and the wages of those dismissed, under penalty of a fine not exceeding 2,000 marks. Arbitration officers have also been appointed.— [Neue Freie Presse, Nov. 5, 1918.] Organization for Demobilization. To deal with the question of demobilization in German-Austria the national council has appointed an industrial commission representative of employers and employees, which will be extended to include mercantile and technical elements. Six hundred thousand munition workers have to be cared for; and the commission has already prepared schemes arriving at securing food for the workers, abolishing compulsion in war work, reviving peace-time production, and preventing immediate dismissals by arranging the date and order of closing down of munition works. Some relief is to be effected by sending off workers of foreign nationalities to their own States.— [Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Nov. 7, 1918.] Provision for the Unemployed. The national council has empowered the secretary of state to carry through a scheme for the maintenance of the unemployed. All workers subject to sickness-insurance obligations, and belonging to German-Austria, receive from November 18, 1918, to February 15, 1919, for every day of certified unemployment an allowance to the amount of the daily sick pay, in most cases 4 to 6 krone, in addition to a daily bonus of 1 krone for every member of the family, wife, or child under 14 years of age who does not receive any public relief. Men of foreign nationality, who were previously employed in German-Austrian works, receive such allowance only if their own country acts reciprocally.-[Weltwirtschaftszeitung, Nov. 29, 1918.] Measures to Combat Unemployment. The German-Austrian cabinet council has been occupied with various measures intended to combat unemployment. In order to facilitate the financial management of business concerns it is intended to establish a loan office for the transition period in order to advance money on future production by issuing bonds. Moreover, an announcement is to be made that the full utilization of the water power in the country, and the supply of electricity, is to be entrusted to an electricity office. The various offices of the State are to consult together with regard to public works, agriculture, communications, and trade. The daily increase of unemployment necessitates the acceleration of these labors.-[Neue Freie Presse, Dec. 15, 1918.] GERMANY. Scheme of Legislation of Social Democratic Party. The executive of the social democratic party submitted to the annual conference of the party held at Würtzburg a scheme of social legislation after the war. The following topics are covered in the scheme: 1. Protection of labor. a. General. b. Protection of health. c. Daily working hours. e. Sunday rest. f. Protection of female workers. g. Protection of children and juveniles. ¿. Industrial inspection. 2. Workmen's insurance. 3. Public health. 4. The right to strike. 5. Reform of the labor law. 6. Representation of workers' interests. 7. Arbitration offices. 8. Employment exchanges and care of the unemployed. 9. Poor law. 10. Care of juveniles. 11. Housing. 12. Imperial office for social legislation. 13. Measures on behalf of ex-soldiers, including the disabled. [Bremer Bürgerzeitung, Oct. 19, 1917.] Transition Economy, Imperial Commission for. The imperial commission for transition economy is composed of the imperial commissioner and nine colleagues, of whom one is the deputy of the imperial commissioner, and the remainder are distinguished representatives of agriculture, industry, commerce, and shipping, nominated by the imperial chancellor. Each of the nine is head of a department. For each one of them a general representative has been appointed, who is permanently engaged in the imperial commission. The organization is as follows: The imperial commissioner for transition economy; his deputy. Dept. 1. Finance. Dept. 2. Organization for transportation. Dept. 3. Iron ores, manganese ores, slag, chrome, wolfram and molybdenum ores, timber, paper, stone. Dept. 4. Lead, antimony, zinc, tin, nickel, cobalt, copper, and their corresponding ores, china, clay, graphite, machinery. Dept. 5. Textiles. Dept. 6. Cereals, barley, maize, bran, and other albuminous feedingstuffs, meat, live cattle. Dept. 7. Seaborne imports. Dept. 8. Overland imports, import restriction, coal and other mineral fuels, phosphates with the exception of phosphates and pyrites to be found in Asia Minor. Dept. 9. General organization of transition economy, regulations regarding the amount and sequence of meeting require ments, prior purchases. Special Dept. a. General matters relating to administration, finance, personnel. Special Dept. b. Statistics. The imperial commission has established expert committees and subcommittees for the various groups of commodities. Some of the above departments have subdepartments. [Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, February, 1918.] Housing, Provision for. The Reichstag has accepted the proposals laid before it by the committee for housing. This provides that the imperial economy office, as the central office for transition economy, is to undertake the direction of a systematic scheme for providing houses after the war. It provides 500,000,000 marks from the imperial exchequer for making grants and loans on reasonable terms as well as for forming a guarantee fund. The insurance offices, cooperative trade societies, and public savings banks are to invest all available sums as far as possible in loans on small buildings at a moderate rate of interest. Numerous other provisions are made to encourage construction of housing accommodations.