of this class, based on the economic It is to be recognized at the outset the number and severity of accidents that workmen's-compensation legislation through encouragement given employprinciple of trade risk in that personal ers to improve conditions by the ofinjury losses incident to industrial dis- fer of reduced rates therefor." The putes are like wages and breakage of machinery, a part of the cost of produc- governing committee to manage the tion, works fundamental changes in the affairs of the Bureau consists of five familiar principles underlying and gov- members, two representing stock comerning the doctrines of liability for negligence, as heretofore applied to the panies, two mutual companies and relation of master and servant. one the state fund. It should be added that the Massa But it by no means follows that this comparatively recent and radical legislachusetts legislature in 1914 provided tion upon the subject, enacted to meet changed industrial conditions and afford relief from evils and defects which had developed under the old rules of law in negligence cases for personal injury of employees, violates the spirit or letter of our Constitution. The policy importance and propriety of this legislation, in its general plan and purpose, are not open to question and we do not find it subject to the Constitutional objections urged in this record. Reference should also be made to the fact that the Kentucky workmen's-compensation law was declared unconstitutional by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in December, 1914. (2) The opinion handed down by Justice Kellogg of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, holding that the New York law governing workmen's compensation covers indemnity for accidents occurring outside of the state when the injured persons were employed at the time by firms within the state. (3) The enactment of an amendment to the constitution of Wyoming authorizing a workmen's-compensation law, and, similarly, the adoption on Nov. 3, 1915, of an amendment to the constitution of Pennsylvania authorizing the passage of a compulsory workmen's-compensation law. (4) The organization of a Compensation Inspection Rating Bureau in New York in 1914 to assist in placing the underwriting of workmen's compensation insurance in the state upon a scientific basis. The objects of this Rating Bureau are stated in its constitution to be, "(1) to make premium rates equitably adjusted to the hazard of the individual risk by means of a system of schedule rating, the debits and credits therein to be based upon inspections by the Board and upon such experience compiled by the Board as may demonstrate the existence of a human hazard not revealed by inspection; (2) to reduce for a commission of three to inquire into the subject of rates for workmen's compensation and to report to. what extent governmental regulation is advisable. As a result of this investigation a bill was recommended to the Massachusetts legislature for the establishment of a rating bureau for workmen's-compensation risks under the supervision of the state. The bill failed of passage but the insurance companies in Massachusetts, with the coöperation of the Insurance Department, have established the Massachusetts Rating and Inspection Bureau which will accumulate statistics, make inspections, and fix rates for Massachusetts risks in the future. It is an organization of both the mutual and stock companies operating in Massachusetts and is working in har> mony with the Insurance Department. Accident and Health Insurance.The table on the following page, compiled from the Insurance Year Book, shows the premiums, losses and loss ratios on accident and health business for the past seven years. Judging from the statistics given these two branches of the casualty business have continued to show the same steady growth during 1914 that is reported for the preceding six years. In accident insurance the premium income increased nearly 6 per cent., the losses by 4.6 per cent., while the ratio of losses to premiums declined from 45 to 44.7 per cent. In health insurance the premium income during 1914 increased nearly 10 per cent., the losses by slightly over 8 per cent., while the ratio of losses to premiums declined from 47 to 46.5 per cent. Burglary and Theft Insurance.During 1914 the premium income of companies transacting burglary and theft insurance was $4,342,704, while The statistics for 1914 are slightly in error in that the figures for a few states as reported in the Insurance Year Book have not been separated for the two forms of insurance. losses paid amounted to $1,524,427, | distinguished from the surety busithe ratio of losses to premiums thus ness, it is impossible to trace the stabeing 35.1 per cent. The correspond-tistics for each separately, as was ing figures for 1913 were $3,949,000, done in the last issue (p. 370). The $1,394,000, and 35 per cent. Automobile Property Damage Insurance. The premium income and loss payments for automobile insurance in 1914, as compiled from the Insurance Year Book, amounted to $5,804,995 and $2,125,319 respectively, thus showing a ratio of losses to premiums of 36.6 per cent. Fidelity and Surety Insurance.The results in the fidelity and surety branches of the insurance business during the past seven years are indicated by the following table, compiled from the Insurance Year Book: combined results show that the premium income increased during 1914 by slightly more than 6 per cent.; losses increased nearly 15 per cent.; and the ratio of losses to premiums rose from 34.6 per cent. to 37.5 per cent. According to the press five important surety companies, American Surcty Company, Royal Indemnity Co. of New York, Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, United States Fidelity & Guarantee Co., and Maryland Casualty Co. of Baltimore, with a combined capital and surplus of 20 millions and total assets of 40 millions, have formed a pool for the purpose of meeting competition by issuing blanket bonds for banks similar to those furnished by Lloyds. The bonds will be signed by the abovementioned companies as cosureties, the companies thus becoming jointly and severally liable for the full amount of each bond. It is said that this group was formed to meet the competition of another group of com panies which recently united for a similar purpose. XV. