A RESOLUTION FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION TO PRE- OF A NATIONAL INSURANCE FUND AND FOR THE MIT- APRIL 6 AND 11, 1916 ['H. J. Res. 189, Sixty-Fifth Congress, second session. Joint resolution WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918 COMMISSION TO STUDY SOCIAL INSURANCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT. COMMITTEE ON LABOR, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., April 6, 1916. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Edward Keating presiding. Mr. KEATING. Under a special rule adopted by the committee this morning was set aside for hearings on House joint resolution 159,1 by Mr. London, a joint resolution for the appointment of a commission to prepare and recommend a plan for the establishment of a national insurance fund and for the mitigation of the evil of unemployment. Mr. LONDON. Mr. Chairman, I will ask Mr. Dawson to open the discussion and to give us an outline of the problem. STATEMENT OF MR. MILES M. DAWSON, CONSULTING ACTUARY, NEW YORK CITY. Mr. KEATING. Will you give your name, address, and occupation to the stenographer? I presume we will proceed under the rule we had the other day, by which the witness will be permitted to make his statement, and members of the committee will question him at the conclusion of his statement. Mr. DAWSON: My name is Miles M. Dawson, consulting actuary, New York City. Mr. LONDON. Mr. Dawson, you are one of the authors of the book Workingmen's Insurance in Europe? Mr. DAWSON. Yes; I am a joint author of the book, Workingmen's Insurance in Europe, written by Dr. Lee K. Frankel and myself, as the result of a study of social insurance throughout Europe on behalf of the Russell Sage Foundation. I was also sent abroad by the Government two years later to study the ccst of workingmen's compensation insurance in European countries, the result of which study will be found in the September, 1910, Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor. My interest in this subject, however, did not begin with that investigation, but began with the introduction of social insurance in the countries of Germany and Austria, over 30 years ago, and my acquaintance with the languages in the countries of Europe, including all of those except Russia, which have adopted social insurance up to the present time, I think, has kept me in very close touch, as well as my personal acquaintance with the men who have been associated with it. 1 See II. J. Res. 189, 65th Cong., 2d sess., p. 307. 5 |