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 704 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

ried, it may be done through a slight raising of the premium for the unmarried. This can be more lightly borne by the insured than a differentiation in benefits.

IV. The age of the unemployed has concerned insurance against non-employment hitherto chiefly in respect to its minimum limit. This latter varies from fourteen to eighteen years. But for insurance the maximum limit of age is even more important, and it is very remarkable that this has not yet received extended consideration. Capacity for work decreases rapidly with increasing age. To the greater risk of non-employment in the older years of life is added the difficulty of obtaining new positions. The experience of St. Gall shows that of the total non-employed over 28 per cent, were men over fifty years of age. Out of ninety-two men employed in the irregular trades who were over sixty years of age, 36.9 per cent, were out of work, while of those under sixty years of age only 20 per cent, were out of work. For these reasons the establishment of a maximum age limit for admission to insurance seems entirely justified. People who are over sixty years of age occasion for the insurance bank so great a risk that they should be excluded from the right of insu- rance. Here the question of the duration of membership comes into consideration. Insured who have been members at least four years might be compensated for non- employment of at most thirty days after they have passed their sixtieth year. But insured members of less than four years' standing should lose their right of member- ship after their sixtieth year.

V. The principle of grading premiums and benefits along with the risk according to wages is fairly well accepted. The opinion was general that the laborer who received a higher wage should contribute a somewhat greater premium. But the expectations of financial gain attached to this plan have shown themselves in St. Gall delusive. The laborers were divided into three classes according as they earned per day three francs or less, three to four fr., and four to five fr. These respectively paid a premium of fifteen centimes per week, twenty centimes, and thirty centimes. But out of 993 men insured in the first class 197 became unemployed, while out of 335 men of the second class sixty-four men became unemployed, and out of the six men of the third class two. Benefits were paid to the first class to the amount of 13,519 fr., to the second class 4,531 fr., to the third class 159 fr. The ratio of benefits in each class was such that no considerable financial gain resulted to the insurance fund. For these reasons Berne has made a good move in establishing unconditionally a single- premium class. This premium amounts monthly to fifty centimes, that is, it is lower than the \owest premium demanded by most other systems of insurance against non- employment. Furthermore, the experience of St. Gall shows that approximately a third of the unemployed had a daily wage not amounting to more than three francs. More, than the half of the unemployed received a wage between three and four francs daily and only 13 per cent, received a daily wage amounting to more than four francs. Therefore, to disencumber the administration and to avoid injustice and friction, the establishment of a single-premium and benefit class is commended. P'inally, the administration and management of the insurance fund should give the greatest room to the influence of the insured laborers, because therein lies the best guarantee for the prosperous development of such insurance, as the experience of St. Gall, on the one hand, and the favorable results in Berne, on the other, clearly show. — Dr. E. Hof- MANN, "Die Arbeitslosenversicherung in St. Gallen und Bern," Acrhiv fur sociale Geseligebung und Statistik, Band XIII, 1. u. 2. Heft.