in the six classes into which employees are divided according to salary, gives a general idea of the principles adopted in the Act:

The insurance benefits take the form, in the first place, of disablement and old age annuities for the insured himself; and, in the second place, of benefits: for the dependants of the insured-widows' annuities, or, if necessary, maintenance grants for the children-provision being made in certain cases for a final settlement of the claims of widows or children.

The Act requires 120 months' contributions to have been paid before a claim to benefits can be upheld; this condition is waived only "if the incapacity or death of the person insured supervenes from an accident occurring: in the course of his work and connected with such work." (85.)

Disablement annuities consist of a fixed part and increments. The former is determined according to the salary class in which the person insured is included, on the conclusion of the above period of 120 months. The increments are the amounts by which an annuity increases annually after the conclusion of the same period, and they are calculated also according to the corresponding salary class. Persons who, as the result of a physical or mental defect, are no longer able to follow their former occupations, are regarded as disabled.. Nevertheless, a person who " earns in an occupation suitable to his powers of work an amount exceeding the disablement annuity, and at least 600 kr.," [$8 (a)], or who "has brought about the incapacity for earning his living purposely or in committing what is proved to be a penal offence" (§8) has no claim. In the latter cases, the annuity may, however, be granted wholly or in *The figures in brackets denote the monthly contributions of persons insured (one-third or one-half), the remainder (two-thirds or one-half respectively) being paid by the employer.

part to the members of his family. Annuities are payable on and after the first calendar month following the disablement, or, if the insured is a member of a registered aid club, and, as such, has a right to sick pay, the annuity cannot be drawn until such sick pay ceases in accordance with the rules of the club. The right to draw a disablement annuity terminates on the death of the insured or when the annuitant recovers his earning capacity (i.e. as soon as he can earn more than the amount of his annuity, or at least 600 kr. per annum). Old age annuities are merely disablement annuities claimed after contributory payments have been made during a period of 480 months. They are payable even if the insured remains at work and draws a salary. A person insured may postpone the drawing of his annuity, in which case it is increased when he draws it" by an amount corresponding to the increase in the premium reserve accrued in the meantime." For instance, if a man aged 60 refrains from drawing his old age annuity, he has the right, five years later, without any further payments of premiums, to draw an annuity amounting to 1.8 times the annuity to which he was previously entitled.

Widows' annuities amount to one-half of the annuity drawn by the deceased husband or of the benefits to which he has acquired a right at the time of his decease, as the case may be. The widow has a claim to the widows' annuity only if (1) at least one year has elapsed since the marriage was contracted; (2) the marriage was contracted by the insured before the conclusion of his fiftieth year; (3) the deceased was not, at the time when the marriage was contracted, drawing a disablement annuity; (4) the widow has not, at the time of the death of her husband, been legally separated from him by her own fault; and (5) the widow has not been proved to have, by her own act, caused the death of her husband, or to have been a party to such act.

In the case of re-marriage, the widow's annuity ceases, but the widow receives in final settlement a sum equal to three times the amount of the annuity.

Maintenance grants amount for each child bereft of one parent, to onethird, and for each child bereft of both parents, to two-thirds, of the fixed part of the annuity to which the deceased parent would have been entitled.. The sum total of the maintenance grants of a family may not exceed, if the father is still living, 50 per cent., or if the mother is in receipt of a widows' annuity 75 per cent., or if both parents are dead, 200 per cent. of the fixed part of the corresponding disablement annuity. Further, the total must not amount to more than the annuity to which the deceased parent had acquired a right or was drawing at the time of his decease.

Sums paid in final settlement amount to twice the fixed part of the disablement annuity to which the deceased would have acquired a right after paying 120 months' contributions; such sums are payable to the widow or children of the person insured.

An annuity may not be drawn while the person entitled to it is living abroad. If, however, the insured was employed in a foreign branch of an Austrian firm this rule does not apply. The Government may grant facilities for benefiting the subjects of States which allow reciprocal rights to Austrian subjects.

The cost of insurance is met by fixed premiums payable monthly. In the first four salary classes the person insured pays one-third and the employer. two-thirds of the premiums; and in the two highest classes each party pays onehalf; the insured has to pay the whole premium only if his income exceeds 7,200 kr. Premiums have to be paid for at most 480 months, and thereafter the insured are exempt from further payments. The State pays only the

expenses of administration, not exceeding 100,000 kr. annually. In twenty years' time the basis of calculation set forth in the Act is to be examined in view of experience gained, and, if necessary, amended; and a new scale of premiums drawn up by legislative enactment.

In every salary-class the premiums amount to 1 per cent. per month of the highest salary in the preceding class; that is to say, on an average, about 10 per cent. per annum of the salary. As the persons insured only pay onethird or one-half of this amount, the percentage devolving upon them only slightly exceeds the pension contributions of civil servants-viz. 3.84 per cent. of the salary.

Since the Act is based on the principle of compulsion, the provisions relating to the scope of the obligation to insure are very important. Persons bound to insure and insured within the meaning of the Act are all employees over 18 in private service for whom a monthly or yearly salary is customary, and whose salaries under one and the same employer amount to at least 600 kr. Persons in the service of the Court or the State are excluded, as well as employees in public services who have established claims to disablement and old age pensions, and whose dependants have likewise a claim, on their decease. Employees within the meaning of the Act are all persons appointed to posts having an official character and persons whose duties are of a more or less intellectual kind. Persons employed in the production of manufactured articles, or in labour chiefly physical, and persons to whom the Domestic Code applies, are excluded from the Act. If there is any doubt as to whether a person is bound to insure or not, the administrative authority of the district decides in first instance. The Minister of the Interior is empowered, in agreement with the other Minister concerned, to exempt particular groups of employees, who would otherwise come under the Act, from the obligation to insure. The Act specially exempts from this obligation all persons who do not enter a situation in which insurance is compulsory until after they have completed the fifty-fifth year of their age; persons who have already passed this age-limit when the Act comes into force; persons who by reason of former services are already in receipt of annuities (provided that such annuities are not less than the minimum provided in the Act); and persons employed on railways serving the public as common carriers.

