and orphans, if no death settlement has been paid from any other insurance fund.

The pension is payable to a miner when he (a) reaches the age of 65, (b) becomes permanently unfit for further service, or (c) is incapacitated temporarily by sickness but is no longer entitled to benefits from the Sickness Insurance Fund (for the duration of these conditions). With reference to (b) alone, the law provides for a legal presumption of unfitness for further service when the following points can be established: Completion of the fiftieth year of age; membership in the Pension Insurance Fund for at least 25 years; execution of work predominantly of a mining character during at least 15 years of the membership in this fund; and the performance of no similar work while drawing the pension. In practice, therefore, this means that most miners can retire and draw a pension from this fund upon reaching the age of 50.

The annual pension, like the invalidity and old-age annuity, is composed of (a) a basic payment of 72 marks plus (b) a supplement based upon the length of time during which contributions have been made in each wage class and calculated as described in the following section.

Widows receive 0.5 of the pension payable to the insured husband, and full orphans under the age of 15 each receive an annuity equal to 0.2 of the pension payable to their father; the total payable to any one family may not exceed the total value of the original pension.

The contribution to burial expenses granted from the pension fund equals 6 weeks' wages, unless reduced or eliminated because of similar payments received from other funds.

Free medical attention is extended to pensioners (retired miners) to the same extent and under the same conditions that it is extended to active miners from the Sickness Insurance Fund.

As already mentioned, miners are insured against old age and disability in two distinct funds from each of which they receive a retirement annuity, one beginning as a rule at the age of 50, the other beginning at the age of 65. The great strain placed upon the insurance reserves, however, by the widespread unemployment existing in Germany during the recent economic depression (it will be recalled that employees continue to be insured even during periods in which they are prevented from paying premiums by unemployment) made it necessary to reduce the benefits in order to conserve the assets of the insurance funds. Therefore, since January 1934, there has been a suspension of annuities to widows from the Pension Insurance Fund if they were also receiving similar benefits from the Invalid and OldAge Insurance Fund. Furthermore, the pensions payable to retired miners from the Pension Insurance Fund are reduced by a flat amount of 20 marks per month if the pensioners are at the same time receiving

annuities from the invalid and old-age and from the retirement insurance. There is, of course, much dissatisfaction among the miners as a result of this, since their contributions to the fund have not been reduced correspondingly. These reductions are regarded as temporary, to be terminated as soon as the condition of the reserves improves sufficiently to warrant it.

Calculation of pensions.-As in the case of the invalidity and old-age retirement benefit, the annual pension payable from the Pension Insurance Fund upon retirement for age (65) or, as is more usual, for disability (usually at the age of 50 if not before) is a compound amount consisting of (a) an invariable basic sum of 72 marks, plus (b) the product of the number of months of service and the appropriate coefficient, as follows:

Premiums and contributions.-For the Miners' Pension Insurance Fund, which is administered on a monthly rather than a weekly basis, the following wage and insurance classes have been established:

It will be noticed that for all practical purposes the premium payable by the individual employee is a straight percentage, namely, 9.8 percent, of his wage. However, although class VIII includes all wages above 225 marks a month, those exceeding 250 marks a month are treated as though they were 250 marks. Insurance is compulsory for the first eight classes, but employees preferring to secure a slightly higher pension may voluntarily insure themselves in any higher class, including the optional classes IX and X, by paying the appropriate premiums.

The receipts and expenditures of the German Miners' Pension Insurance Fund for the year 1934 are shown in the table following.

Receipts and Expenditures of Miners' Pension Insurance Fund in Germany

Progress of Old-Age Pensions in the United States

TH

During First Half of 1936

HE States which have qualified under the National Social Security Act appear to be using the grants received under that act to expand their old-age pension plans rather than to replace State funds. Although in some States larger allowances are being made, it would seem that generally the increased funds are being utilized to care for additional pensioners rather than to pay very much larger individual benefits. These findings are revealed by analysis of the pension rolls and benefits reported to the Federal Social Security Board during the 5 months, February to June 1936, in comparison with data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the 2 years, 1934 and 1935, prior to the Federal act.

From 1934 to 1935 the pension roll in identical States increased 54.4 percent. The rate of increase from the end of 1935 to June 1936 was 43.6 percent. Average benefits per pensioner in identical States rose 12.5 percent from 1934 to 1935, and 13.1 percent from 1935 to 1936.

The Federal Congress on February 12, 1936, made available funds to assist the States in their social security programs, and the first grants for old-age assistance were made effective as of February 1, 1936. During one month in 1936-January-the pension systems were therefore on the old basis, but reports for that month are not available except for the three States of California, New Jersey, and New York.

For the 5-month period ended June 30, 1936, the Social Security Board allotted for the use of the States $21,321,712.1 During this period there was spent in old-age assistance in these States the sum of $39,151,044, of which $32,347,479 was disbursed under the terms of the Federal act.

The total expenditures, by States, and the amount of Federal aid allotted during the 5-month period ending June 30, 1936, together with the average monthly disbursements and their rate of increase, are shown in table 1.

1 Does not include a grant of $80,687 for Montana and $1,181,250 for Texas-a total of $1,261,937-from which no payments were made before June 30, 1936.

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Table 1.-Disbursements Under Federal Social Security Act as Compared With Disbursements in 1934 and 1935, by States

1 Unless otherwise noted, all payments in this column were under Federal act.

2 Not under Federal act during February 1936

3 Not under Federal act during February and March 1936.

3 months, April-June.

• Decrease.

It is evident from this table that in seven jurisdictions the Federal funds allotted exceeded the total actually disbursed from all sources. In the other States the Federal grants ranged from 12.4 percent of the total expenditures in New York to 83.7 percent in Colorado.

Average monthly expenditures in 26 identical States rose from $4,792,238 during 1935 to $7,932,925 in the period February-June 1936, or nearly 66 percent.

In the majority of the States the average monthly expenditures increased at a faster rate in 1936 than had been the case prior to the inauguration of the national program. Outstanding increases in monthly disbursements took place in Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wisconsin. Some