THE GERMAN PAUPER QUESTION 75 

 hand, are necessarily a large financial burden on pro- 

 duction, which must not be overlooked; and on the 

 other hand, the contributions of the State are made up 

 by the whole mass of the tax-payers, not only by the 

 working people themselves. 



" Owing to the social legislation that has been enacted 

 within recent years, a workman receives compensation, 

 paid by his employer, for accidents sustained in the 

 course of work ; he and his employer insure him against 

 sickness, premature infirmity and old age; so that his 

 future is provided for with the assistance of his em- 

 ployer and the State. Further, many employers, as we 

 have already shown, confer benefits of various kinds, 

 material and intellectual, on their employees." 



Here we have a far-reaching system of old age and 

 infirmity pensions: Firstly, that inaugurated by the 

 State and made compulsory; and secondly, a supple- 

 mentary system inaugurated by private firms, which, 

 in some cases, are " free gifts from the firm." 



At any rate it is certain that twenty-five years ago 

 Germany saw the necessity of provision for her toilers, 

 and she gave the working classes the necessary measures 

 of relief in the " Infirmity and Old Age Insurance Act " 

 of 1889. 



Mr J. L. Bashford, the leader of the Gainsborough 

 Commission, in his Appendix to the Report, entitled, 

 " Infirmity and Old Age Pensions in Germany," in re- 

 ferring to the nature of the Act said : 



" The Government resorted to compulsory in- 

 surance, because it was impossible to devise any other 



