February, 1912.] 



105 



Miscellaneous. 



SPAIN. 



Workmen's Old Age Pensions in 

 Spain and^the National Institute 



for Old Age Insurance. 

 To the already rich series of mono- 

 graphs the Bulletin of Economic and 

 Social Intelligence of the International 

 Institute oj Agriculture has devoted 

 to Co-operative Insurance in various 

 countries, has now been added a study 

 on Workman's Old Age Pensions in 

 Spain and, particularly, on the National 

 Institute, for Old Age Insurance, the 

 principal basis of this organization. 



It is but very recently that co-operative 

 thrift has been introduced into Spain, 

 since the law founding the National 

 Institute for Old Age Insurance was only 

 promulgated on the 27th February, 

 1908. But Spain was able to benefit by 

 the results of the experience of other 

 nations, which yet has not prevented 

 its providing its population with a really 

 original institution, and one, it seems, 

 perfectly adapted to the requirements 

 it was created to satisfy. 



Spain has not thought fit to introduce 

 compulsory insurance but, to render the 

 system of subsidised tree insurance fully 

 effective, it has entrusted the Institute 

 charged with the constitution of old age 

 pensions with a work of propaganda 

 which is carried on by very many 

 methods ; publication of periodical annals 

 and special monographs ; formation of a 

 circulating library, specially for works 

 on saving and thrift ; organization of 

 lectures, especially among groups of 

 workmen and societies proposing to 

 themselves the study of social problems ; 

 education of specialists, competent to 

 organize or popularise institutes of 

 saving and thrift; grant of prizes to 

 private persons and associations distin- 

 guishing themselves in this connection ; 

 study of such questions of hygiene an 1 

 health by the solution of which popular 

 insurance may be encouraged, etc. 



With regard to its insurance operat- 

 ions themselves, the Institute offers the 

 most various arrangements. An insured 

 person without children may purchase a 

 pension on alienated capital ; a father of 

 a family may, on the other hand, find in 

 a pension on reserved capital the means 

 of combining personal thrift with the 

 accomplishment of his duties to his 

 family. 



He has besides the choice of four 

 different methods ; a pension may be 

 purchased payable at the age of 55, 00 

 or 05 years with right to reimbursement 

 of all payments at death at whatever 

 date death may occur, whether before 



or after the date fixed for pension ; it 

 may again be purchased under the same 

 conditions, but with right to reimburse- 

 ment of only half the payments ; again 

 it may be arranged that repayment, 

 whether of the whole, or the half 

 amount, shall only be made if the death 

 occurs before the age agreed on for the 

 pension. These two- last arrangements 

 are made in the interest of the father of 

 a family, who may say to himself, that 

 by the time he draws his pension, his 

 children will be in a position to gain 

 their own living, and it only concerms 

 him to guarantee them against want, 

 should he die before that date. 



Let us add that by a very liberal 

 provision, male foreigners resident in 

 Spain are allowed to insure provided 

 they have attained their majority. They 

 may even benefit by the bonuses that 

 the article we are summarising treats of 

 at length, if they have resided over ten 

 years in the country and belong to a 

 State that grants Spaniards similar 

 privileges, or in this respetct admits the 

 principle of reciprocity. 



Finally, the National Institute has no 

 monopoly of popular old age insurance. 

 On the contrary, the law strives to en- 

 courage the organisation of Institutes 

 pursuing the same end, by granting them 

 all the privileges and all the fiscal ex- 

 emptions enjoyed by the National In- 

 stitute. Nothing is required of these In- 

 stitutes except that they should not try 

 to realise profits, that they should be 

 open to workmen or persons of humble 

 condition only, should consult actuaries 

 in the conduct of their iusurance busi- 

 ness, and, by means of reserve funds, 

 offer the security indispensable. 



Several establishments are now profit- 

 ing by the privileges granted by the law. 

 The National Institute itself, in less than 

 two years' work has already received 

 more than 50,000 applications for books, 

 and it is reported that entire regiments 

 have registered as contributors. This 

 means that an immense field will soon 

 be open to social insurance in Spain, 



(Summarised from the Bulletin of 

 Economic and Social Intelligence of the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, 

 Year II., No. 11 and 12, 31st December, 

 1911.) _ 



FRANCE. 



Exodus from the Country Districts 

 and Depopulation. 

 Under the expression " Depopulation 

 of the Country Districts " two different 

 phenomena are often confounded : the 

 exodus, of the rural population to the 