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS CONSTRUCTIVE AND PREVENTIVE SOCIAL WORK1 Social Settlements. As social settlements enter upon the second quarter century of their existence in this country, progress takes the form not of the formation of new settlements but of a standardizing of work and development of technique. New federations of settlements in large cities contributed to this end in 1915. Everywhere there was increased effort to promote a neighborly type of local life through all parts of the municipality. Indeed, the importance of the neighborhood as a primary unit in community organization was emphasized alike by settlements, and the growth of social centers and neighborhood associations (see Recreation, infra). The settlement, long concerned chiefly with the economic and industrial conditions of its constituents, is now striving for the democratization of beauty. This was shown during the year 1915 by a growing interest, both on the part of settlement administrators and working-class people, in neighborhood music schools, theatres, and craft schools. workshops for the unemployed. (See also Unemployment, infra.) Settlement residents, in convention assembled, expressed the conviction that the best "preparedness" is an intelligent, resourceful, unified and comfortable citizenship, trained to grapple, public-spiritedly and loyally, with the problems of peace. In Social Centers.-No greater uniformity in the conception of a social center was observable in 1915. New York City the tendency is to restrict the use of the term to a school building where a local association has a definite participation in the control of extension activities; elsewhere, as in Wisconsin, a social center is any place where people get together to talk over their common affairs. The phrase "community center" is widely replacing “social center." The year registered a tremendous increase in the hospitality of school authorities toward outside agencies asking the use of school facilities, and in extension activities of the school itself. The latest available figures show that 603 cities reported some sort of special activity in connection with their school systems for the year ended June, 1914. Threequarters of this effort went into recreation, the other quarter into activities of a cultural, civic or social char The settlement, true to one of its functions as the weathervane of local conditions, was helpful in recording the extent of unemployment in the early months of 1915. It also in many places sought to remedy the situation. This it did by coöperating with mayors' and other commit-acter. tees, by seeking better coöperation among employers, and by operating The variety of after-study uses increased, as well as the preva lence. ings. Ohio provided that Six states and the District of Co1 Additional topics in this field treated lumbia enacted legislation friendly to elsewhere in this volume include hous-social-center usage of public building (see VII, Municipal Government); labor conditions (see XVI, Labor and Labor Legislation); care of immigrants (see Immigration, infra); prevention of defectiveness and vice (see Social and Mental Hygiene, infra); child welfare, recreation, and criminology and penology (see articles under these titles in this department). upon application of any responsible organization, or of a group of at least seven citizens, all school grounds and school houses, as well as all other buildings under the supervision and control of the state, or buildings maintained by taxation under the laws of Ohio, shall be available for use as social centers for the entertainment and education of the people, including the adult and youthful population, and for the discussion of all topics tending to the develop ment of personal character and of civic welfare. Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon and Oklahoma empowered school authorities to throw school property open to wider recreational, civic and educational use by both children and adults. Self-government is on the increase among the more cohesive social-center groups. In some places, notably in New York City, this takes the form of local associations which arrange programmes, participate in the determination of policies and help bear the financial expense. This coöperation between constituency and school brings about greater local support for the educational budget, achieves a closer adaptation of regular school activities to neighborhood needs, and clarifies educational, civic and social standards and ideals. (See also Recreation, infra; and XVII, Agriculture.) Social Surveys. No comprehensive social survey, if we accept as the definition of such a survey "a group of interrelated investigations dealing with all the larger social problems or more fundamental social relationships," was begun in 1915. Several of those previously started, notably the surveys of Cleveland and Baltimore, were vigorously prosecuted. The survey of Springfield, Ill., made in 1914 by the department of surveys and exhibits of the Russell Sage Foundation at the invitation of the city itself, became familiar to the public during the year through the publication of reports on the correctional system, public health, recreation, the care of mental defectives, insane and alcoholics, housing, charities, and industrial conditions. The tendency away from general surveys of the entire social life of a community to intensive studies of special subjects became marked in 1915. Thus school systems, housing, provision for health, city planning, charities and other departments of community life were studied separately in scores of places, the first three being perhaps the most frequent matters of investigation. Eight school surveys were made and reported on during the year, and the results of 12 conducted in 1914 were given to the public. For the