Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/198

 1 82 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Endowments and special resources 7,000,000

Contribution of communes 15,250,000

Contribution of departments 12,650,000

Contribution of the state 8,250,000

Total 43,250,000

Experience alone can supply exact data, and the policy of administrators will affect the final result. But the bill is careful to restrict the sum which can be expended, so there will be no blind leap into the dark. The only question is whether the provision made will be adequate. It will at least be an improvement on the present methods, and it will furnish a foundation for further experience. It is hoped that the complementary bills relating to workingmen's insurance, now under discussion, will complete a system of social legislation, and place France, along with Ger- many, in the first rank of nations which not only tax all citizens, and require of them in times of war their surrender of life, but which offer to the humblest citizen the assurance of support in the emergencies of existence.