in her yearning for peace and in her belief that no peace is possible with the Hohenzollerns.

But Russia will not fight in the Allied camp so long as the Allies stick to aims which she considers' imperialistic. If France and Britain should now repudiate all aims at conquest and define their purpose in the war as the democratization of Germany only, there is no question in any forward-looking Russian's mind that the Russian crisis would quickly come to an end. Moreover, Russia's striking power would be immediately resurrected in case a German revolution fails to materialize. New York City.

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NY change in the existing social order has always met with more or less opposition. Invariably all classes of people assume a hostile attitude towards new ideas and a new social program. This was manifested in an especial manner when workmen's compensation laws were first proposed. But since the introduction and passage of compensation laws in the different states the sentiment of the people has undergone a decided change. The feeling of hostility has now disappeared and there has arisen in its place a crystallized public opinion in favor of legislation of this character.

In considering further changes in the social order, such as health insurance, invalidity and old age pension, it is but natural that laboring people who will be most broadly affected by such a change would view, with critical concern, the methods proposed in this contemplated social legislation. The need for legislation of this kind is conceded. All classes of working people appreciate that there is as much need for health insurance as there is for workmen's compensation benefits. There is a unanimity of opinion regarding this principle. Any differences that exist are with regard to the methods to be employed.

Trade unions, through voluntary action, have made attempts to provide forms of health insurance. While their actions may be regarded as purely experimental

and have proven, in most instances, inadequate, yet they have been productive of much good. But the burden of taking care of workers who are ill and providing for them adequate hospital and medical service is altogether too great to be borne by these voluntary organizations. Besides, as a rule, those who need help most are those who fail to avail themselves of the benefits offered.

The greatest burden, however, borne by the members of voluntary organizations providing for health insurance, and that which makes it well nigh unworkable, is the cost incident thereto. This is the experience of each and all. There is no exception to the rule. The report of the officers of the International Typographical Union, dealing with this special subject and showing the cost of maintenance of the printers home for aged and disabled members of the union, together with the benefits paid to superannuated members, proves conclusively that it is only a question of time when the financial burden necessary to meet the payment of the cost of maintaining the home and the compensation to be paid as invalidity and old age pension claims will be SO great that it can not be continued.

And why should the working people themselves bear this financial burden? There is no good reason why the care of the sick, the aged, and the disabled among

the working classes should be borne by the working people alone. Industry and society at large should both be required to bear their share of this burden. It has been stated by eminent men who have given this subject much thought and who have investigated the matter carefully that a very large per cent. of working people become permanently incapacitated because of lack of proper medical attention when ill. Even when the disability is not permanent the illness extends over unnecessary periods of time for this same reason.

Inasmuch as each worker is a social unit society is vitally interested in promoting and maintaining at the highest standard the efficiency of each worker. Loss of time, inability to work, the removal of each social unit from the field of industrial activity, means, in the last analysis, a distinct loss to society at large. Looking at this matter from this point of view it is clearly obvious that society is benefited by promoting and preserving the health and vitality of each productive social unit.

Any scheme of health insurance, invalidity or old age pensions, in order to be successful, equitable, and just, must provide, in my opinion, that the cost incident thereto be borne by employer, employee, and the state. The adoption of such a plan would impose a minimum burden upon all classes of society.

Such a plan has been in effect in Germany, and in a somewhat modified form in England, for many years. Of course, the same details and methods embodied in the laws operative in those countries could not be adopted here. There are certain fundamental principles, however, which must necessarily be followed in order that the system may be entirely successful. Experiences of European countries can be utilized here in perfecting a more practical and successful scheme. We can benefit by what they have done. In considering this subject it is significant that the trade unions of Germany are not hostile to the plan of health insurance and old age pensions operating there. Of course, some dissatisfaction over the payment of claims, representation on the boards of administration, and in other minor details, always prevails. It would be impossible, in matters of this kind, to perfect a plan by which the views of all could be completely harmonized.

