380 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 401. 



from the Twelfth Census agrees closely with 

 that from the Eleventh, from flour mills; 

 and they differ very little from those de- 

 duced from the last census for agriculture, 

 making allowance in the latter for all wheat 

 not consumed for food in this country. But 

 the per capita figure from these concurrent 

 sources is some twenty per cent, in excess 

 of the amount which appeared to result 

 from previous inquiries, by the reported 

 consumption of representative families, 

 converted into an average for the country 

 by use of population tables for different 

 localities and classes. 



The quantity found by the latter method 

 might be deficient in several ways: the 

 amount consumed might be underesti- 

 mated; or wastes and losses and consump- 

 tion other than as human food might be neg- 

 lected; or the number of consumers might 

 be overstated, owing to absences from home, 

 etc. ; or the families considered might be not 

 fairly representative. The census deter- 

 mination might be excessive through faulty 

 methods of supplying imperfect data— for 

 example, overestimate of the amount of 

 wheat required for a barrel of flour. The 

 least improbable source of error in the agri- 

 cultural census would be an introduction 

 of supposititous farms by the enumerators. 

 It is possible also that the per capita rate 

 might actually have increased. 



Municipal Insurance against Unemploy- 

 ment: Hbnet J. Haeris, Department of 

 Labor, Washington. 



The four causes which force the working- 

 man involuntarily to become a burden to 

 society are accident, sickness, general in- 

 validity and lack of employment. The 

 first three of these have been more or less 

 successfully removed from the field of 

 charitable effort and relief for them placed 

 on the basis of insurance; attempts are 

 now being made in various European coun- 



tries to place relief for unemployment on 

 a like basis. 



The first attempt to accomplish this was 

 made in the city of Bern, Switzerland, in 

 1893, by establishing a municipal office for 

 voluntary insurance against unemployment. 

 The plan finally adopted was to charge the 

 members of the Fund the sum of fifty cen- 

 times per month as dues, and in case of a 

 member becoming unemployed— through 

 no fault of his own — during the months of 

 December, January and February, he was 

 paid one and one-half francs (or two francs 

 if others were financially dependent on 

 him) per day for a period not exceeding 

 sixty days. With modifications to suit 

 local conditions, similar Funds have been 

 established in Basel, Cologne and Bologna; 

 the four Funds have memberships ranging 

 from 160 to 1,200 persons each; the in- 

 sured persons pay between thirteen per 

 cent, and thirty per cent, of the total cost 

 of the insurance, the deficit being met by 

 contributions of private persons and mu- 

 nicipal subsidies. 



In August, 1901, the city of Ghent, Bel- 

 gium, adopted the plan of increasing, under 

 certain conditions, by fifty per cent, the 

 out-of-work benefits paid by the trades 

 unions of the city to their members. The 

 plan has met with favor in other localities 

 and is used by the city of Dijon, France, 

 and the province of Liege, Belgium. 

 About 13,000 persons are now insured un- 

 der this system. 



Municipal Government in the Philippines: 

 Clarence R. Edwards, Chief of Bureau 

 of Insular Affairs, War Department, 

 Washington. 



The institution of local self-government 

 in the Philippines has given the most prac- 

 tical evidence of the beneficent intentions 

 of the United States. Under General 

 Henry W. Lawton, the important town of 

 Baliuag, immediately on its capture in May, 



