compensation except for the time necessary for the healing of the wound caused by the injury and any necessary consequent operation. The same is true for minor maimings, and even for major injuries in many cases, so that it frequently happens under this law that the amount of compensation is entirely incommensurate with the damage suffered. Thus, there are numerous cases of the loss of a finger or fingers where the compensation ranged from $25 to $50; in 5 cases the loss of an eye was similarly compensated; and in a case of the loss of a right arm the injured workman received less than $50.

Under every State law, however, special provision is made for continuing partial disability, frequently by an award of a percentage of the wage loss occasioned by such disability, though in a number of cases there is a scale fixed by the law awarding weekly payments for fixed periods after specified injuries, the payments being based on the amount of wages earned at the time of the injury. The question is one that is earnestly discussed as to which is the fairer method of compensation, the advocates of the percentage basis contending that the wage loss may develop with passing years and that the subject of the amount of compensation should be open to revision in accordance with the changing conditions; while, on the other hand, it is claimed that there is an apparent fixed proportionate loss for which an equitable award can be made, and which should be made in every case at the time the injury is inflicted. This has the advantage at least of securing compensation to the workman who is injured on the basis of an actually proved injury without leaving the matter open to remote contingencies and the possibility of the disability arising at a time when there is no fund available from which it could be compensated or when by removal or other change of conditions it would be impossible to take any steps in the way of proof and the securing of the contemplated compensation. It may be noted that in the legislation of the year 1913 the system of providing a schedule of fixed rates for specified injuries seems to have been in favor, and furthermore, that in amendments to earlier laws such schedules were adopted in lieu of the percentage provision contained therein.

The schedules of periods of compensation adopted in the various States include generally the same items and it is possible to tabulate them so as to afford a comparison of the awards allowed by the different States for specified injuries. In most cases compensation is to continue for a fixed number of weeks, though in a few instances the term is measured by months. In order to make the latter cases comparable with the majority, the number of months indicated has been multiplied by 4 to reduce them to weeks, the nearest whole number of weeks being used. Several of the laws provide for the loss of one phalange of a finger or toe by allowing one-half the compensation that is fixed for the whole member, and the term of com

pensation has been computed in these cases, which accounts for the appearance of a number of fractions in the tables which are not evident on the face of the schedules as enacted by law. It should be borne in mind that the periods named show the time during which compensation payments at the rates fixed in the various laws continue, and do not indicate full pay for that number of weeks.

The table follows:

SCHEDULES OF COMPENSATION AWARDS FOR SPECIFIED INJURIES, VARIOUS LAWS.

1 Payments under this schedule are exclusive or in lieu of all other payments.

* Payments under this schedule are in addition to payments on account of temporary total disability. * Thereafter a pension during life.

The periods named in this column are to be reduced by any time for which payments on account of temporary total disability have been made.

• Payments during life.

Naturally, with the years of cumulative experience under the European laws, many decisions have been made on the subject of awards for injuries, and on the basis of these awards some laws have been enacted codifying this experience, while in other instances scales have been drawn up for the guidance of administrative officers of the insurance associations. Experts in administration and students of the subject have also taken up the matter and have drawn up tables embodying the experience under these laws either as a matter of selection or by elaboration and a systematic development of proposed percentages of disability. The subject seems of sufficient interest to warrant the introduction at this place of some comparative data, though it is evident that strict comparisons can not be made on account of the varying forms and provisions of the laws. The periods during which compensation is paid and the rate of its payment are to be considered in determining the liberality of a schedule as well as the rating of degree of disability for a specified injury. The fact remains, however, that on the basis of an award for total disability the European schedules have fixed certain percentages of disability as corresponding to specified forms of injury, and the American laws have likewise fixed a limit for the period of payments for total disability and for the periods for which compensation will be paid for specified injuries. While, therefore, under the European systems payment is usually continuous during life and the insurance payments begin only after the expiration of a period during which benefits are derived from other funds in many instances, a general idea of the comparative standards can, nevertheless, be derived by considering the tables for the two countries.

Since the foreign scales present degrees of disability by percentages of an estimated total disability, while the State laws make awards for specified periods, in order to make the latter comparable with the former it becomes necessary to compute the percentages for the States, using the number of weeks' payments for total disability as the base, and determining the percentage for each specific compensation period, respectively. Inasmuch as certain American laws provide for payment during life, it would be impossible to compute percentages for the temporary awards made without the introduction of the actuarial basis of expectancy, and these are therefore omitted from this comparison. It must be borne in mind also that in some cases, indicated in the foregoing table, the specific awards provided for are declared to be in lieu of all other compensation for the injuries in question, while in others they are in addition to the amounts paid during the continuance of total disability on account of the injury received, and in still others the law is silent on this point. It is obvious, therefore, that strict comparisons between the American and European scales

as thus arrived at are not possible, though a measure of value doubtless remains.

The computed table, based on the American laws, is as follows:

COMPUTED PERCENTAGES OF DISABILITY FOR SPECIFIED INJURIES, BASED ON SCHEDULES OF COMPENSATION AWARDS UNDER THE LAWS OF VARIOUS STATES.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics undertook some time ago to secure the official scales of disability (Invaliditäts-Skala) of the German associations (Berufsgenossenschaften), but obtained such a scale in only one of the three score instances in which they were supposed to exist, this being the scale of the association managing the insurance in the Bavarian woodworking industries; a number of such associations stated that the matter was in the hands of the administrative bodies, and such tables were not used. There are available, however, in the library of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Library of Congress books presenting the results of a number of studies, while the Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Workmen's Insurance and Compensation Systems in Europe, contains some material along these lines, notably the official schedule used in administering the Russian workmen's insurance law, presented at pages 2107-2111 of the report. Such data as are at hand at this time are collected in a table presented below, the list of injuries being one that was drawn up by the authors of a French work "Accidents du Travail: Guide pour l'Evaluation des Incapacites," by Imbert, Oddo, and Chavernac. The data on which this classification and rating is based are cited as from official sources, the German, French, and Austrian material being official adjudications or ratings, while the Italian law itself furnishes the rates for that country. From these four sources, and some others which the authors consider as of commanding value, the scale presented in the

first column, headed "Imbert," etc., is derived, and the four succeeding columns present the basic data contained in the work above mentioned.

Dr. Maximilian Miller published a work in 1908 on the subject of degrees of disability under the insurance legislation of Germany, "Die Erwerbsunfähigkeit und ihre Ursachen." This author presents a table based on the collective experience of a number of German insurance associations giving different rates for skilled and unskilled workmen. These rates are presented in the two columns headed "Miller" on page 44. The next column presents the data furnished by the Bavarian woodworkers' association mentioned above, while the column immediately following contains the Russian standard adopted in 1904, having been drawn up by the medical council of the Ministry of the Interior for the guidance of the physicians concerned with the administration of the workmen's insurance law of that country.

This scale and the one presented in the column headed "KönenKöln" present forms of disability not contained in the other scales, to which attention will be given in another place, the items here presented being such as correspond to the list of Imbert. The basis of the scale presented by Könen-Köln is the decisions of the German adjudicating officers. The next column, headed "Bähr," results from the consideration of the experience of important German, Swiss, and Austrian insurance associations as brought together by F. Bähr. The two last-named scales are presented in a volume, "Handbuch der Unfallerkrankungen," by Dr. C. Thiem, 1909. Dr. Thiem undertakes to draw up from the above and other data a table of his own, systematizing the degrees of disability in accordance with the various facts at hand, and the resuit of his labors is given in the last column of the table which follows: