while 157 made no report on this point. One hundred and forty-six reported that they had arrangements with outside hospitals; in 754 establishments (74.1 per cent) the choice of physician is allowed, with or without certain restrictions, by the person injured or his family or friends, and of this number 604 establishments (80.1 per cent) pay the physician. The returns indicated that first-aid outfits were in use in 354 (42.4 per cent) of the establishments giving information on this point.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS AND COMPENSATION INSURANCE COST OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS.

The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions was organized "to bring into closer relation with one another the various boards and commissions administering compensation laws of the United States, and to effect so far as possible uniformity of legislation and administration of such laws and to encourage and give effect to all measures looking toward the prevention of accidents and the safeguarding of plants and machinery." At the meeting held in Chicago on January 12 and 13, 1915, the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost was created and commissioned to prepare: (1) Uniform tables for the establishment of compensation costs; (2) uniform classification of industries; (3) uniform classification of causes of injuries; (4) uniform classification of nature of injuries. The first report of the committee,1 embracing a preliminary grouping of industries, was approved by the association at its meeting held at Seattle, September 30 to October 2, 1915, and a second report, which was submitted at the third annual meeting of the association held at Columbus, April 25 to 28, 1916, has just been published as Bulletin 201 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.2 This report is signed by the members of the committee, who were as follows:

E. H. Downey, chairman, special deputy, Pennsylvania insurance department, Harrisburg, Pa.

Royal Meeker, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Washington, D. C.

Robert K. Orr, manager State accident fund, Lansing, Mich.

W. N. Magoun, general manager Pennsylvania compensation rating and inspection bureau, Philadelphia, Pa.

1 The first report of the committee was printed in full in the November, 1915, issue of the MONTHLY REVIEW, pp. 28-37.

2 Report of committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. United States Bureau 128 pp. of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 201. Washington, 1916.

H. E. Ryan, associate actuary, State insurance department, New York City.

Floyd L. Daggett, chairman, industrial insurance commission, Olympia, Wash.

Fred C. Croxton, chief statistician, industrial commission, Columbus, Ohio.

L. W. Hatch, chief statistician, industrial commission, Albany, N. Y.

E. E. Watson, actuary, industrial commission, Columbus, Ohio. In its work the committee had the benefit of the cooperation of the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America and the Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau. This latter organization has done much to bring about uniform classification of industries, and the original classification issued by it was taken as the basis by the committee in working out a classification of industrial processes.

The work of the committee was guided by the accepted principle that statistics of industrial accidents should serve for accident prevention, for the due administration and intelligent revision of workmen's compensation laws, and for the computation of compensation insurance rates. To this end the committee recommends that accident statistics be analyzed by industries, by cause of accident, and by nature and location of injury, and the extent of disability, and cross analyzed so as to show the correlation of each of these sets of facts with each other.

After the approval of the first report of the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost by the association in its annual meeting at Seattle, in 1915, there remained for the committee the preparation of the final subdivisions of classifications under each of the various industry groups, the preparation of classifications of causes of accidents and of nature of injuries and the drafting of uniform tables for the presentation of accident and compensation statistics. All of these subjects, except the drafting of uniform tables, in which the committee is now engaged, are covered in the report under review.

It is believed that these classifications, necessarily the result of compromise, will serve the most important needs of industrial accident statistics. They are the fruit of much thought and discussion by experienced statisticians. They have made use of whatever was best and applicable to American conditions in the official classifications of the United States and Europe. All are designed to admit of contraction or expansion according to the varied needs and facilities of the different administrative boards.

The industry classifications are presented under seven principal divisions or primary headings, including (A) Agriculture, (B) Mining and quarrying, (C) Manufacturing, (D) Construction, (E) Transportation and public utilities, (F) Trade, (G) Service. The 7 divisions are divided into 43 schedules, these secondary headings explaining the details into which the primary headings are separated. For example, the primary heading "Manufacturing" is divided into 18 schedules, such as lumber and wood, leather, textiles, chemicals, paper, etc. The group headings, of which there are 272, are the most important in the series, and show a refinement of the secondary headings. Each group heading is intended to be significant of the industries covered under it. The final subdivision consists of the classifications of industries appearing in the manuals used by insurance companies in connection with their writing of workmen's compensation insurance. These final subdivisions are of special value to industrial accident boards and commissions, serving as an index to show what industries are intended to be covered by the respective groups. Opposite each industrial process is printed the Workmen's Compensation Manual code number given to that process in the manual, in order to facilitate the work of translation and comparison of accident statistics recorded under the classification of the Committee on Statistics and Compensation Insurance Cost with those of the Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau, since it was impossible for the latter to make this classification conform exactly with the classification adopted by the committee.

