Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/293

Rh

Further, in order to give effect to the educational compromise, a bill for carrying out Art. 146, 2, of the constitution was laid before the Reichstag. It sets up as the standard type a more comprehensive school than the bidenominational type (Simul- tanschule) hitherto recognized as the standard. It recognizes Protestant and Catholic schools, purely secular schools, and also schools based on some particular philosophic conception or doc- trine (Weltanschauungssclnde), such as positivism, in order to give every class of opinion its rights. There was sharp contention about the definition of this comprehensive standard school (Gemeinschaftsschule). The non-Socialist Democrats regarded it as a further development of the existing bidenominational school; the parties of the Right and the Catholic Centre as the continua- tion of the older bidenominational schools, which were on a Christian basis, and of former denominational schools; the Social- ist parties of the Left conceived it as a frankly secular school.

Beyond the scope of these school laws is the law on the Reli- gious Education of Children (July 4 1921), regulating the reli- gious education of children of mixed marriages. It was voted unanimously. Finally, a bill was introduced to deal with special aspects of the welfare of the young and in particular with the education of abnormal children, of those who are subject to prejudicial moral surroundings, and of orphans, etc. Radical changes in the relations between parents and the school were ef- fected by the Prussian ordinance of Nov. 5 1919 on the forma- tion of Parents' Advisory Councils in connexion with schools.

(F. B.*)

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION

I. The Pre-War Period, 1911 to 1914. -Workmen's insurance against sickness, old age and invalidity, which had been intro- duced by Prince Bismarck in the years 1884-9, and had been extended by repeated amendment laws, underwent, after lengthy preparation and debate, a reform which was finally completed in the system of insurance for the Reich of July 19 1911. Funda- mentally the law remained the same, but the ranks of the insured were extended. The interrelation between the different forms of insurance and their administrations were more clearly defined, and in addition provision was made for the widows and orphans of insured persons. Miners were not included, as they retained their old insurance system under the mutual system of the Knappschafl (Miners' Association).

The law of Dec. 20 1911 introduced special insurance for salaried employees in commerce, industry and shipping; for per- sons employed in theatres and orchestras; for teachers, tutors and governesses; it gave medical treatment and an allowance during invalidity and also to all insured persons over 65 years of age. The means were supplied by contributions from employers and employed, without subvention from the State. The free mutual- aid societies, which existed side by side with the legalized State insurance system, were placed under the control of the State department which supervised private insurance.

As regards the protection of workers, one of the darker sides of the economic life of the people was touched by an attempt to regulate home industries by the law of Dec. 20 1911, which came into force on April i 1912. It included registration of workers employed in home crafts, the introduction of wages books, pub- lic exhibition of wages tables, regulations for the protection of children and young persons, prophylactic hygienic measures, and the establishment of committees with equal representation of employers and employed for the regulation of conditions of work, but without the right to fix a legally binding minimum wage.

A limitation and modification of the law, prohibiting assistants from taking employment in works of a similar character to those which they left, was brought about by the Act of July 10 1914. The duration of this " prohibition of unfair competition," as the law was called, was limited to 2 years, an important matter for minors and for assistants receiving low salaries. During the period of the prohibition the employer had to pay compensation for unemployment.

In contrast to these advances in social insurance and the protec- tion of workers, the legal rights of labour were not only neglected during these years but actually diminished. This was not the

result of actual legislation, but was brought about through the administration of justice and by the police. The trade unions, contrary to the Associations Law of 1908, were treated as political unions, and this greatly hampered their activity. The cry for the limitation of the right of combination (the prohibition of picket- ing and protection of blacklegs) grew steadily louder. A legal regulation of the wages contracts and the methods of settling dis- putes was expressly rejected by the Government. A halt was called in the whole course of social political legislation. Slackness in matters of social policy was succeeded by frank reaction. The outbreak of the World War at once created a new atmosphere affecting opinion and practice rather than legislative activity.

II. The War Period, 1914 to Nov. 1918. The necessities ot war-time, which demanded that substitutes should be found for the workingmen who were called to the colours, entailed a tem- porary suspension (Aug. 4 1914) of the regulations for the pro- tection of women and young workers (to-hour day, night rest, prohibition of unsuitable employment) ; but official warnings to be careful in these matters were repeatedly issued (Dec. n 1916 and Aug. n 1917). The prohibition of night work in bakeries (Jan. 15 1915) and of the use of white lead for painting (Oct. 25 1915), as well as ordinances concerning 7-o'clock closing for shops and the raising of the amount of wages exempted from seques- tration for debt (Dec. 13 1917), also remained in force throughout the period of the war. The policy adopted in regard to wages by the military authorities was of especial importance in that it insisted on sufficient payment for army contracts carried out by home industries, and in some districts even made a minimum wage legally obligatory.

In order to maintain workers' insurance during the war, the Federal Council decreed by an ordinance of Aug. 4 1914 that the necessary measures should be taken for this purpose especially in regard to the sickness-fund organization. In the course of the next few years several reforms of lasting value were carried out: Maternity benefit (Wochenhilfc) was provided (Dec. 3 1914), giving monetary aid during and after childbirth, and while the child was being nursed by the mother; the age at which an old-age pension became payable was lowered from 70 to 65 (1916); ill- nesses commonly contracted in particular industries were in- cluded in the accidents insurance scheme (Oct. 12 1917) ; repeated increases were made in the benefits from sickness and disable- ment insurance and insurance in the interests of survivors, and the wages at which insurance became compulsory were scaled up. The labour exchanges were made more uniform, and surveys of the whole labour market were published at short intervals, vacancies being grouped locally; but in spite of petitions from trade unions and resolutions of the Reichstag (1915) there was no thoroughgoing legislative systematization in the matter of unemployment.

In Feb. 1918 the Government laid a bill before the Reichstag, concerning the establishment of Labour Chambers (Arbeitskam- merii) in which employers and employed were to be associated on the basis of different trades for joint discussion of their affairs, but owing to sharp differences of opinion it was not passed.

On the other hand, the trade unions at last had their rights acknowledged. They were no longer persecuted by the police and the administration of justice on the plea that they were " politi- cal "; the authorities recognized their assistance in public work as indispensable, and the consequences of this acknowledgment found expression in legislation. The Associations Law was altered (Aug. 1916) in so far as trade unions were expressly exempted from the restrictions imposed upon political unions, and the prohibition of the use of foreign languages in meetings was abolished (April 1917). The law of May 22 1918 suspended Art. 153 of the body of regulations affecting industrial occupations (Gewerbeordnung), which had for 50 years placed under special and vindictive legal provisions workers who had been guilty of offences during strikes and lockouts.

The most important act of social legislation during the war was the law concerning war- work (Vaterlandischer Hilfsdienst) of Dec. 6 1916. It obliged every male between the ages of 17 and 60 who was not serving in the army to work at war industries,