These evils called forth, in 1903, the above-mentioned official investigation by the General Bureau of Health of the Ministry of Interior, which was carried on by several prominent professional men, physicians, and druggists. The report of this investigation subjected these insurance companies to severe criticism. As a result of this criticism the popularity of this form of insurance received a severe blow from which it is only now slowly recovering. Many of the small institutions suspended. Others have improved their methods, carrying out the provision of several regulating orders, such as the order of July 3, 1907, placing the maximum number of families to be attended by one physician at 150.

MUTUAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES.

Mutual benefit societies of workmen (industrial benefit societies) are growing rapidly in Spain. Their main function is mutual aid in case of sickness. The Institute of Social Reforms in 1907 published a report on workmen's associations in existence on November 1, 1904. It succeeded in obtaining altogether reports of about 65 per cent of existing organizations. Of the 1,867 organizations reported, 310, (a) or 16.6 per cent, had mutual assistance, mostly in case of sickness, as their main aim, and their membership equaled 88,206 (4) out of a total membership of 348,265, or 25.3 per cent. The number of such societies is growing rapidly, as shown by the fact that of these 310 societies 200, or 64.5 per cent, were organized within the six years 1899 to 1904. In Madrid alone there are 42 societies, with a membership of 30,266.

There were 67 associations of workmen whose main object is defined in the report as "accion catolica;" but many of these associations also have funds for mutual assistance. These 67 societies had a combined membership of 31,957.

a The report states the number of mutual benefit societies at 309 and their membership at 84,426. To these has been added the "La Mutualidad Obrera," with a membership of 3,780, described in the report as "Cooperativa médico-farmacéutica" (a society for cooperative medical and pharmaceutical aid).

The following table shows the years when various classes of funds were organized:

NUMBER OF WORKMEN'S SOCIETIES IN 1904, BY YEARS WHEN ORGANIZED AND OBJECTS OF SOCIETIES.

[Source: Instituto de Reformas Sociales. Estadística de la Asociacion Obrera, en 1o de noviembre de 1904, pp. 285 and 286.]

That this form of insurance or mutual aid is quite popular among all classes of Spanish society is shown by another statistical report published by the Institute of Social Reforms-a report on all associations for savings, cooperation, and mutual aid. Of 2,020 societies, with 437,347 members, 1,696 societies, with a membership of 358,014 (i. e., 84 per cent of the societies and about 82 per cent of the membership), had mutual help primarily in case of sickness as their main object.

On the basis of these figures, and considering the societies.omitted from the enumeration in 1904 and those societies organized within recent years, the assistant secretary of the Institute of Social Reforms estimates the number of existing mutual aid societies in 1908 at about 800, with a membership of 150,000; and, including the families, that 750,000 persons were protected by sickness insurance.

NUMBER, MEMBERSHIP, AND MEMBERSHIP PER 1,000 POPULATION, OF WORKMEN'S MUTUAL AID SOCIETIES IN 1904, BY PROVINCES.

[Source: Instituto de Reformas Sociales. Estadística de la Associación Obrera, 1907.]

a Includes one society, La Mutualidad Obrera, with 3,780 members, classified as a "cooperative society" whose functions are defined, however, as "a society for cooperative medical and pharmaceutical aid."

While the membership of these workmen's societies varies greatly and some of them are small, as low as ten or twenty personsthe bulk of the membership belongs to very large associations. Thus the Railroad Employees' Association (Associación general de Empleados y Obreros de Ferrocarriles), organized in 1888, with headquarters in Madrid, had in 1904 a membership of 17,300. No other organization approached this in number of members, there being altogether 12 organizations with a membership of over 1,000 each and a combined membership of 39,637, or nearly one-half of the total membership of the 310 societies. Among these 310 societies may be mentioned La Mutualidad Obrera, organized in Madrid in 1904, with a membership of 3,780; La Honradez, also of Madrid, organized in 1891, with a membership of 1,950; an establishment fund of the government tobacco factory in Alicante, Caja de Auxilio en beneficio del personal obrero de la Fabrica de Tabacos, organized in 1901, with a membership of 3,557; similar organizations in the tobacco factory of Cadiz, with 1,104 members; and one in the tobacco factory in Corunna, with 2,449 members.

