which were wider than those imposed by the law, or even by the private insurance companies. According to section 3, all injuries to workmen and employees were to be compensated unless caused by— 1. Unpreventable and unexpected external forces (vis major); 2. By acts of third parties, having no connection with the industrial establishment; 3. Such intentional acts of the fellow-servants as are not connected with the nature of the work; 4. Gross negligence of the injured. The burden of proof that any of these conditions existed was placed upon the society. Roughly, then, the by-laws of the Riga company excluded injuries due to "vis major," to gross negligence, and to willful misconduct of employees or strangers. By this exclusion the protection granted extended not only to all cases where negligence of the employer or fellow-employee could be charged, but also to all cases of normal trade risk, to which the vast majority of industrial accidents is due; and not even contributory negligence of the injured deprived him of the right to compensation. As was shown above, this entire section went into the governmental plan with the one change of "gross negligence" for malicious intent." The amounts of compensation being definite, there was no occasion for striking any bargains; but the workman not being a direct party to the contract, nothing could interfere with his effort to obtain a remedy under the old laws of civil responsibility. For permanent complete disability a life pension was given, amounting to the last year's earnings when not over 240 rubles ($123.60); 663 per cent of the last year's earnings to single men or to women, and 75 per cent to married men, but in any case not less than 240 rubles ($123.60) when the last year's earnings were over that amount. In case of death resulting from the injury within one year after the accident the widow or dependent widower was entitled to a pension amounting to 30 per cent of the last year's earnings, to be paid until death or remarriage; to each child until 15 years of age, 15 per cent if one parent survives, and 20 per cent if neither survives, and to the dependent parents 15 per cent each; the total amount of the pensions not to exceed 60 per cent of the annual earnings, and the shares of all the participants to be reduced accordingly. Temporary disability lasting more than 5 days entitled the injured to an allowance equal to one-half of the daily earnings, or more, in the discretion of the society. The compensation system of the Riga society was more liberal than that of the law of 1903, because it granted a pension of 100 per cent in cases of complete permanent disability where the annual earnings were less than 240 rubles ($123.60) and a minimum pension of 240 rubles ($123.60) where the earnings were larger than 240 rubles ($123.60), while the law of 1903 allows only 663 per cent of the earn ings. This may easily be explained, however, by the fact that in a law intended for the entire Russian Empire the minimum wage could not be as high as for the modern industrial center like Riga, where the wages are considerably higher than in the east. It was shown in a preceding section that the average wages for the entire country were considerably below 240 rubles ($123.60). The Riga mutual insurance society began its operations in 1898 with a little over 3,000 employees insured. The Odessa society, organized under the same by-laws, began its operations in 1900, and another society was formed in the textile center Ivanovo Vosnesensk in 1901. The total number of employees insured in these mutual insurance companies in 1900 was 16,429; in 1901, 29,048; and in 1902, 76,046. The three mutual insurance societies named above existed in Russia before the adoption of the law of 1903. When the rules for collective insurance were promulgated by the minister of interior these three societies were provisionally permitted to continue their activity under these new rules. Similar mutual insurance companies rapidly sprang up in other industrial centers, some of them territorial associations of employers of various industries, others combining scattered establishments in one definite branch of industry. The Kieff mutual accident association began its operations in September, 1904, the Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Odessa, and Kieff sugar manufacturers' association in 1905, the Bielostok and Einseisk associations in 1906. Similar associations have been established since then in Vilna, Lodz, Tzaritzin, and other industrial centers. As examples of industrial mutual companies, may be mentioned the Mutual Accident Insurance Society of Einseisk, organized in November, 1905, by the association of the gold mine operators of the Einseisk mining region, and the "Black Sea Shipowners' Mutual Association for Insurance Against Accidents to their Employees," organized in Odessa in August, 1905. Of these two, the former includes some establishments to which the law of 1903 is applicable, and others still subject to the general provisions of the civil law; and the society insures against liability under either, according to the general regulations of the minister of interior for such insurance. While the by-laws of each of these mutual societies must be specially approved by the Ministry of Interior, yet with very few minor exceptions they are modeled after one uniform plan. Participation in these societies