former there is one established in every port of entry in the country. Their functions are to keep the registers of ships and sailors and to act as relief institutions for sailors and their surviving families. The annuities granted depend upon the needs of the applicants, being either temporary and granted under certain conditions or life annuities in the case of superannuated sailors unable to support themselves. The means from which these pensions were paid consisted at first chiefly of the "hiring fees," from 1 to 2 per cent of the wages, payable when the sailors were paid off in port, but these means were often insufficient to provide for the relief needed. Accordingly, by the royal decrees of November 30, 1899, and March 30, 1900, tonnage fees of from 0.03 crown (0.8 cent) to 0.05 crown (1.34 cents) per ton, payable by every vessel clearing for foreign ports, were appropriated for the pension funds of the register offices. The Merchant Marine Pension Fund was established in 1864 as a compensation for the right formerly enjoyed by sailors of bringing certain commodities into the country free of duty. This fund receives subvention from the public treasury and grants pensions to sailors who are employed chiefly in foreign trade, who have been enrolled in Swedish register offices for 25 years, and have reached the age of 55 years. The pensions range in amount from 60 to 160 crowns ($16.08 to $42.88), according to the rank of service of the applicant. These provisions, however, are insufficient, and a reform of the system of pensioning seamen has long been contemplated, the matter having been taken up, but without result, by the first workmen's insurance committee. The committee of 1900 proposed in November, 1904, a bill according to which insurance against invalidity, old age, and to provide pensions for widows and orphans was to be made compulsory upon all persons employed in Swedish vessels. This insurance was to be administered by the above-mentioned Merchant Marine Pension Fund, whose functions were to be extended accordingly. The amount and payment of the pensions were in accordance with the provisions of the law of July 5, 1901, and the means for their payment were to be provided from the following sources: 1. Contributions by the insured amounting to 6 per cent of their annual earnings, with minimum contributions of 15, 9, and 3 crowns ($4.02, $2.41, and $0.804) per month, respectively, for the three classes into which the seamen were to be divided according to rank of service. 2. Interest on the funds of the register offices and of the Merchant Marine Pension Fund. 3. Tonnage fees and other fees now paid to the register offices except the hiring fees, which were to be abolished. 4. The state subsidies and other income now received by the Merchant Marine Pension Fund. 5. State contribution for the expenses of management. This bill was submitted to various corporate authorities for consideration and opinions, but has not yet become a law. In 1905 several resolutions were introduced in the Parliament looking to the reopening of the question of invalidity and old-age insurance for workmen in general. As a result, two committees, one appointed by each house, were intrusted with the investigation of the subject. The principal question was, of course, whether the insurance was to be obligatory or voluntary; but although the committee took into consideration all the well-known arguments against obligatory insurance, such as its undermining of individual responsibility and self-dependence, it nevertheless recommended a system of obligatory state insurance against invalidity and old age, basing its recommendation upon the experience of foreign countries and upon the argument that the intervention of the State in such matters would fail of its purpose unless it were based upon the element of compulsion. The question of the extent of the insurance was also entered upon. Two of the resolutions above cited proposed both invalidity and old-age insurance, while the third confined itself to old-age pensions. Two of them proposed a general system of insurance for all classes of the community, while the third would have it for the working classes only. On December 13, 1907, the Government appointed a commission to investigate from all points of view the question of old-age and invalidity insurance in general and to prepare a project of law on the subject; but the numerous efforts of the Government to solve the problem of general invalidity insurance have up to the present time led to no tangible result, and the only system of invalidity insurance existing at present for Swedish workmen other than public employees is that provided by the various pension funds founded on private initiative, as outlined above. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. In the year 1900 the proposition was first introduced in the Parliament for the establishment of a system of public employment bureaus supported by the State. This proposition, however, was voted down, as was also a similar one introduced in the following year. In 1902 and 1903 several cities established communal employment bureaus, and as these appeared to supply a real need, in 1905 a memorial was addressed to the Government by the members of the Parliament from the cities in which communal bureaus had been established, recommending that the State take the subject under consideration. The question was referred to the Royal Bureau of Commerce, which on March 14, 1905, submitted a report in which the necessity of public employment bureaus supported by the State was emphasized. The report also contained a proposition for a law defining the manner in which the State should cooperate in the maintenance of such bureaus. The Government accordingly asked the Parliament for an appropriation of 15,000 crowns ($4,020) for the organization and maintenance of public employment bureaus. This appropriation was granted, and has since been renewed each year for the same amount. The cooperation of the State takes the form of a subsidy payable out of the above appropriation to employment bureaus established by public authorities or semipublic institutions, which comply with certain conditions laid down in the enactment of the Parliament. The principal conditions are that the activity of the bureaus shall embrace employment in all kinds of work, both for men and women, that its services shall generally be given free of cost to both employers and those seeking employment, that the bureaus shall be managed by boards consisting of both workmen and employers, and their management shall be under the supervision of the Bureau of Commerce. The subsidy granted by