The progress of the German working classes in the last quarter of a century . occupied. In one great mill— It was found, according to their system of changing, that noman during the twelve hours did more than five hours actualwork, and in the blooming and rolling mills the maximum wasseven And this was apparently not considered altogetherexceptional. Mere statistics of wages and hours of labour, how-ever, do not tell us everything about the standardof comfort of a people. We must take into accountall the larger facts of the environment. We mustask, for instance, how the working populat
The progress of the German working classes in the last quarter of a century . occupied. In one great mill— It was found, according to their system of changing, that noman during the twelve hours did more than five hours actualwork, and in the blooming and rolling mills the maximum wasseven And this was apparently not considered altogetherexceptional. Mere statistics of wages and hours of labour, how-ever, do not tell us everything about the standardof comfort of a people. We must take into accountall the larger facts of the environment. We mustask, for instance, how the working population isprotected, or manages to protect itself, against theeconomic effects of sickness and old age; and there-fore so big a fact as the German compulsory systemof Workmens Insurance must not be us put on one side the Accident insurance system,as roughly balanced by our recent Compensation legis-lation, though the latter is probably less efficacious for 1 Report, pp. 19, 37. ^ DIAGRAM I. number of Workpeople Insured in Germanyagainst Old Age and Male Fe?nale I Population. Workpeople J Insured. DIFFICULTIES OF COMPARISON 17 its purpose. There remains the Sickness insurancesystem and also that which covers Old Age and In-ixfirmity. These may be roughly compared withour Friendly Society organisation, supplemented byvarious Union and other Trade societies. But thereare these striking differences. (1) Two-thirds of allthe wage-earning workpeople in Germany are insuredagainst sickness, and can confidently look forward toreceiving, in case of need, both medical assistance andpecuniary relief;J , there is a much narrower fringeof people totally unprovided for. (2) A considerablepart (one-third) of the cost is compulsorily borne bythe employers. (3) Thirteen out of sixteen wage-earning workpeople have a right to a small pensionin case of permanent incapacity, or on reaching the «age of seventy—a far larger number than the fewwho in England benefit by
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