THE GERMAN NATION 



299 



the factory law will be reported and 

 dealt with. Each week the employer 

 must pay into the public treasury a small 

 fraction of each employee's wage, to 

 guarantee their old-age pensions. No em- 

 ployer can discharge an employee without 

 good cause, and every disagreement be- 

 tween them goes into the industrial 

 courts — ^the government does not permit 

 the settlement of such disagreements out- 

 side of these courts, however willing both 

 parties might be to compromise. 



INSURANCE AND SAVINGS 



The Germans have an obligatory in- 

 surance law for workingmen, in which 

 each employer must establish a fund, to 

 which he contributes one-third and his 

 employees two-thirds, at the rate of 3^ 

 per cent of the wages earned. The bene- 

 fits are half wages for sick employees up 

 to 26 weeks, including medical attend- 

 ance,, drugs, and free hospital service. 

 The plan includes a provision for funeral 

 expenses, and for widows and orphans. 



There is also a compulsory savings 

 bank for working people. Married men 

 must deposit 5 per cent of their wages, 

 and unmarried ones 10 per cent, unless 

 they have dependents, in which case the 

 rate is the same as for married men. 

 These deposits increase until they reach 

 $500, after which the depositor may con- 

 tinue to save or not, as he chooses. But 

 he can use the $500 only for buying a 

 house or furnishing a home. Six per 

 ■cent interest is paid on these deposits. 



EDUCATION COMPULSORY 



Education is compulsory throughout 

 Germany, from the age of 6 to 14. 

 There were more than 10,000,000 chil- 

 dren in school last year, which is about 

 the same proportion to population that 

 we have in similar schools in the United 

 States. When King Frederick William 

 took over the helm of the Prussian ship 

 of state he declared that "the future will 

 l)elong to the best educated nation," and 

 education in books was only the begin- 

 ning of the general education in life that 

 the king had in mind. 



The Germans were the first people to 

 inidertake the systematic education of 

 "the hand as well as the mind of the child. 



They began the kindergarten and the 

 technical training school at almost the 

 same time, and Eroebel and Pestalozzi, 

 in their work for German education, rev- 

 olutionized the teaching methods of the 

 world. 



Every German is educated for the par- 

 ticular work in life that has been chosen 

 for him. There is no drifting into a 

 trade or profession — becoming a machin- 

 ist through the sweeping-out-shop route, 

 or a pharmacist through the soda-foun- 

 tain route. Each child has his career se- 

 lected for him, and when his training is 

 finished he is fitted for no other. 



Progressive parents send their chil- 

 dren to kindergarten at four and five ; at 

 six if they are not there the State asks 

 why. At the beginning the week is di- 

 vided into II hours for German, four 

 hours for arithmetic, one hour for sing- 

 ing, and four hours for religion. In the 

 middle grade the week is divided into 10 

 hours for German, four hours for mathe- 

 matics, one hour for drawing, six hours 

 for science, two hours for singing, two 

 hours for handiwork and gymnastics, and 

 five hours for religion. 



No other nation possesses so many fine 

 technical schools. In the rural districts 

 there are the agricultural schools for the 

 farmers' boys, and the great crop yields 

 of Germany answer for their efficiency. 



The Empire has 21 universities, with a 

 total enrollment of 55,000, more than 

 half of whom are in the schools of 

 philosophy. 



NATIONAL THRIET 



The one particular battle which the 

 Kaiser has had with his people has been 

 to keep them, with their growing wealth, 

 from forgetting the Spartan simplicity of 

 the older days. The love of ease and 

 luxury is a trait into which the govern- 

 ment has ever urged the people not to 

 fall. It is said that the great field mar- 

 shal. Von Moltke, kept his household ex- 

 penses down to $75 a month, and that if 

 that sum were exhausted the household 

 went hungry. He is described as having 

 been very economical in the use of 

 candles. 



For a long time officers' messes in the 

 armv vied with each other in giving the 



