Wisconsin laws relating to vocational education. (Madison: Wiscon sin State Board of Vocational Education. 1919. Pp. 20.) The work of the American Red Cross during the war. A statement of finances and accomplishments for the period July 1, 1917, to February 28, 1919. (Washington: American Red Cross. 1919. Pp. 90.) Workingmen's standard of living in Philadelphia. A report by the Bureau of Municipal Research of Philadelphia. (New York: Macmillan. 1919. Pp. x, 125. $2.25.) Insurance and Pensions Disabled Soldiers and Sailors Pensions and Training. By EDWARD T. DEVINE, assisted by LILIAN BRANDT. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Preliminary Economic Studies of the War, No. 12. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1919. Pp. vii, 471.) Dr. Devine divides his material into four parts: the disabilities caused by the world war; historical summary of previous experience; current developments in certain countries; the new program. The degree and nature of the disabilities for which pension and training must be provided are indicated in the first part of the study, which gives an interesting review of the available data on the injuries sustained by the British, Canadian, and French soldiers. The largest proportion of injuries is the group including disablement of arms and legs; lung, heart and nervous diseases follow; while blindness and deafness make the smallest proportion. A concise history of the earlier efforts to care for the disabled soldiers follows the introduction; the countries covered are France, England, and the United States. In the hope of finding suggestions for meeting the needs of disabled soldiers a chapter is devoted to reviewing the experience in caring for men disabled in civil occupations. The chapter on this subject includes some valuable data obtained in an original investigation in New York City. Here, and throughout the whole study, emphasis is placed on the mental attitude of the injured man and the need for awakening and stimulating the interest and ambition of the man who is likely to succumb to the tendency to sink into an attitude of indifference and lethargy. Nearly 300 pages, practically two thirds of the entire volume, is given to tracing the development of the plans for the care of the men disabled by the war in Great Britain, France, Canada, the enemy countries, and the United States. The authors have succumbed to the temptation of presenting the information on Great Britain at too great length, probably because the source material is so abundant; the chapter would have left a clearer impression on the reader if it had been reduced to half of its present size. The treatment of the experience of the United States is, however, an admirable statement of the development of events in this country. When it entered the war, the United States had the advantage of having available three years' experience of European countries in providing for the treatment, training, and placing of men disabled in military service. Like most countries we were but little prepared to take up the problem when it was thrust upon us. The medical departments of the Army and Navy have had charge of the men injured' in their service and they had been to some extent equipped with the staff and general hospitals, to provide the traditional service of physical restoration. Theoretically this surgical service was for the purpose of restoring men to the fighting line, but the powers granted by the laws under which the Army and Navy acted were sufficiently broad to permit of almost any form of activity to restore men to wage-earning capacity. The departments at once drew up plans to meet the problem. The excellent description of the "reconstruction" plans of the Surgeon General's Office and its elaborate equipment shows in a gratifying manner the ability and earnestness of this office. ner. The problem of providing financial support for the injured men was taken up with the idea of finding a substitute for pensions in order to avoid the scandals which seem inevitable under the system. The analogy of men injured in civil occupations was used, the idea being that war was an extra hazardous occupation, and injuries sustained in it should be compensated in the same manThe enactment of the well known Soldiers' and Sailors' Compensation and Insurance act finally determined the matter. The conflict between the new idea of compensation and the old idea of pensions, while the law was being put through Congress, is delightfully described. If the mental attitude of the legislators who passed this law is any indication of the future attitude of Congress towards pensions, the hope of eliminating this form cf governmental bounty has but slight foundation. The War Risk Insurance act did not provide for the training of the injured men, but left the subject for later legislation. The provisions of the Vocational Rehabilitation act of June 27, 1918, met a more enthusiastic reception in Congress and the bill was adopted with but little discussion. The administration of this act is placed in the hands of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Recently liberal appropriations have been made to carry out the purposes of the act, but it is too early to form any conclusions as to the extent and success of the plans now under way. The care with which these plans were drawn and the preliminary studies made in preparation for the work give every reason to expect excellent results. The last section of the volume, part IV, is entitled The New Program; it is a general review of the whole problem, and forms a practically independent treatise. These 80 pages present the various phases of the questions of physical restoration, financial indemnities and economic reëstablishment. The subjects are treated so clearly and interestingly that the reviewer recommends readers to take this part first and then go back to learn the steps which the various countries have taken to reach this stage. The constant wonder is that the leading nations had accomplished so little before the war in securing results which