178 



The Review of Reviews. 



August 1, 1906. 



EMPLOYERS AND MUTUAL AID.B 



Insurance Against Strikes. 



In the Correspondant of May loth there is an ar- 

 ticle, by Pierre Saint Girons, on Employers' Insur- 

 ance against Strikes in Germany, or, more correctly, 

 Mutual Aid among Employers. The writer is very 

 enthusiastic about the plan, though he is bound to 

 admit that it may become a weapon of oppression in 

 the hands of unscrupulous employers. 



The idea of insurance against strikes, he tells us, 

 appears simultaneously in several countries. We 

 meet with it in Sweden, Austria, the United States, 

 and Gemiany, but it is in the country of Karl Marx, 

 Lassalle, and August Bebel that it seems to have 

 found the most favourable soil. Xo doubt, too, it is 

 as stoutly resisted in Germany. 



As strikes have become an almost normal risk in 

 industrial undertakings, the loss which they may 

 cause must enter into the calculations of every 

 employer. Many industries also live in a state of 

 reciprocal dependence ; and while prosperity may be 

 common to all, the ruin of one often brings in its 

 train the ruin of others. All industries are in- 

 terested in reducing the risks of strikes. Why not, 

 therefore, divide the risks among all in such a way 

 as to equalise the loss? Insurance seeks to attain 

 this end, 



AN UXSUITABLE BISK. 



Many experts maintain that the principle of in- 

 surance cannot be applied to the risks of strikes. 

 A strike being a voluntary action, it is not con- 

 sidered technically a suitable risk to insure against. 

 The writer contends that such insurance is neither so 

 illegitimate, dangerous, useless or impossible as its 

 opponents pretend. What he advocates, however, is 

 rather a system of mutual insurance of the small 

 employers among themselves with the object of col- 

 lecting a fund sufficient to indemnify all the mem- 

 bers. 



THE MUTUAL PBINCIPLE. 



This principle has not yet found complete realisa- 

 rion in Germany, though it has got beyond the phase 

 of theoretical discussion. The idea was first sug- 

 gested in 1897, but it was not till January, 1904, that 

 it was taken up with interest. In connection with 

 the strike at Crimmitschau, in Saxony, the employers 

 decided to band themselves together into a large 

 association to resist the demands of the workers. 

 In ,\pril of the same year a Central Bureau of Ger- 

 man Patronal Syndicates was instituted, but in June 

 certain rivalries caused a division into two groups, 

 one group being formed to represent the smaller in- 

 dustries. Absolute unity consequently was not at- 

 tained, but a short time ago the rival organisations 

 concluded a cartell-treaty. Round these two centres 

 many small unions have been formed, all with the 

 identical aim of mutual aid against strikes, and all 

 assuring to the members the right of a proportionate 



indemnity — that right, be it remembered, being de- 

 pendent on the illegitimacy of the strike, 



STEIKES AND STEIKES- 



But there are strikes and strikes, and insurance 

 ought not to be applied indiscriminately in every 

 case, continues the writer. All claim to indemnity 

 should be refused in cases of strikes due to evident 

 provocation on the part of the employer or his un- 

 justifiable refusal to accede to the legitimate demands 

 of his workers. But who is to decide the matter? 

 With organisation and insurance would not em- 

 ployers possess practically absolute power, and make 

 anv resistance on the part of the workers impossible ? 



HOW TO SPEAK. 



By Lady Henry Somerset. 

 In the Young Woman Lady Henry Somerset writes 

 on the art of speaking, and declares that the use of 

 the human voice in speaking is as much an art as 

 the use of the voice in singing. She says she has 

 herself given many years to the careful study of the 

 management of the voice, though she has never 

 taken a lesson in elocution in her life. Voice pro- 

 duction has been to her a very interesting and ab- 

 sorbing study. She says, '■ You have to be certain of 

 two things : first, how you produce your voice, and 

 what is your correct note": — 



A voice which merely twanga one note cannot play npon 

 the harp of the human heart. 



The advice which follows is backed by Lady 

 Henrs-'s experience as an orator : — 



Arrest attention in the first five minutes— otherwise you 

 will not get it — has always been my advice. 



If the matter of your argument is heavy, be sure that 

 you lighten it by some mirth, but directly the audience has 

 laughed be sure you do not allow tliat emotion to evapo- 

 rate. Xotliing is so near to tears as laughter. Bring back 

 your listeners at once, and produce tlie most pathetic and 

 strongest appeal to deeper feeling that you may have at 

 your command, for that is your moment. Directly after 

 laughter always seek for tears. 



The pitch of the voice is of the utmost importance- 

 Throughout an address make it your chief study to find 

 your natural note. 



You ought to have as many other notes at your com- 

 mand as inflection will demand ; you should be able to 

 ascend the scale in making inquiries; descend in denun- 

 ciation; use minor keys to speak with pathos, but the 

 normal note should always be sustained in order to speak 

 in tune. 



Millions and Mosquitoes. 



The island of Barbados, says Chambers's Journal 

 (May) enjoys immunity from the visitations of the 

 malarial mosquito, and the cause of this immimity is 

 said to be a very small fish. The writer says: — 



In many of the waters of this island there flourish in 

 great quantities a tiny fish known locally by the name of 

 " millions." and there is believed to be a connection be- 

 tween the existence of tliifi tish and the comparative non- 

 existence of the malarial mosquito. Some interesting ex- 

 periments are now being tried in the West Indies with a 

 view to determine to what extent one fact bears upon the 

 other, and to see whether the V)eneficent little fish can be 

 induced to flourish in the waters of places where the 

 mosquito ravages are more severely felt. 



It is said that the tiny fish has an appetite quite out of 

 proportion to its diminutive size, and that it feeds to a 

 large extent on the larvae of the mosquito. The trouble- 

 some insect is in consequence practicall.v exterminated in 

 the area in which "millions" flourish, and here also, for 

 the well-known reason, malarial fever ia practically non- 

 existent. 