most part these were carried on under the auspices of departments of education, though outside specialists were usually called in. This attention to special subjects has resulted in a steady improvement in the scientific character of surveys. (See also Recrea tion, infra.) Surveys under the auspices of universities were numerous. The extension division of the University of Kansas, which has added the making of social surveys to its permanent activities, concluded a survey of Belleville and announced one of Lawrence. The University of Ohio surveyed several rural districts. The division of research in agricultural economics of the University of Minnesota made two surveys, one of the Red River Valley, the other of a rural territory in the northeastern part of the state. The University of Georgia issued a rural survey of Clarke County, with special reference to negroes. (See also XVII, Agriculture.) While the United States seems to be the most fertile soil for social surveys at present, Canada is also adopting this method of taking stock of community life. The board of social service and evangelism of the Presbyterian Church and the board of temperance and moral reform of the Methodist Church have combined in making surveys of Vancouver, Hamilton, London, Fort William, Sydney, Regina, Port Arthur, and three rural districts. Remedial Loans.-The practice of usury was further driven to cover during the year by several important court decisions. That usury is an extraditable offence was established when the manager for one of the boldest money-lenders operating in New York was brought back from Massachusetts, whither he had fled while under bail awaiting sentence, and was sent to prison. Another New York decision, from which an appeal is now pending, held that a man who, while not loaning money directly, sold jewelry on the instalment plan The credit-union idea grew apace during the year (for a description of credit unions see the YEAR BOOK for 1914, p. 373). Laws modeled upon those in effect in New York and Massachusetts were enacted in North Carolina and Utah. These, with the laws enacted in 1914 in Texas and Wisconsin, bring the total number in effect to six. Nine credit unions began business under the New York law, making the total number in operation 11 in New York City and eight in other parts of the state. Among these groups are employees of telegraph, insurance and manufacturing companies and members of fraternal organizations and neighborhood groups. Massachusetts, where credit unions have been longest in existence and which had 40 in 1914, had 60 in November, 1915. One of the new ones comprised the city employees of Boston, with the mayor as president. at an exorbitant price, the article be- | individual loans, amounting to a ing used by the purchaser as security total of $28,000,000. for a loan from a pawnshop, was guilty of an illegal device to evade the usury laws. The Supreme Court of Maine, where there is practically no legal limit to the rate of interest that may be charged under contract, introduced the "doctrine of reason" into the law and refused to allow a lender to collect interest on a small loan amounting to 360 per cent. per annum. In a number of cities officials were active in prosecuting usurious money-lenders, notably in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Youngstown, Ohio, Richmond, Va., Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., Paducah, Ky., and Houston, An interesting development of the year was the passage of a law in Pennsylvania requiring a semi-monthly pay day for city and county employees, and another law in Texas requiring a semi-monthly pay day for employees of mercantile, municipal and public-service corporations employing more than ten people. These came as direct attacks on "loan sharks," who have always reaped a harvest among employees paid once a month. Tex. Prevention of Tuberculosis.-Though the fight against tuberculosis, which enters the field of social work because of its frequent complication by poverty, received little legislative aid The higher courts of three states, in 1915, several notable things were Michigan, Pennsylvania and Louisi- done. Michigan voted $100,000 for a ana, declared small-loan laws uncon- two-year investigative and educationstitutional. Except in Michigan, al campaign on the social aspects of where the law had a defective title, tuberculosis, the largest single approthese decisions are not in accord with priation for educational purposes the those of other states and of the Fed- movement has yet received in this eral courts. To offset this, eight country. The money is to be spent states, Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa, Tex- by the state Board of Health as it as, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and sees fit; the Board has already begun New York, passed laws designed to to make extensive surveys of the tuimprove the small-loan situation. berculosis problem in selected disThree remedial-loan societies (Toron-tricts and will follow these with proto, Ontario, Lynn, Mass., and Day-grammes for county hospitals, nurston, O.) were organized, bringing the total number in this country and Canada up to 39; two older ones suspended business during the year. The purpose of these societies, which aim to run on sound business principles, is to loan small amounts of money on mortgage or pledge of personal property at reasonable interest rates; a few accept also endorsed notes or salaries as security. In 1914, the latest year for which figures are available, remedial-loan societies in the United States made 850,000 ing and other machinery. In California the state Bureau of Tuberculosis was given enough money to put it on an adequate working basis, and state subsidies were granted to county tuberculosis hospitals. Missouri brought herself to the front rank in the fight against the disease by providing for state-aided county tuberculosis hospitals, by permitting city councils and county courts to employ visiting nurses for tuberculosis cases, and by providing for the suppression of dust, for sanitary devices and for |