the concentrated efforts induced by this world catastrophe brought about with such relative speed. In the United States, at any rate, the number of persons disabled by industrial injuries has far exceeded those produced by the war, but the efforts at rehabilitation have been regligible. The book is, of course, too long, and if some of the parts could have been condensed it would perhaps have reached a wider audience. But the volume is interesting from cover to cover and it is difficult to refrain from highly complimentary phrases in expressing one's admiration for the fine spirit of scholarly thoroughness with which it has been written. The wide experience of Dr. Devine in general social betterment, his personal contact with the injured people, with those engaged in the actual work of rehabilitation, with the methods in use, all presented with admirable clarity of style, make the volume a noteworthy addition to our knowledge of the subject. Washington, D. C. HENRY J. HARRIS. A Refutation of False Statements in Propaganda for Compulsory Health Insurance. By COMMITTEE ON CONSTRUCTIVE PLAN, SOCIAL INSURANCE DEPARTMENT, NATIONAL CIVIC FEDER- The purpose of this pamphlet is to "sweep aside a mass of fictions, falsifications, guesses and unwarranted assumptions which stand in the way of the search for the truth" in regard to health insurance. The fictions, falsifications, etc., are statements made while advocating compulsory health insurance by certain persons, including John B. Andrews of the Association for Labor Legislation, Irving Fisher of Yale, Warren and Sydenstricker of the United States Public Health Service, Lillian D. Wald of the Nurses' Settlement, Joseph P. Chamberlain of Columbia University, I. M. Rubinow of New York, and a number of others. The "false statements" made by these men and women are refuted in part by quotations from the writings of Frederick L. Hoffman, vice president of the Prudential Insurance Company, by extracts from the Fabian committee's report on the British system, by quotations from W. A. Brend's Health and the State, from other authors and in part by statements prepared by the author of the pamphlet. Most of the quotations are from the writings of Dr. Hoffman. The soundness of the arguments in the pamphlet can be tested by examining the quotations presented; this reveals, first, that many of them are but partial statements and, second, that they give quite a different impression from that intended in the original. Thus on page 15 is given an extract from the Fabian Society's report of 1914, quoted in such a way as to indicate that the report holds that the maternity benefit has failed of its purpose; no mention is made of the qualifying statement, "but this does not mean that the specific beginning of an 'endowment of maternity' which Mr. Lloyd George has effected . . . is not already proving an enormous boon" (p. 24). Some of the assertions go further and are but partial statements of fact; thus on page 15 "the average number of days compensated per sick member increased in Germany from 16.1 to 20.2" (between 1890 and 1913); but no reference is made to the law of 1902 which raised the minimum benefit period from 13 to 26 weeks and included certain diseases previously not compensated. In order to give the impression that malingering is a serious evil under the British system, a partial quotation is given of the results of examinations by medical referees in Ayrshire where "in other words, nearly onehalf [of those receiving sick pay] were found fit for work" (p. 40). What is not stated is that the cases examined by the referees were persons whom the insurance officials suspected were not entitled to benefits and had called before the referee for examination. A similar referee report is given in the National Insurance Gazette for March 29, 1919, where the referee found, out of 105 cases sent to him by vigilant officials, that 62 per cent were fit for work; but to cite these figures without the text would give a false impression, as the referee states that in most of the cases (i.e., the 62 per cent) "there were reasonable doubts with regard to the capacity or degree of capacity, possessed by the patients at the date of examination. . . . Most of the cases were admittedly on the thin borderline that divides capacity from incapacity for work" (p. 112). Another type of misleading argument is to take British official reports and claim that they are "cold" towards the insurance system, or credit it with no assistance in solving certain problems, when as a matter of fact there is no reason for these reports to refer to the system in any way. Thus page 9 of the pamphlet (repeated on page 14): "The Final Report of the British Health of Munition Workers Committee, April, 1918 (Bulletin 249 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics), is equally cold towards the Health Insurance. It credits that insurance with no evidence or data bearing on sickness. . . . . ." In its introduction (p. 9) the committee specifically express their thanks to the "Home Office (factory department), the Ministry of Munitions, the board of education and the national insurance commissioners for the assistance afforded the committee by the loan of their officers and the supply of information." The officer loaned was the head of the department of physiology of the research committee of the system. And where there was any occasion for it, suitable reference is made to the insurance system, as "the experience of insurance authorities confirms the same view" (p. 128) and "medical attendance is obtainable under the national insurance system" (p. 134). Section X of the report, "sickness and ill health," covers only eight pages, because the principal purpose of the investigation was to study conditions of work and output in munition establishments and only rarely did the committee's problem touch the subject of health insurance. The same type of assertion is found on page 8: "Not a single commendatory reference to National Health Insurance can be found in any of the reports of the Registrar |