Objection has been raised by some representative men, prominent in trade unions, to any compulsory plan of health insurance, invalidity or old age pensions. The chief objection advanced is that the compulsory plan interferes with the freedom of the worker and curtails his normal activities;

that it deprives him of his liberties and takes from him certain inherent rights that should not be interfered with. Such an objection, at first, would seem well founded. In fact it was vigorously advanced when compulsory compensation laws were first proposed. Employers of labor entered most emphatic objection to the passage of a compulsory workmen's compensation law on the ground that it interfered with personal freedom and liberty of action. In human affairs there is no such thing as absolute freedom and liberty of action. In all the normal activities of life one must so regulate himself and his affairs as to have proper regard for the rights of others. Society has ordered, through legislation on almost all subjects, that the freedom and liberty of every individual must, in some degree, be surrendered. There is more or less compulsion applied to the conduct of all human beings in all walks of life. Industrial development and the interrelations of society will not permit any person, no matter what may be his station in life, to become isolated or live unto himself alone. The social order requires that each unit must discharge certain duties. The care of those among the workers who are ill, incapacitated, or who through age are no longer able to earn a livelihood, will not be voluntarily assumed. Therefore, as a matter of public concern and in the interest of the public welfare, compulsory legislation, requiring the assumption of such care, seems to be the only feasible plan to which we can resort.

Personally, therefore, I do not share the belief of some men that a compulsory plan of health insurance and the like will be detrimental to the wage-earners. As above stated, I can conceive of no other plan which would be successful. It seems to me that the experience of voluntary action and voluntary organizations fully justifies such a conclusion. It is of supreme importance, however, that any legislation of this character, providing for health insurance and for kindred forms of social insurance, should be drafted and proposed only after careful study, investigation, and mature deliberation on the entire subject. Health insurance should provide for proper medical care and hospital service, also weekly financial benefits, so that the incapacitated worker and his family may be properly cared for during his illness. Invalidity and old age pensions, it seems to me, ought also to be paid out of a fund provided by employer, employee, and the state and administered by the state. In fact, the whole scheme of social legislation, herein referred to, ought to be exclusively

under state control and administered by state authority. Employers and employees, as well as the state, should be proportionately and properly represented upon the boards of administration. This would overcome much opposition to compulsory action because each group of society would be justly represented. This fact would inspire confidence in the plan and insure the fullest and heartiest cooperation.

I have always been one of those who believed that the field of workmen's.compensation, health insurance, invalidity and old age pensions, is one from which liability insurance companies should be absolutely excluded. They should be prohibited by law from participating in any of these forms of social insurance. The proposal that commercial concerns should be carriers of any of these forms of social insurance is indefensible indeed. The commercial element should in no way whatsoever enter into the consideration or administration of such humane laws. The chief object of these private concerns must necessarily be commercial in character. They operate primarily in the interests of their stockholders. They should not be permitted to sell either workmen's compensation or any other form of social insurance. The working people are hostile to private insurance companies, due largely to the experience which they have had under the plan of liability laws prior to the enactment of workmen's compensation, and under compensation laws which permit liability insurance companies to sell workmen's compensation insurance. The almost universal sentiment of the working people is in favor of the exclusion of commercial agencies from participating, in any way whatsoever, in the plan of social insurance. They regard these private concerns as their enemies. Under the old order when the dependents of either an injured or killed employee sought damages, they discovered that instead of their employer a liability company was the real defendant. Skilled attorneys employed by liability insurance companies availed themselves of every legal technicality and in almost every case contested the claim of an injured employee or the dependents of a killed employee to the court of last resort in an effort to prevent them from securing any financial redress. The working people never have forgotten nor will they ever forget this experience with private insurance companies. To permit them to participate in these forms of social insur

ance will tend to increase and intensify the opposition of the working people.

I appreciate fully that the change proposed, by the enactment of such health insurance legislation as the American Association for Labor Legislation favors, will meet with tremendous opposition. The plan which must be put into effect if we can reasonably expect any degree of success will be regarded as little less than revolutionary. Hostility and opposition will not come from working people alone, but, in my opinion, will be manifested in a more pronounced form by employers of labor. Much education is necessary in order to have all groups of our citizenship understand the plan and what it means. It is a worthy cause, however. So, inspired by the desire to help humanity, let us do our best in putting forth our efforts towards the realization of these progressive ideals.

