prepared, one each for the employer, the injured person, and the civil governor of the Province, and the latter shall forward the certificate with all the papers pertaining to the case to the academy of medicine, which renders final decision in the case. The opinion of the academy is communicated to the civil governor and a copy of it is furnished to the employer and to the injured employee. The same procedure is followed when death occurs some time after the accident and doubt is raised whether it was due to the accident. Also a medical examination as to recovery or disability must be made in those cases where criminal prosecution is begun against the employee for criminal negligence or misconduct. If both parties can agree, no intervention of the authorities is required for the settlement of claims. Nevertheless certain necessary formalities must be complied with so that a record of each case may be preserved. The employer is required to notify the authorities as soon as he begins to meet the obligations of the law, and also when the final settlement is made, when a pension is granted, or when the obligations are transferred by insurance. All the conditions must be stated in the report, which must be signed by the claimants or their representatives as evidence of their agreeing to their settlements.

In the capitals of Provinces all reports must be sent directly to the office of the provincial governor or to the local police office. In all other municipalities the reports must be sent to the municipal authorities, who in turn must immediately forward them to the office of the governor. In addition it is required that the records of all cases be kept in the office of the civil governor, whence the statistical information is forwarded to the Ministry of Interior. In normal cases the registration limits the length of governmental interference in the cases.

While the settlement of differences arising out of claims is left to courts, the enforcement of the law and the regulations is in the hands of the civil authorities. When the employer fails to comply with any of the regulations, such as those requiring giving notice of an accident or furnishing medical help, complaints may be brought before the civil authorities. All such complaints are to be made in duplicate, one of which is returned as a receipt to the complainant with the signature of the proper officer.

The local civil authorities, upon receipt of such complaint, must immediately notify the civil governor and call upon the employer for compliance with the demands of the law and the regulations. If such action brings no result within forty-eight hours, the case is to be turned over to the judge of the first instance, who is to enforce compliance with the law. The civil governor is notified of this action. Failing to receive satisfaction from the local authorities, the interested party may appeal from their decision to the civil governor,

and from him to the minister of interior. Complaints arising out of differences of opinion in regard to the amount of compensation, but not out of noncompliance with the law, are to be turned over to the courts of first instance.

In all cases of noncompliance with the demands of the law and the regulations, the government authorities must support the complaints of the workers. Accordingly the local authorities inform the governor of any failure to comply with the law and the regulations, even if the injured employee has entered no complaint, or in case he has complained, if his complaint has not had the desired effect. The governor communicates with the employer and if necessary with the courts. All measures must be reported to the Ministry of Interior, but the ministry does not intervene unless the case reaches it through a complaint from either party or from the lower authorities.

By the original law, until the establishment of special tribunals for adjudication of such disputes, the cases under this act were placed under the jurisdiction of the courts of first instance and made subject to the rules for verbal procedure.

The time limit for entering suit is placed at one year. The employee appearing as plaintiff must be considered as a poor litigant, as far as expenses of litigation are concerned. All contracts waiving the benefits of the compensation act are to be adjudged null and void.

Though ten years have passed since the adoption of the compensation act, the courts of arbitration, consisting of employers and employees, have not yet been organized. On March 13, 1900—i. e., about six weeks after the adoption of the compensation act-a law was passed regulating woman and child labor, and communal and provincial commissions of social reforms were created for purposes of facilitating the administration of this law. The communal commissions were to consist of an equal number of employers and employees, not over six, the local mayor as representative of the civil authority, and a representative of the church. The provincial commissions of social reform consist of delegates from the local commissions, under the chairmanship of the civil governor. These commissions were to be established as a temporary measure until the adoption of a law in regard to the mixed courts of arbitration. Both parties may agree to submit their differences to these commissions in all cases except those involving criminal responsibility for the accident.

The procedure is slightly modified in regard to accidents to workmen employed in these two ministries. Whenever possible, first, an army surgeon, or, second, a navy surgeon, must be called to assist the injured employee of the Ministry of War, and the same rule applies in reversed order to the Ministry of the Navy. In either case a private

physician may be called in an emergency, if necessary. Further treatment must be left to the army or navy surgeon. The injured must enter a military or naval hospital, unless the physician in charge agrees to outside treatment. Refusal to be treated according to the official physician's order leads to loss of right to compensation. The necessary medical certificate is to be made by an army or navy surgeon, and when a disagreement arises between the surgeon and the injured employee as to the medical opinion it may be referred to two other army or navy surgeons, or to a board of two such surgeons and two physicians selected by the injured person. When there is a disagreement, the case is referred to the district military sanitary inspection office, which appoints a board of five with the chief inspector as chairman.

