The administrative council of the institution shall have the power to reduce in the course of the year the rate of this addition in accordance with the gravity and intensity of unemployment, and also according to the financial condition of the institution. ART. 8. The institution shall not contribute any additional payments whenever the benefit paid to the unemployed member by the association shall exceed 1.50 lire (29 per cents) per day.

The addition of the institution to the benefits paid by the associations shall be paid at the end of each month to the individuals adhering to the associations, after presentation of their registers with statements of amounts paid out, and after the auditing of these accounts.

ART. 9. All the members of the associations granting unemployment benefits and belonging to the institution must also be registered in some employment office.

ART. 10. The associations must keep accounts of their membership and of the unemployment benefits according to a uniform plan determined by the administration of the institution.

ART. 11. Those members who, in the opinion of the council, do not belong to the class of workingmen, those who have deceived or tried to deceive the institution under the disguise of unemployment, or who have refused employment offered by the employment office, shall lose the right to obtain any benefits.

ART. 12. The operations of the institutions are supervised and managed by a council consisting of:

(a) The president of the Humanitarian Society;

(b) Another representative of the Humanitarian Society as chairman;

(c) Two representatives of the trade associations belonging to the institution;

(d) One representative of the cooperative societies contributing to the institution; and

Finally, a representative of those who contribute annually at least 5,000 lire ($965). The representatives of the trade associations and cooperative societies are elected in annual meetings of the delegates of the individual associations and cooperative societies. Each association is entitled to one vote.

The associations having more than 100 members have one vote for each 100 members participating in the unemployment relief. The officers elected remain in office one year and are re-eligible.

ART. 13. The Humanitarian Society provides the office force, the headquarters, office expenses, and the printing.

ART. 14. The institution is established experimentally for one year.

The organization and plan of this form of unemployment insurance appears very plainly from the brief constitution quoted. It follows quite closely the plan of the so-called Ghent system. It began operation on July 1, 1905.

In the spring of 1909 an unemployment benefit institution was organized in Brescia by the local branch of the Milan Humanitarian Society. The constitution of this new institution follows closely that of the Milan fund. The subsidy given by it to the unemployment benefits furnished by the trade associations is determined at 50 centesimi (10 cents) per day for not exceeding 40 days. It may be increased to 75 and 90 centesimi (17 cents and 19 cents) to those persons who carry membership in two or three trade associations granting unemployment benefits. According to the latest information available this institution has not yet begun its operations because the necessary trade association unemployment funds have not yet been organized.

The general results of the activity of the unemployment insurance fund of the Milan Humanitarian Society are shown in the following table for 4 years, from July, 1905, to the close of 1909. The fund began operations on July 1, 1905, with 27 labor organizations affiliated and 6,449 members. By the end of the year the number of affiliated organizations had increased to 33, and by the

end of 1906 to 36. The largest increase in the number of organizations took place during 1907, when it grew to 46, and according to the latest data available the number was 52 at the close of 1909. During the 44 years the membership in these affiliated organizations increased from 6,449 to 12,815. The number of beneficiaries has somewhat more than doubled, but does not show any alarming growth, except for 1907, presumably due to temporary conditions. The number of members receiving benefits in 1906 was 6.6 per cent of the total; in 1907, 12.4 per cent; and in 1908, 9.4 per cent. The average number of days of benefits per member insured varied from 1.4 to 3 days in the different years; while the average number of days of benefits per member receiving benefits fluctuated between 20.8 and 26.2 days. The total amount of benefits was not very great. In 1907, when the amount was the greatest, it was 56,467.58 lire ($10,898.24), of which about 31 per cent was contributed by the Humanitarian Society and the rest by the labor organizations. The average amount of benefits paid per insured member in 1907 was 91 cents, and in 1908 only 72 cents, while the average amount of compensation paid to members receiving benefits varied from $6.88 to $8.25 in the different years. During the 4 years the average amount of daily benefits was about 32 cents, of which more than two-thirds was contributed by the labor organizations and nearly one-third by the Humanitarian Society.

STATISTICS OF OPERATION OF THE MILAN HUMANITARIAN SOCIETY UNEMPLOY. MENT INSURANCE FUND, 1905 TO 1909.

[Source: Bollettino dell' Ufficio del Lavoro, April, 1909, June, 1910. Società Umanitaria, Milano, Disoccupazione, Collocamenti, Sussidi in Milano, nel 1909.]

The distribution of the number of beneficiaries and of days for which benefits were paid is given in the next table for 1907 and 1908, by causes of unemployment. In 1908 dull season and industrial crises were responsible for over 80 per cent of all days of unemployment. In 1907 more than half of the unemployment was caused by lockouts and shutdowns and discharges in consequence of labor disdisputes.

NUMBER OF PERSONS COMPENSATED AND NUMBER OF DAYS FOR WHICH BENEFITS WERE PAID BY THE MILAN HUMANITARIAN SOCIETY IN 1907 AND 1908, BY CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT.

[Source: Bollettino dell' Ufficio del Lavoro, May, 1908, and April, 1999.]

a Including industrial crises, closing of establishments through bankruptcy, and suspension of operation for the purpose of taking stock.

b Included with dull season.

Including a duplication of 380 days due to benefits being paid by two societies to the same persons.

The main results of the activity of the Milan unemployment insurance funds are shown in the following table by months of the year. The table is interesting mainly in showing the difficulty of drawing any definite conclusions as to the probable unemployment by seasons of the year. In 1905 the greatest amount of unemployment happened in July, August, and September; in 1906, in July and August; in 1907, in August, September, and December; and in 1908, in January.

The table shows that the number of unemployed persons receiving benefits from the Humanitarian Society is often somewhat smaller than that receiving benefits from the labor organizations themselves. Occasions arise when the subsidy of the Humanitarian Society is denied for noncompliance with some of the regulations.

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF BY THE HUMANITARIAN SOCIETY AND THE TRADE ASSOCIATIONS OF MILAN, BY MONTHS, JULY, 1905, TO AUGUST, 1909. [Source: Bollettino dell' Umicio del Lavoro. Some of the totals in this table do not agree with the totals in the following table; the figures are given as shown in the original report.]

• This total is not the correct sum of the items; the figures are given as shown in the original report.

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF BY THE HUMANITARIAN SOCIETY AND THE TRADE ASSOCIATIONS OF MILAN, BY MONTHS, JULY, 1905, TO AUGUST, 1909-Concluded..

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, BY TRADE ASSOCIATIONS.

In the tables heretofore given the membership of all the affiliated organizations was taken as a whole. The importance of the question of dependence of employment upon the trade calls for additional information. Data concerning the number of cases of relief, the number of days for which benefits were paid, and the amount of benefits paid are shown for the years 1906 to 1908 separately for each labor organization affiliated with this unemployment insurance sysFor purposes of obtaining percentages, the mean between the membership of each union in January and in December has been used for 1906 and 1907. As the average membership for the year was available for 1908, it has been used in preference to the mean membership.

tem.

In some instances the number of cases of relief seems large, even exceeding the mean membership in one occupation in 1907. This shows that some members received benefits more than once during the year. In 1906 the number of cases of relief to printers was 36.1 per cent of the mean membership, and for the compositors the percentage was 29.5. In 1907 the number of cases of benefits to glass polishers and workers in white glass was 192.6 per cent of the mean membership. The next highest percentage, 89.6, was for chiselers. In 1908 the highest percentage, 35.4, was for metal forgers. The compositors, printers, and lithographers show comparatively high percentages for each of the three years.