is altogether optional, and may be canceled at will. The societies are permitted to reinsure their risks; they are also permitted to write accident insurance for individuals, and also insurance against liability for injuries sustained by persons who are not employees. The management of the society is intrusted to a board of directors, elected by the members; the latter have a vote if they insure at least 10 employees, and one additional vote for each 100 employees, but not over 5 votes to each employer, or his proxy. The determination of the rate of the premium, which must vary with the nature of the industry, is left to the general meeting of the members. All establishments manufacturing explosives are excluded. Any other industry or establishment may be denied admission by the general meeting of the members. When the premiums collected are not sufficient to cover the liabilities incurred by the societies, the members may be assessed in proportion to the premiums they pay. In Riga, where the first employers' mutual accident insurance society was organized in 1898, a new mutual society was formed in 1906 by proprietors of commercial, building, and construction enterprises, some rural industrial establishments, and similar firms which do not come under the action of the law of 1903, for insurance against civil liability; but the important feature of this society is that it offers to the employees a system of compensation "according to the regulations of the law of 1903." This is a direct voluntary extension of the law, to establishments specifically excepted from it, by the employers who prefer the obligations of the law of 1903 to the cost and results of litigation. A somewhat similar condition is found in the Black Sea Shipowners' Mutual Association, above mentioned. As was pointed out previously, the law of 1903 does not apply to shipowners, which are subject, together with the railroads, to the special law of the civil code. This society obligates itself to pay compensation for all accidents, unless due to the malicious intent or gross negligence of the injured. Its scale of compensation is more liberal than that of the law of June 2, 1903. In case of complete permanent disability it pays 663 per cent of the actual annual earnings to a single person and 75 per cent to a married person, but in no case is the pension for total permanent disability to be less than 240 rubles ($123.60). A proportionate part of this pension is given for partial disability. The scale of pensions in case of fatal accidents is the same as in the law of 1903. The allowance in case of sickness is 75 per cent of the daily earnings (and not 50 per cent, as in the compensation act), and may be increased to the full daily earnings, in consideration of special circumstances. The comparatively favorable conditions of this system of insurance are said to be due to the great demand for labor in Odessa. The rapid growth of insurance of workmen in such mutual employers' associations is shown by the following table, from which it appears that the number of wage-workers insured has increased from 76,046 in 1902 to 311,689 in 1906, or more than fourfold in four years. NUMBER OF SOCIETIES, PERSONS INSURED, WAGES OF INSURED, AND PREMIUMS The average amount of premiums per person insured is subject to fluctuations, which may be explained, however, by the differences in the compensation of the total number insured. In other words, the data for different years are scarcely comparable in any strict way, because each of the associations covered different industries, with different accident rates, different wage levels, etc. As the number of associations and the number of persons covered increases, the averages become more valuable; the increase in both averages shown (per person insured and per $100 of wages) in 1904 is easily explained by the effect of the law, and for 1906 we find an average premium of a little over 1 per cent of the wage expense, which corroborates the computation made on page 2137. For the separate mutual associations the data are more comparable from year to year. They are shown in the following table: NUMBER OF PERSONS INSURED, WAGES OF INSURED, AND PREMIUMS PAID IN EMPLOYERS' MUTUAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE SOCIETIES, FOR SPECIFIED YEARS, BY SOCIETIES. [Source: Soviet Siezda Gornopromyshlennikov Iuga Rossii. Zakonoproekty po Stkakhovanin rabochikh. Kharkov, 1908.] NUMBER OF PERSONS INSURED, WAGES OF INSURED, AND PREMIUMS PAID IN EMPLOYERS' MUTUAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE SOCIETIES, FOR SPECIFIED YEARS, BY SOCIETIES-Concluded. The step from voluntary to obligatory insurance was proposed in the draft of a law which was first published early in 1905. When the compensation act was passed the minister of finance was directed. to prepare plans for a comprehensive scheme of workmen's insurance. In accordance with an imperial ukase the committee of ministers on December 24, 1904 (January 6, 1905), instructed the minister of finance to organize in conjunction with the Bureau of Industry of that ministry an inter-departmental commission for the preparation of a plan for insurance against accidents, sickness, and old age and invalidism. Representatives from all important chambers of commerce, mutual insurance companies, and other commercial bodies were invited into the commission. These resolutions of the |