Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/863

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 847

A recent movement of great national interest, looking toward the promotion of ideals of health in the minds of the school children, illustrates the point I have been making. Indeed, I should regard the admission of hygiene into the compulsory subjects in elementary education as a first step in the direction of the concrete ethics which I should like to see the ground note of our national education. JOHN H. MUIRHEAD, in Charity Organization Review (London), February, 1905.

E. B. W.

The Italian Accident Insurance Law. At last, after many years of dis- cussion and preparation, Italy has set out upon the road of social legislation. In the year 1898 the law providing compulsory accident insurance for workmen was passed, and in the same year another law created a national old-age pension fund for workmen. Still more remarkable is the year 1902, in which the establishment of a Bureau of Labor occurred, a law for the protection of women and children was passed, a new amendment was added to the law providing for aged workmen, and there was set up a court of arbitration to deal with the conflicts arising between capital and labor. The law regarding accident insurance received fresh attention at the hands of the government and in Parliament, and after many altera- tions it finally emerged in its present form as the law of January 31, 1904, and the decree of March 13, of that year.

Under the provisions of this law are included all workmen in stone quarries and mines, in building operations, in gas and electrical plants, upon wharves, in arsenals, without regard to the number so employed. It applies also to railroad construction and operation, to traffic in general, to wrecking, and to the building and launching of ships when the number of workmen exceeds five. In industrial enterprises with more than five workmen, in which machinery is called into use, all must be insured ; where less than five are employed, only those using the machines need be insured. The law, moreover, embraces the industries of agriculture and forestry.

The employers and managers are required to file with the prefect full infor- mation relative to the nature of their businesses, including the number of men employed ; every accident must be reported, and the employer must pay the cost of the first medical attendance, as well as the cost of the medical testimony which accompanies the report of the accident. They must, moreover, have displayed a placard containing the name and address of the insurance company with which they have insured their workmen, and the time when the policy went into force and when it expires. The contract with the insurance company must be closed before the workman commences work, except in cases of urgent need, when five days of grace are allowed.

The insurance may be procured either from the Cassa Mazionale di Assicurazi- one, whose central office it at Milan, or from certain other similar organizations. The expense of the insurance must be borne exclusively by the employer, who is prevented by heavy penalties from shifting the burden in any way to the employees.

The workmen also are under certain obligations. They must follow the directions for avoiding accidents ; they must carefully preserve their pay-books and see to it that the proper entries are made therein ; they must report even the most trivial accident, and must submit to such medical examinations as may be necessary to establish the facts in the case.

All accidents are divided by the law, according to their consequences, into the following categories: (i) complete permanent incapacity for labor: (2) partial permanent incapacity for labor; (3) entire temporary incapacity; (4) partial temporary incapacity: (5) death. In the first case an indemnity of one-half the daily wage is paid after ninety days. This may be capitalized so as to yield six times the yearly wage, and never less than 3,000 lire. The indemnity in the other cases, excepting the last, is proportionately less. PROFESSOR FILIPPO VIRCILII, " Das italienische Unfallversicherungsgesetz," Archiv fur Soxiahvissenschaft %tnd Sozialpolitik, Vol. XX, No. 2 (1905). E. B. W.

Financial Aspects of Municipal Undertakings which Extend Beyond the Municipal Boundaries. A number of puzzling questions arise out of the fact that in very many cases municipal areas have little or no claim to be the