Details of the operation of these institutions are difficult to obtain. La Mutualidad Obrera (the Workmen's Mutual Society), which is designated in the official statistical report as a cooperative society for furnishing medical and pharmaceutical assistance, in the year 1906 had 4,323 members. Of these members 3,847 had families, aggregat

ing 13,388 persons, so that the total number of persons protected by the association was 17,711. In order to furnish the medical help this association employs 28 physicians, 1 obstetrician; 3 surgeons, 2 druggists, 10 midwives, and 10 nurses and assistants-altogether 54 persons on its medical staff-while the administrative duties require an additional force of 13 persons. The total income was only 39,860 pesetas ($7,692.98), and the total expenditure 44,800 pesetas ($8,646.40), leaving a deficit for the year, the second of its existence, of 4,940 pesetas ($953.42).

The functions of these societies vary. A great many societies pay funeral expenses and give financial aid during illness, in addition to medical advice and treatment. In some cases an organization may carry these three forms of insurance, the membership in all or any of them being optional. Thus the "Universal Union of Encouragement and Representation of the Interests of the Working Class” in Madrid furnishes (1) medical help and drugs for the following monthly payments: For a single man, 0.60 peseta (11.6 cents); for a married man without children, 0.80 peseta (15.4 cents); and for married men or widows with children, 1.10 pesetas (21.2 cents). (2) Sick benefits for 30 days, and in exceptional cases only for 50 days, during one year, equal to double the monthly dues, which may be anywhere from 0.50 peseta (9.7 cents) to 1.50 pesetas (29 cents). (3) Funeral expenses, the cost being 0.30 peseta (5.8 cents) per month for children under 7 years of age and 0.15 peseta (2.9 cents) for persons over 7 years, with an additional entrance fee of 2 pesetas (38.6 cents) for persons over 40 and under 55 years of age, this age period being the limit of admission. The majority of these funds and benefit societies are supported exclusively by the contributions of the members. In a few cases of establishment funds other sources of income are available, such as the fines imposed upon the employees and the voluntary contributions of the employers. The receipts from these sources, however, are small, and do not affect the truth of the general statement that the cost of medical help and the sick benefits is practically borne by the wage-earners themselves.

OLD-AGE INSURANCE.

The system of governmental pensions to military and civil employees is highly developed in Spain, and it has certain insurance features, inasmuch as from 10 to 20 per cent of the salaries are deducted for the support of these pensions. As the expenditures for such pensions claim about one-twelfth of the entire budget (in 1907, 42.3 million pesetas ($8,163,900)), the burden of the support of these so-called "passive classes," as the pensioners are termed, has come to be considered a national problem in Spain.

67725°-VOL 2-11-55

But little had been done in Spain in the field of old-age and invalidity insurance for workmen, especially by the Government, until the National Institute for Old-Age Insurance was established by the law of February 27, 1908. This institute had not yet begun its operation by the end of the year 1908. Outside of this institute, whose work is all in the future, the existing provisions for the invalid and superannuated workers are limited to voluntary mutual insurance funds. These have never been studied statistically with any degree of detail, and therefore only a few individual examples can be given, though it may be stated that many of the mutual aid societies mentioned above in connection with sickness insurance are also old-age pension funds. These private and voluntary pension funds receive no assistance, either from the employers or from the State.

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OLD-AGE INSURANCE.

On the subject of insurance and savings the prevailing opinion among the Spanish authorities was that private initiative in Spain. was too weak, and that the saving habit was not sufficiently established to permit of any extensive development without governmental encouragement. This was the opinion also of a majority of the delegates of local savings banks and old-age insurance funds, at a conference called together in Madrid in 1904 to discuss the advisability of establishing a governmental insurance system. The inititative in this plan belonged to the Institute of Social Reforms, which delegated to a recognized authority on labor problems the preparation of a general report on the subject. After the report was presented to the institute the above-mentioned conference was called. The discussions emphasized not only the necessity of organizing some system of provision for the industrial employees in their old age, but also the importance of enlisting the support of the Government. The resolutions, adopted on October 20, 1904, were of a general nature and contained the following recommendations:

That the Central Government should organize an insurance fund upon its own guarantee and responsibility; that the aim of the fund should be to provide old-age pensions for wage-workers; that the insurance should be paid for in premiums by the insured, or by any one else for the benefit of the insured; that the business should be conducted strictly in accordance with the technical rules of insurance, in regard to the reserve, etc.; that the form of organization, management, and governmental control of the insurance fund should be elaborated by a special commission, consisting of representatives of the State, the Institute of Social Reforms, the important savings banks, and other similar institutions; that cooperation between the central governmental institutions and the existing private charitable savings