96 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vou. Vids 
States or Canada, at the present time. There is in the first place, the ele- 
ment of compulsion, which has always been distasteful to those of British 
origin. In the next place there is the element of inquisitorial supervision, 
in connection with various kinds of registration. The regulations appear 
also to hinder free movements from place to place, and obstacles are raised 
against leaving the country. The patronizing tone of the rescripts and 
of all the literature concerning the institutions of the system would be offen- 
sive to our people. It is the same with conscription for the army; the years 
spent with the colours are not without their advantages, but free Britons 
and Canadians will not submit to what the German soldier has to endure. 
Once adopted, however, it is like a great piece of machinery, it must keep 
on going, it cannot be abolished without universal loss.* I think we can 
develop our own systems, as required, to our greater satisfaction. 
Whenever the government interferes, to pay sums of money for any 
purpose whatever, those sums, with a large percentage added for expenses, 
come from the pockets of the people, by raising the expense of living. And 
as for the compulsory payments exacted from employers, it is probable the 
Canadian workman receives as much compensation for accidents due to 
employers’ negligence as the German artizan receives. About fifty cents per 
head of the population was paid in Germany for accident claims, in 1901, 
and only 4o per cent. of this was chargeable to the employers’ neglect. It is 
not easy to make comparisons here, owing to the large preponderance of our 
agricultural population, especially in Quebec, among whom employers’ 
liability companies are unheard of, but nearly $200,000 a year are paid in 
Canada for the consequences of accidents by these institutions alone. 
That is four cents per head on our total population of 54 millions. Very 
large sums are paid through the arbitration proceedings of our law courts,T 
and the founts of benevolence are not dried up here as they might be by a 
blood and iron system like that just described. On this subject I need only 
quote a recent utterance of Mr. Adam Beck, the mayor of London, Ont.: 
“We should be thankful for the efficiency and comprehensiveness 
of our hospitals and our charitable institutions. Where will you find 
better hospitals than in London, better charitable institutions than we 
have here? No case of sickness, of old age, or of want needs to go unre- 
lieved in London. Our means for the alleviation of suffering are unsurpassed.” 
Some system will ere long establish pre-eminence here—fraternal, 
financial or national, and we may be permitted to hope that a noble view 
* Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo. 
+ For instance, here is a news item of this very week: — 
_ Welland, Ont., Nov. 21.—Several actions brought under the Workmen’s Compensation Act were 
tried at the assizes, which opened here this afternoon before Sir John Boyd. H. Cummerford, who was 
injured in a quarry at Sherkston belonging to the Empire Limestone Company, was given $1,000 dam- 
ages. I. Fulford, brakesman, who lost two fingers in coupling cars, received the same amount from 
the International Railway Company. 
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