Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/799

 INSURANCE AGAIXST XON-EMPLOYMENT 783

of ten years from the date of his certificate of enrollment any beneficiary may cease payments, and after sixty days' notice to this effect may receive one-half the face value of all the money he has paid in as monthly payments, less any sum he may have received as indemnity. Upon similar conditions at the end of twenty years he is entitled to the entire sum paid in as monthly premiums. While this is less than the endowment life insurance companies agree to do, yet, considering the risks covered by the company, it is an additional feature of great attractiveness.

The stipulations in regard to payment of dues are quite simi- lar. Delinquencies incur a forfeiture of all claims. The Chi- cago association provides for a system of fines as penalties for delinquencies of less than thirty days, after which all further claims are forfeited.

There are certain other conditions of eligibility not yet men- tioned, such as age, previous period of employment, etc. At Berne any citizen of Switzerland, resident of Berne, was eligible to membership. At St. Gall all resident workmen receiving daily wages less than five francs, and not insured in other soci- eties offering equivalent advantages, were compelled to join. The system at Bale applied to resident workmen, native or for- eign, over fourteen years of age, not receiving more than 2000 francs annually. Apprentices under eighteen years of age receiv- ing less than 200 francs annually were also exempted. The law applied to all industries subject to the Federal Factory Laws, and to the building trades. At Cologne, workmen eighteen years of age, domiciled at Cologne for at least two years, and not incapacitated for work, were eligible. Any workman more than fourteen years old was eligible at Bologna. The American asso- ciation insures only those who have been employed for the pre- vious six months and are between the ages of eighteen and fifty The arrival at this latter age is sufficient to terminate the con- tract. The plan thus fails to deal with one of the most potent causes of this form of invalidity. The internal organization of the systems presents many other points of interest, but further elaboration must be omitted.