50 



ARGENTINA - INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



Mutual Aid Societies 



1906 



1909 



1911 



Number Registered 



Number of Members , . . . . 

 Societies with Civil Personality 



Total Capital 



Assistance Given 



30 



25,258 



22 



1,024,777 



339,636 



79 



180,061 



43 



4,061,331 



564,772 



108 

 247,372 



64 



11,208,010 



1.936,105 



As regards the nationality of the members, ItaHan societies are the 

 most numerous (37); then come the cosmopolitan societies (28), then the 

 Argentine (18), the Spanish (9) etc. 



The 247,272 members reported in 1911 are distributed very irregularly 

 among the 108 societies: while one alone has 41,000 members, 5 have 10,000 

 each, and 72 have not even 100 each. 



The societies are, in large part, composed of workmen ; some of 

 civil servants or tradesmen; while in others the members are of different 

 classes. They chiefly aim at supplying mutual assistance in its simplest form; 

 payment of medical expenses and the cost of medicines in case of sickness 

 and of funeral expenses in case of death. Sometimes a daily allowance is 

 also granted to the sick. 



However, examples are not wanting of mutual associations which 

 do not restrict themselves to providing for the urgent requirements of 

 members and have other objects of indirect utihty, such as the increase of 

 savings, credit cr the extension of education by means of schools and 

 Hbraries. 



The economic machinery of the mutual societies is very simple. The 

 amount of the contribution varies according to circumstances, and is 

 assessed according to two methods : either it is fixed or is a percentage on 

 the wages or salaries of the members. In the first case, which is by far 

 the mcst common, the contributions vary from 0.50 pesos to 10 pesos 

 a month : but generally from i peso to i ^ ; in the second, they are fixed 

 at I % of the wages. 



I3y means of the contributions of members and special amounts re- 

 ceived, the 108 societies have been able to accumulate a capital of more than 

 11,000,000 pesos. The one that has the largest amount of capital (1,200,000 

 pesos) is a workmen's society (7,800 members): in 1911 it distributed quite 

 40,000 pesos in aid. The total amount so distributed that year by the 108 

 societies seems to have been far in excess of the 1,936,105 pesos, shown 

 in the table above given, f'r the results of the inquiry are 011 this point 

 incomplete. 



The principal conclusions the lyabour Office has drawn from its in- 

 vestigations may be summarised in the following proposals : 