The reports of all accidents are sent to the office of chief of the military district, where a list of them is kept; reports of the cases where indemnity is granted are forwarded to the Ministry of War, and copies are sent to the Ministry of Interior. Applications for relief are made to the military governor and the amount allowed is charged to the appropriation for the work in which the accident has occurred, or to other funds if necessary. In case of disagreement, the injured or his dependents may seek redress before the judge of first instance. Similar rules govern the granting of compensation to employees in the Ministry of the Navy, naval officers being substituted for military officers in the regular procedure. The governors are required to transmit to the Ministry of Interior statistical schedules of accidents and indemnities and to publish annually statistics of industrial accidents. The form of blanks is prescribed. The preliminary report of the accident must be forwarded immediately to the ministry, and the complete statistical reports must be forwarded every three months. The employers are required to furnish all the information necessary for these reports. The duty of publishing these statistics was later transferred to the section of industry and commerce of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, Commerce, and Public Works, from which it was again transferred on December 31, 1904, to the Institute of Social Reforms.

PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS.

A peculiarity of the compensation act is the inclusion in it of the subject of prevention or decrease of accidents, which were claimed to be excessive in Spain because of the inadequate use of methods of prevention.

For this purpose a technical commission was created to consist of one architect and three engineers, two of whom were named by and come from the commission (now institute) of social reforms and one from the Royal Academy of Exact Sciences. The members of this

commission were to serve without compensation. This commission was required to elaborate and present to the Ministry of Interior within four months a list of apparatus and measures for the prevention of accidents. The Government was ordered, after consulting with this commission, to issue regulations for the introduction of measures for the prevention of accidents and the protection of life, safety, and health of the workmen employed. It was further provided that the commission should establish a museum for the preservation of models of such safety appliances and for testing new mechanisms, with the view of including in the list those that proved to be serviceable.

The increase of the amount of compensation by 50 per cent where such required safety appliances have not been used is evidently intended mainly as a measure to stimulate strict complance with the law.

In advance of the report of the commission the employers were required to use all possible means to insure the security of the worker. All customary precautions were made obligatory, such as railings on scaffolds, fences around wells, shafts, and ditches, signals when lighting fuses, brakes for elevators and transportation machinery, and similar appliances for new work and processes. Such appliances must be constructed with the purpose of protecting the worker against the consequences of ordinary carelessness which is the necessary result of continuous performance of dangerous work. In addition, the usual health and sanitary regulations must be complied with, and also the special orders of similar nature promulgated by the technical commission. Use of deficient machinery and appliances, execution of work with an insufficient working force or insufficient material, as well as intrusting unfit persons with dangerous work without giving them proper directions, shall be considered as negligence. Special care in complying with the regulations as to the safety appliances is demanded when children are employed in the establishments.

The list of safety appliances was published. It consists of six chapters, giving the required appliances for factories and workshops, construction, building, mining, generation and transmission of electricity, and commercial establishments and warehouses.

STATISTICS OF OPERATIONS.

Little information concerning the results of the application of the act of 1900 can be obtained, because statistical data are meager. The General Association of Insurance Companies published the following data concerning the number of cases compensated and the amount of compensation paid. It is probable that this table is far from being complete, but it is probably sufficiently accurate for the

purpose of showing the total and the average amounts of compensation, which amounts appear to be extremely small. The amounts expressed in Spanish denominations of pesetas were converted at the normal rate of 19.3 cents. As a matter of fact, however, the value of the Spanish peseta fluctuates between 14 and 17 cents, so the compensation is even smaller than shown in the table.

NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS TO WAGE-EARNERS AND COMPENSATION PAID, BY RESULTS OF ACCIDENTS AND YEARS, 1902 TO 1906.

[Source: Proyecto de Reforma de la Ley de Accidentes del Trabajo de 30 de Enero de 1900 (Instituto de Reformas Sociales, Sección Primera), 1908, pp. 718-719.]

If the data of this table are accurate, it is significant that the number of accidents each year does not show the tendency to increase that is shown in most countries under the influence of a compensation law.

These data include only accidents reported to insurance institutions. Since 1902 the Institute of Social Reforms has published annual accident statistics, which are on the whole less complete than the data of the insurance companies. For 1906 and 1907, these reports