The obligation to insure terminates when a person leaves the occupation in which insurance is compulsory, or if he is permanently employed outside Austria, and also as soon as the person begins to draw a disablement or old age annuity. In the first two cases insurance may be continued voluntarily. Any person relieved from the obligation to insure can claim the reimbursement, without interest, of premiums paid by himself (but not of those paid by the employer), and the full premium reserve may be repaid to women who cease to come under the Act two years after marriage. Such claims cannot, however, be made until after three months have elapsed since the expiration of the obligation to insure. If a person who has ceased to insure comes again under the Act within twelve months, the rights previously acquired are taken into consideration; if a longer period has elapsed before such a person again comes under the Act, only five years' contributory payments may be taken into account. The right to insure voluntarily must be made good within eighteen months from the time when insurance ceases to be compulsory; voluntary insurance ceases if the insured is six months in arrears with his premiums. Persons voluntarily insured have to pay the whole premium themselves.

The Act is administered by the Pension Institution and its provincial offices to be established for the purpose. The Pension Institution has its

headquarters in Vienna, and is endowed with legal capacity. The Pension Institution is managed by a governing body and a General Assembly. The General Assembly consists of delegates representing employers and persons insured. It elects the governing body from among its members. The president of the governing body is appointed by the Pension Institution for five years. The obligation to insure may also be satisfied by insurance in an equivalent institution, provided that such institution has been recognised by the Minister of the Interior, and that the benefits provided are at least equal to the legal minimum. Equivalent institutions are subject to State supervision. The recognition of equivalent institutions and equivalent agreements is a matter of especial importance during the time of transition, since many employees are already insured in private institutions. Naturally, however, their employers are not, in consequence, released from the duty to pay their share of the premiums.

FRANCE. §65 of the Finance Act of April 17, 1906 (E.B. I., p. 448) expressly provides that pensions payable to workmen, employees, or their widows and orphans, are intransferable and non-distrainable to the amount of 365 francs. Further, such pensions and annuities of the national Old Age Pensions Fund can only be transferred and attached within the limits laid down by the Act of January 12, 1895. The special laws which allow to certain pensions more extensive privileges as regards distraint, etc., are not affected by this section.

§66 of the same Finance Act (E.B. I., p. 449) provides that the increase in benefits contemplated in §84 of the Finance Act of March 30, 1903, and extraordinary grants, shall be revertible, to the amount of one-half, to the surviving husband or wife of the deceased, if not re-married. The conditions under which this reversion applies are to be fixed by public administrative regulation.

In ITALY an Act dated December 30, 1906 (E.B. I., p. 487; Bolletino dell'Ufficio del Lavoro, Vol. VI., p. 1,291, and Vol. VII., p. 199) amends the combined texts of the Acts of July 28, 1901, and March 13, 1904, relating to the National Disablement and Old Age Insurance Fund for Workmen.

United States

Labour Legislation of the
of the United

of America in 1904 & 1905*

I. LABOUR LEGISLATION OF GENERAL APPLICATION

1.-Hygiene.

(a) General Regulations concerning Cleanliness and Sanitary Conditions. New York: In tenement manufactures. Chap. 550, in force October I, 1904. (X., 715.)

New Jersey: Law of March 24, 1904. (X., 1012.)

Hawaii In lodging houses of contract labourers. §§1020-1023 of the revised laws of 1905. (XIII., 673.)

(b) Washrooms, Dressing Rooms and Water-closets.

(XI., 713.)
(XII., 332.)
(XIII., 357.)

New Jersey Law of March 24, 1904. (X., 1012.)
Rhode Island: Law of March 3, 1904.
Connecticut Law of June 15, 1905.
Pennsylvania Law of May 2, 1905.
Hawaii Water-closets in lcdging houses of contract labourers.
§1021 of the revised laws of 1905.

(c) Exhaust Fans and Ventilation.

New York: Law of April 13, 1904.
New Jersey Law of March 24, 1904.
Pennyslvania Law of May 2, 1905.

(d) Air Space per Workman.

(XIII., 673.)

(X., 712.)

(X., 1012.) (XIII., 357.)

J

New Jersey: 250 cubic feet in day time; 400 at night. Law of . March 24, 1904. (X., 1012.)

Pennsylvania: 250 cubic feet. Law of May 2, 1905. (XIII., 357.) Hawaii In lodging houses for contract labourers, 300 cubic feet for one man; 900 cubic feet for man, wife and two children. §1020 of the revised laws of 1905. (XIII., 673.)

2.-Prevention of Accidents.

(a) Elevators, Stairways, Belts, etc, Inspection and safety regulations.
New York: Law of April 13, 1904. (X., 713.)

New Jersey Law of March 24. (X., 1012.)
Pennsylvania Law of May 2, 1905. (XIII., 357.)

Cf. G.B. II., p. c; IV., p. xvii. The summary in E.B., I. p. xx., which embraces only a portion of the legislation of 1904, is here repeated. The figures in parentheses, refer to volume and page of the "Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor," Washington, in which the text of the laws may be found.