CIVILIZATION!

(By GEORGE BRANDES.)

Civilization! The first fruit of this civilization has been to spread over the earth the truth-killing Russian censorship. The second is that we have come back to the days of human sacrifice: with this difference, however, that in the barbarous days of ancient history four or five prisoners of war were offered each year to please a muchfeared divinity, whereas now four or five millions are sacrificed to the fetishes of the day.

Lammenais once wrote. "Satan inspired the oppressors of mankind with a fiendish thought. He said to them: In each family take the strongest and bravest men and give them arms. Then I shall give them two idols, called Honor and Loyalty, and one law which they shall call Obedience to Duty. They shall worship these idols and blindly obey this law."

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N employer who can not at once secure the workers he needs even for temporary purposes, at once raises the cry of scarcity of labor. Employers who offer low wages and poor conditions find it difficult to secure sufficient workers and they proclaim a “labor shortage." Other employers who desire to employ workers with less skill, or those likely to be more tractable, such as women unaccustomed to organization for their own defence, utilize the plea of scarcity of workers as the reason for the innovation.

Some industries connected with war work have greatly increased their capacity to meet the present demands. Such industries as the logging camps, that have permitted miserable surroundings, housing, and provisions for their employes, now find it extremely difficult to secure a sufficient number of workers.

Men are unwilling to work for low wages and in degrading conditions at any time and particularly so when there are many opportunities for employment. Many of those who are closest in touch with the workers' side of the problem declare that no real scarcity of workers exists. They declare that the present condition is the result of maladjustment of workers and inadequacy of agencies to secure better adjustment.

In some trades, particularly the building trades, there are workmen out of employment. As the tendency is to discourage building operations and thus to release building materials for war needs, it is probable that even greater numbers of building tradesmen will be seeking employment.

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A considerable part of the agitation about scarcity of workers is due to the professional interest of private employment agencies. Quite a considerable portion is due also to those interests that are trying to prepare the public mind to approve legislation for conscription work. papers with large circulations improve every possible opportunity for editorials upon the necessity for industrial conscription and for news articles furthering that general policy. As a matter of fact, the workers of this country are loyally doing their part for war production. They are fighting the battles of democracy, not only in foreign countries, but in our shops and mines and mills. A protest against in

dustrial exploitation is in furtherance of American ideals of work and life. What America's workers are asking is a square deal and an opportunity to assist in war production with honesty and conviction.

Industrial conscription means loss of freedom to wage earners. Industrial conscription is incompatible with American institutions and with the purpose of the war.

The proposal has an appeal to those who do not consider very far below the surface of things. It seems to afford a method for the elimination of all friction and all interference with continuous production, but the way to enforce compulsory work has never been found. Wherever industrial conscription has been tried in foreign countries as a war measure, it has proved a failure. Great Britain has warned us against the measure.

In the last analysis the fate of the present war rests upon production. Those countries that shall be able to organize production upon such a basis that their output will exceed the waste in the war will be the victors. Production is no longer a problem that can be isolated from the rest of the national life. It is a nationwide problem that involves every inhabitant in the country, every resource and particle of wealth. All must be mobilized in the most intelligent way for co-operation in production. One of the fundamental labor war problems, therefore, is the problem of adjustment. Adjustment agencies must be national in scope and must be in intimate touch with both employers and employed. In other words, these adjustment agencies must be composed of representatives of the government, of employers, and of employes. The national machine is dependent upon local co-operation. This work clearly comes under the province of the department of labor.

For some time the department has been trying to deal with the problem, but has been exceedingly hampered by inadequate appropriations made by congress. During the last congress, the department asked for an appropriation of $750,000 for this purpose. Congress granted them only $250,000 for this, which is one of the most important war problems. The department, however, is preparing to do its best within the limits of that appropriation. Organized labor has done and will do its full share to co-operate.