the State shall be used only to cover postage and telephone expenses, printing and stationery, traveling expenses of representatives to be sent to conferences called by the Bureau of Commerce, and expenses incurred in the establishment of a system of cooperation between the individual bureaus. Other expenses are to be borne by the communes or other public institutions which establish the bureaus. In 1907 there were ten public employment bureaus in operation, situated in ten of the principal cities of the Kingdom. Their activity in that year may be summarized as follows: OPERATIONS OF UNEMPLOYMENT BUREAUS IN 1907. [Source: Meddelanden från Kungliga Kommerskollegii Afdelning för Arbetsstatistik, No. 2, 1908.] Insurance against unemployment does not yet exist in Sweden, although it is practically supplied to a considerable extent by the trades unions. As in other countries, most of the trade unions have become consolidated into federations, two of the largest of which are the "National Organization" (Sveriges Landsorganisation), founded in 1898, and having over 100,000 members, and the "Workmen's League" (Arbetareförbundet), with about 12,000 members. The National Organization is composed of a number of national trade alliances which are federations of the local unions within each par ticular trade. The alliances grant from their general funds support to workmen in cases of strikes ordered by their central authorities. In addition to this, several of them and a large number of the local unions provide in their membership conditions for support during unemployment. As an example of such provisions may be cited the Iron and Metal Workers' Union, an alliance which in 1906 included 144 local unions with 21,245 members. The by-laws of this union provide that every member who has been such for at least a year and who has paid at least 52 weekly contributions of 0.10 crown (2.68 cents) each, shall be entitled to support in case of unemployment to the extent of 1 crown (26.8 cents) per day for not more than 70 days, or 1.50 crowns (40.2 cents) per day to those who have been members for five years or more. In October, 1906, the question of the establishment of state insurance against unemployment was brought up by a resolution adopted by the convention held in Stockholm in that month to consider the questions of pauperism and industrial insurance. In accordance with this resolution the minister of the interior caused an investigation of the status of unemployment insurance in Sweden and foreign countries to be made. The report on the investigation, however, was not favorable to any action by the State in this direction, in view of the very considerable practical difficulties to be met. Its principal recommendation was that in any case a thoroughly efficient and centralized system of public employment bureaus must of necessity precede any attempt at the solution of the problem of unemployment insurance by the State. In 1908 a resolution was offered in the Parliament calling upon the Government again to make an investigation of the conditions of unemployment and the advisability of establishing a system of insurance against its consequences. The resolution was referred to a committee of the Lower House, but although that committee reported favorably upon it, it was nevertheless rejected by the Parliament, and accordingly no memorial was addressed to the Government on the subject. CONCLUSIONS. In conclusion the present status of workmen's insurance in Sweden may be briefly summarized as follows: The principle of compulsory insurance has not yet been sanctioned by the Government or put into practice. The nearest approach to it is in the employers' liability law of 1901, by the terms of which employers of labor carried on under factory conditions are liable for certain indemnities in case of accidents happening to their workmen. The only form of state insurance is accident insurance, carried on by the State Insurance Institute, established for the purpose of enabling employers to insure their liability under the law of 1901. No provisions have yet been made by the State for insurance against death or invalidity resulting from other causes than accidents producing bodily injury, except that by the law of 1891 a system of public registration and supervision of private sick and burial funds was inaugurated. This registration is voluntary, but carries with it financial subsidy from the State. The question of general state invalidity insurance, however, has been agitated in Sweden for over twenty years, and has come before the Parliament on numerous occasions, though so far without practical results. The ideal toward which the leaders of thought on the subject of the improvement of conditions among the working classes are striving is, as was expressed in a speech before the Parliament, a unified and general system of social insurance so "that the workman and his family shall be placed in a position of economic security against all eventualities which may result in the loss or weakening of his ability to support himself and his family by his labor." BIBLIOGRAPHY. Svensk Författnings Samling (giving the official text of the various laws cited in the present article). Statistiska Centralbyrån-Sveriges Land och Folk. Historisk-statistisk handbok på offentligt uppdrag utgifven af Gustaf Sundbärg. Stockholm, 1901. Same, in English. Stockholm, 1904. Civildepartementet-Försäkringsväsendet i riket. Meddelanden, No. 2, etc. Stockholm, 1887, etc. Försäkringsinspektionens underdaniga berättelse till Kungliga Maj. Försäkringsväsendet i riket, for år 1906. Civildepartementet-Registrerade sjukkassors verksamhet, 1892 to 1900. Arbetsstatistik, B:1-5, utgifven af Kommerskollegii afdelning för ArbetsstatistikRegistrerade sjukkassors verksamhet årg 1901-1905. Stockholm, 1905–1908. Arbetsstatistik, C:1, utgifven af Kommerskollegii afdelning för ArbetsstatistikOlycksfall i arbete år 1906. Stockholm, 1908. Meddelanden från Kungliga Kommerskollegii afdelning för Arbetsstatistik, No. 2, 1908. (Regarding public employment bureaus.) Riksförsäkringsanstaltens underdaniga berättelse för åren 1903-1907. Stockholm, 1904-1908. Regulation by the Director of the Swedish Postal Savings Bank of Nov. 5, 1902. classes.) (Annuity rates.) (Premium rates and danger Riksförsäkringsanstalten-Circular No. 15, Nov., 1907. (Accidents outside of work ing hours.) (Agricultural laborers.) Riksförsäkringsanstalten-Circular No. 17, March 24, 1908. Riksförsäkringsanstalten-Utlåtande med förslag rörande ändring i vissa delar af lagen angående ersättning för skada till följd af olycksfall i arbete den 5 Juli 1901 m. m. Den 10 Januari 1908. Stockholm, 1908. |