-[Frankfurter Zeitung, May 12, 1918.] Discharged Soldiers' Welfare. On June 1, a reorganization of military welfare work was initiated by the establishment of special maintenance offices in all army corps districts. These offices are to look after the maintenance of and provisions for discharged soldiers of the lower ranks, and their dependents, as prescribed by law; vocational advice and measures, in connection with the return to civilian occupations of officers and men; proposals for special courses of treatment for invalids, as well as pensions for dependents.―[Correspondenzblatt der Gewerkschaften, June 29, 1918.] Textile Trade after the War. The Bundesrat on June 27, 1918, issued a decree prescribing the economic measures to be taken for the transition period in the textile industry. It establishes an imperial office for textile economy, subordinate to the imperial chancellor, and separate imperial economic suboffices for cotton, wool, silk, artificial spinning materials, waste stuffs, flax, hemp, jute, hard fibers, and substitute fibers. The purpose of this organization is to remedy the grievances of the tex tile manufacturers during the transition from war to peace economy.-[Reichsanzeiger, July 1, 1918.] Disabled Soldiers, Company for Training and Giving Employment to. In Baden, early in 1917, a company was formed for the purpose of starting special centers and industries for the purpose of providing training and employment for disabled men. Most of the capital required was subscribed by Baden manufacturers. The company's plan is to carry on industries of its own which will serve not only as training centers but as industrial concerns in which men, who are not likely to hold their own in the ordinary labor market, can be employed permanently according to their capacity. The establishments acquired by the company include a sawmill, a machinery construction and repair business, a jewelry factory, and wood-working establishments. [Concordia, July 15, 1918.] Disabled Soldiers, Reinstatement in Municipal Service. The German Municipal Association instituted an inquiry the beginning of this year as to the reinstatement by municipal authorities of employees who have been disabled in the war. It was found that all municipal authorities are agreed that their disabled employees must be given suitable reemployment and that they must be treated sympathetically, many having passed resolutions declaring reinstatement to be their duty. Some municipalities, however, have reserved the right to impose considerable limitations.-[Kommunale Praxis, August, 1918.] Housing Administration during Transition Period. An imperial commissariat for housing has been appointed in the imperial economic office for the special duty of administration in the housing domain during the transition period. The following duties were assigned to him: 1. Distribution of available military and naval stocks of building materials of the army and navy, which can be dispensed with. 2. Encouragement of the production of building materials. 3. Control of the sale of building materials. 4. Grant of building subsidies from funds to be supplied by the imperial commissariat. The imperial commissariat represents the state secretary of the imperial economic office in carrying out the above duties on his own responsibility. A committee will be appointed to which fundamental questions will be referred.-[Berliner Tageblatt, Sept. 3, 1918.] Transition Economy. The imperial economy office has prepared regulations for three departments of transition economy: "Colonial goods," textile industries, and navigation.-[Oesterreichisher Volkswirt, Sept. 7, 1918.] Unemployment Relief in Transition Period. The Frankfort town council has approved a scheme for unemployment relief in the transition period. Unemployment relief is to be given, within fixed limits, to persons who have not been independent but earning full-time wages, and who, in consequence of lack of employment, require relief. Such persons are: 1. Males over 16 who have lived for at least 26 weeks in Frankfort, or who lived in Frankfort up to August 1, 1914, and were not in merely temporary employment. 2. Females over 16 who live alone or manage the household, or are the breadwinners of husband, parents, grandparents, or brothers and sisters, or who before the war were full-time wage earners, provided that they have lived in Frankfort for 26 weeks and have not merely come to the city to work in war industries. A schedule of rates of relief has been adopted.-[Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Sept. 7, 1918.] Peace Economy Committee. In Hamburg a committee for the reconstruction of peace economy has been formed and is actively supported by the leading figures in the commercial world of Hamburg.-[Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Sept. 8, 1918.] Disabled Soldiers, Fund for the Relief of. An appeal for contributions to the "Ludendorf fund" was launched in May, 1918, and was indorsed by the highest officials of the Empire. The purpose of the fund is not to relieve the State of the duty of providing pensions, but to give relief in cases where the law, on account of its rigidity, could not make sufficient provision. Many sick and internally injured soldiers were discharged without pensions, and are, therefore, dependent on voluntary aid. In carrying out the plans for vocational training, finding employment, providing homesteads, etc., funds over and above the State grants are indispensable.-[Soziale Praxis, October, 1918.] Blinded Soldiers, Care of. The pensions and allowances for blinded soldiers vary according to rank, the total amount per year for a private being 1,368 marks. Several private funds have been created for the benefit of blinded soldiers. There are two official committees which deal solely with the welfare of the blind, the imperial committee for the care of blinded soldiers, and a committee appointed by the ministry of trade and of public instruction. The first named keeps in touch with all provincial organizations and institutions for blinded soldiers, and the other investigates the possibility of employing the blind in factories. The men themselves have organized a "German League of Blinded Soldiers." |