GUARANTEES FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE ANNUITY.

If an employer who is liable for an annuity neglects to pay the same, or if he retires from business or leaves the country, or if his business goes into liquidation, the annuitant may apply to the authorities that security for the payment of the annuity be deposited. If such application is granted and the security is not given, the authorities shall demand from the person liable for the annuity the immediate payment in one sum of the capital value of the annuity at that time. The amount so paid shall, however, not be paid to the annuitant, but shall by the authorities be paid to the State Insurance Institute, which shall then become liable for the annuity.

SPECIAL AGREEMENTS WITH EMPLOYERS.

Employers who wish to make special agreements with their employees regarding indemnities for future accidents must first submit such agreements to the State Insurance Institute for approval. The agreement must not be approved by the institute if, after investigation, the latter finds that it is disadvantageous to the employees.

INSURANCE FOR PERSONS IN OTHER OCCUPATIONS.

If an employer who exercises any business other than those covered by the law wishes to provide, by means of insurance in the State Insurance Institute, for indemnity for accidents in accordance with this law, he shrall have the right to do so. If such insurance is taken, the provisions of the law shall apply thereto.

Workmen, whether employed in an occupation covered by the law or not, shall have the right to provide indemnity for industrial accidents for themselves by insurance in the State Insurance Institute in accordance with the terms of the law.

COSTS OF THE INSURANCE.

The premiums for the insurance of workmen in the State Insurance Institute shall be fixed at such amounts as shall be found on insurance technical bases to be sufficient to cover the risks, having regard to the dangerous character of the occupation in question and to the special conditions under which it is carried on. The expenses of management of the State Insurance Institute shall be borne by the State.

The law was to go into force at such time as the King should determine, as soon as the State Insurance Institute had been organized. Accordingly it went into force on January 1, 1903.

STATE INSURANCE INSTITUTE.

The State Insurance Institute was organized by the royal decree of June 9, 1902, and began its work on September 1 of the same year. Besides preparing tables of rates and other preliminary matters, one of its first objects was to put into force a system for the collection of premiums and payment of claims. To this end an arrangement was made with the Swedish postal savings banks, embodied in a regulation issued by the director of the latter on November 5, 1902. The local post-offices are to deliver the policies and receive the premiums therefor, issue receipts for renewal premiums, made out by the insurance institute and countersigned by the postal officials, and finally make all payments of benefits. Agents of the institute were also appointed in the various localities, whose functions were to act as its local representatives, disseminate information and extend the activity of the institute, be present at police investigations of accidents, etc.

Practically all the policies of insurance issued by the institute are 'collective" policies, by which all the workmen employed in one factory or by a single employer are collectively insured under one policy. Two kinds of these policies are issued: (1) Insuring certain particular persons, whose names are stated in the policy, and (2) insuring a certain mean number of workmen in a given factory, without any names being given. The first kind is usually taken for establishments where employment is relatively permanent, or where only a part of the employees had to be insured, and no other means were at hand for defining the extent of the insurance. In the majority of cases, however, this method is impracticable owing to the frequent changes in the list of employees, and in these cases the second form of policy is used. A provisional premium is paid when the policy is issued, based on the mean number of workmen expected to be employed during the year. At the end of the year an adjustment is made in accordance with what the actual facts were found to have been. For this purpose a provision is inserted in the contract to the effect that the employer must keep his books in such a way as to show the entire number of days' work performed by all the insured employees; this is then divided by 300, the number of working days in a year, and the result is adopted as the actual number of "year workers" covered by the policy. If this is found to be greater or less than the provisional number stated in the policy, a corresponding addition or deduction is made in paying the next year's provisional premium.

For the purpose of calculating the premiums the institute gathered statistical information regarding accidents, partly by means of a blank form of inquiry distributed to the employers, partly from the factory

inspectors, and, after it began its operations, from its own experience. The premiums adopted at the beginning were of course subject to revision as more experience was acquired, and after three years' investigation the institute issued a circular on November 22, 1906, giving more definitive rates. The various industries are grouped into "danger classes" according to the frequency and nature of the accidents observed therein. The premiums for each class are determined within certain limits; the exact premium in any particular case depends upon special circumstances and will be furnished on application. The following table shows the maximum and minimum premiums for each class according to the circular of November 22, 1906, and which are still in force:

PREMIUM RATES FOR INSURANCE IN THE STATE INSURANCE INSTITUTE, BY RISK

For the purpose of the insurance for sick relief before the sixty-first day after an accident, an account of which is given below under "Extensions of the system," a number of industries are placed in a higher class than for the insurance according to the law of 1901.

Following is the list of the particular kinds of factories coming under each of the above classes for the purpose of the insurance provided by the law of 1901. In the second column is given the class to which the respective factories are assigned for the purpose of additional insurance for sick relief before the sixty-first day.

INDUSTRIES IN EACH RISK CLASS FOR INSURANCE ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF 1901,
AND FOR ADDITIONAL INSURANCE FOR SICK RELIEF BEFORE THE SIXTY-FIRST
DAY.
[Source: Riksförsäkringsanstalten, Cirkular nr 13.]

Several changes have been made since the above tariff went into force; thus in December, 1907, house and harbor building were reduced from class VII to class V, paper and wood-pulp mills from class VII to class VI, while the premiums for additional sickness insurance for persons engaged in loading and discharging cargoes from ships have been nearly doubled.

For the purchase price, or capital value, of the annuities prescribed by the law, the institute prepared a table of rates in 1902, based upon the mortality experience of the population of Sweden from 1881 to 1890, and an interest rate of 3.5 per cent. In the case of the annuity for widows the calculation was complicated by the fact that the annuity was to cease at the remarriage of the annuitant. Furthermore, the general statistics of remarriage were not applicable for the reason that the loss of the annuity would be a motive for not marrying again. The institute therefore adopted an hypothetical remarriage factor.

The following table shows the rates adopted (given here for every fifth year of age) for the purchase of the annuities required by the law. The second column is for an annuity of 300 crowns ($80.40) to an injured workman; the third column for the same annuity for a woman worker (these being calculated according to the different mortality experience for males and females); the fourth column is. for an annuity of 120 crowns ($32.16) to the widow of a workman killed by accident, this annuity being payable only until remarriage; the last column is for an annuity of 60 crowns ($16.08) to the child of a workman killed by accident, payable until the age of 15. The annuities are payable quarterly.

PURCHASE PRICE OR CASH VALUE OF ANNUITIES PAYABLE BY THE STATE INSURANCE INSTITUTE, BY AGE OF ANNUITANT AND CLASS OF ANNUITY.

The expenses of management of the institute are borne entirely by the State, and are paid out of the interest on the "Workmen's Insurance Fund" (see p. 2425). These expenses, therefore, do not appear in the financial statements of the institute, but are kept in a separate account. The expenses of organization amounted to 37,400 crowns ($10,023.20), and the expenses of management during the first year of the institute's operations, 1903, amounted to 67,478.40 crowns ($18,084.21), of which 38,400 crowns ($10,291.20) were