A law for unemployment insurance is to be submitted to Congress at once, while the rest of the social insurance laws are to be reserved for the future. Unemployment insurance is, from a social standpoint, not only desirable, but necessary. Unfortunately, there has been, in this country, little experience in this field. Hence the Government will have to approach the matter cautiously and devise a law which is within the bounds of possibility. The chief danger is that the members of Congress, in their anxiety to make a good impression on their constituents, will ignore the Administration's proposals and enact some measure that shoots far over the mark. Unfortunately, in situations like this, as was shown by the vote on the payment of the bonus to the veterans, many lawmakers do not ask where the money is coming from.

Some clue as to how the law should be worked out may be gained from the 2unemployment insurance laws in other countries. In England since 1911 there has been a law of this sort in force, in accordance with which the employer, the employee, and the State each pay a third of the cost of the insurance. Benefit payments are made for twenty-six weeks and, for a single man, amount to about $4.50 a week, with a corresponding increase for families.

In Germany, in accordance with the law which has been in force since 1927, the whole cost of the insurance is, under ordinary circumstances, borne by the employee, who is required to pay six and one-half per cent of his wages. But the law provides that in an emergency four-fifths of the necessary funds will be contributed by the State and one-fifth by the community. The amount of the benefit payments depends upon the wages received, and the payments last, under normal conditions, for thirteen weeks. In an emergency, however, the payments may be extended to fifty-eight weeks.

Since July 1 the state of Wisconsin has had an unemployment insurance law 3which contains many interesting provisions, though it might not be possible to include all these in a law for the whole country. The first year is devoted solely to the accumulation of the necessary reserves, and not until a year later, that is, on July 1, 1935, will benefit payments begin. With respect to the manner in which funds for the insurance are raised the Wisconsin law is basically different from those in force in Europe. Only the employers are required to make payments, and they must contribute two per cent of the amount of their payroll and a further one tenth of one per cent for costs of administration. Whereas in other countries the payments all go into a general fund and are used for benefit payments wherever it may be necessary, in Wisconsin the amounts paid in by each firm are kept separate, and are used only to provide benefit payments for the employees of that concern.

The company's payments for the insurance remain at two per cent until the accumulated reserves amount to fifty-five dollars for each worker. The 4payments are then reduced to one per cent and, after the reserves amount to seventy-five dollars for each worker, no further payments are required. Hence it is to the advantage of the employer to provide steady work for his employees.

The benefit payments amount to fifty per cent of the wages earned, but the maximum is ten dollars per week. The length of time the support continues depends upon the length of time the person has worked the previous year. The employee is entitled to one week of benefit payments for every four weeks he has worked, but the length of time the support continues must not exceed ten weeks in a given year. The unemployment payments begin only after an interval of two weeks.

In any case, fault may be found with the deviation and amount of the benefit payments, since often these would be insufficient to cover bare living expenses. But this is only a beginning. After more experience has been gained 5in this field, the law should be revised. In any case, the law shows that it aims at what can actually be attained.