578 



SCIENCE 



[N.S. Vol. XXV. No. 641 



News Service and Political Science: 



Feanklin Fokd, General News Office, 



New York City. 



The gathering and sale of news for a 

 profit is a modern development. It was 

 hardly sold at all before the time of 

 Charles II. in England. Of one thing you 

 may rest assured, that when some man in 

 London first conceived the possibility of 

 getting his living by the gathering and sale 

 of news, that day unjust privilege had, 

 clearly and definitely, started on the road 

 to its last ditch. And if you wish to 

 dramatize this assertion you have only to 

 think of a pack of reporters at the heels 

 of derelict life-insurance officials. 



The fast press and the talking wire have 

 come in, but the manner of classifying and 

 handling news— the mode of interpreta- 

 tion—has not changed essentially. True 

 organization in the field of news has been 

 waiting on the introduction of a new point 

 of view, of a new way of ideas. Scientific 

 method has entered nearly all the great 

 branches of manufacturing, but a new co- 

 ordination has yet to obtain in news 

 handling. 



To organize news we must classify it, 

 which implies a science of news. But, as 

 already indicated, since the news move- 

 ment relates to all organs or functions in 

 the social body, the desired science must 

 in the nature of things be the science of 

 Politics. Call it sociology, if you will; 

 there is no difference. 



The pending advance in news organiza- 

 tion to the level of the highest integrity in- 

 troduces the oncoming new legislature, or 

 the fact-finding and law-declaring organ. 

 News is the universal element of social 

 control. 



Prom the business standpoint, when a 

 new fact is disclosed in the news move- 

 ment it carries three possible sales or 

 pro-fits: (1) Its general application to be 

 distributed through the daily paper, (2) 



its class application to be sold through the 

 trade paper, and (3) its special application 

 to individuals which they can buy through 

 the bureau of information. 



The Rate of Sickness as determined by the 

 Companies doing Health Insurance in 

 the United States, particularly, the Ex- 

 perience of the Travelers Insurance 

 Company of Hartford: Hiram J. Mes- 

 SENGEE, Hartford, Conn. 

 The first attempts to write health in- 

 surance in the United States were made 

 about sixty years ago and all efforts fol- 

 lowing these attempts up to about 1897 

 were practically failures on account of the 

 lack of knowledge of the business and lack 

 of solid financial backing. About 1897 a 

 stock accident company commenced doing 

 health insurance, first by issuing a special 

 health policy limited to fifteen diseases 

 which was later increased to twenty-one 

 and then to over thirty. The general 

 tendency was towards a more comprehen- 

 sive contract and after a few years most of 

 the companies were issuing a health policy 

 which covered practically all diseases. 

 The experience of the Travelers Insurance 

 Company on their special health policy 

 shows .29 of a week of sickness for each 

 year of exposure for ages 18-25, and 

 gradually decreases to .18 for ages 40—4:9, 

 and then increases to .30 for ages 55-60. 

 On the general health policy the number of 

 weeks sickness per year of exposure is 

 about .65 for ages 18-50 and then rapidly 

 increases to .95 for ages 55-60. Several 

 of the accident companies have combined 

 their experience on their health policy, 

 covering practically all diseases, with the 

 result giving a rate of sickness about 60 

 per cent, of the Travelers' experience. 



The Manchester Unity's experience of 

 England shows .81 of a week of sickness for 

 ages 16-19 and from there on gradually 

 increases to 1.44 for ages 40^4 and 3.76 