The whole purpose of a classification of accidents by causes is accident prevention. The committee recommends that for the sake of uniformity accidents be assigned to the proximate cause, namely, "to that condition or circumstance the absence of which would have prevented the accident; but if there be more than one such condition or circumstance, then to the one most easily prevented."

The causes of accidents have been grouped into 12 divisions, as follows: I. Machinery; II. Boilers and steam-pressure apparatus; III. Vehicles; IV. Explosives, electricity, fires, and hot and corrosive substances; V. Poisonous substances; VI. Falls of persons; VII. Stepping on or striking against objects; VIII. Falling objects; IX. Objects being handled; X. Hand tools; XI. Animals; XII. Miscellaneous causes. These, again, have been subdivided into general classes. Machinery, for instance, is divided into prime movers, power-transmission apparatus, power-working machinery, hoisting apparatus and conveyors, and miscellaneous machinery. A detailed analysis of machine accidents by manner of occurrence and by part of machine on which the accident occurred is recommended. Inas

much as experience has shown that both in the United States and abroad machinery of all descriptions accounts for not more than one-fourth of the industrial accidents, the committee gives considerable attention to nonmachine accidents.

The committee has recommended four classifications of accidental injuries, as distinguished from the accidents themselves, namely, the location of injury or part of body injured, the nature of injury, the extent of disability, and, as a subdivision of the last, the degree of partial disability. In assignment of the location of injury, the committee has followed the common anatomical divisions, beginning with the head and ending with the feet. Special provision has been made for injuries involving two or more parts. The nature of injury classification is confined to the injuries sustained at the time of the accident, and is designated by popular rather than technical medical terms. Special provision is recommended for infections, so that the infection shall be correlated with the nature of injury and also with the extent of disability. With respect to extent of disability, injuries are divided into the generally recognized classes of fatalities, permanent total disabilities, permanent partial disabilities, temporary total disabilities, and temporary partial disabilities. Permanent disabilities are further divided into dismemberment and others. The report includes appendixes briefly setting forth the resolutions in regard to accident and workmen's compensation adopted by the National Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions at Chicago, January 12 and 13, 1915; resolutions adopted at the joint conference on standardization of accident reports and tabulations, held at Chicago, October 12 and 13, 1914; and definitions of injuries and methods of tabulating the various kinds of injuries and compensation payments in use by the Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau.

The report includes a comprehensive and exhaustive index with cross references to facilitate the work of finding a desired classification.

PREVENTION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS.

The safety movement is in a state of constant evolution. As new machinery is devised and new methods are adopted to meet the demands of an era of unparalleled industrial progress accident hazards are multiplied and the necessity for protecting the men who toil presents a problem of considerable magnitude which must be met adequately and conclusively if industry is to be freed of the large proportion of the preventable accidents which have heretofore been charged against it. To this end the safety-first movement has

in recent years been developed along practical lines; studies have been made by industrial engineers, safety inspectors, and others familiar with the problems to be met; safety rules and regulations covering processes and occupations in various types of establishments have been formulated, machinery has been guarded, and attention has been given to proper sanitation, lighting, heating, ventilation, welfare work, hospital and first-aid equipment, and to other factors vitally necessary to an efficient working force.

In furtherance of this safety first or accident prevention campaign, two books have been recently issued, one entitled "Practical Safety Methods and Devices" and the other "Industrial Accident Prevention," each of which seeks to present an authorative statement of accident prevention methods proved by actual experience to be effective and practical. Although not particularly the aim of the author, the first book perhaps more than the second appeals to the layman who is interested in the study of safety methods and their adaptation to specific industries. There are many illustrations. The other book is particularly useful to the employer, engineer, superintendent, and foreman who is not only looking for practical workable methods but who seeks definite and detailed suggestions for putting them into actual use. It is illustrated with over 650 photographs and diagrams. Accident prevention, it is stated, is now receiving considerable attention in this country and it has been demonstrated by employers, safety engineers, and accident indemnity companies that it is practicable, profitable, and humane to prevent a very large proportion of such accidents. The volume on "Practical Safety Methods and Devices" has been prepared to provide employers, superintendents, foremen, underwriters, safety inspectors, and engineers generally a convenient descriptive and illustrative summary of standard safety methods and devices as developed and perfected by those who have specialized in the subject of accident prevention. It is the result of observation made in hundreds of mills and manufacturing establishments, in building and construction work, railroad operation, handling explosives, and mining. It is not an exhaustive study, but aims to present general principles in such a manner as to be useful in special and exceptional applications not specifically described.

The author points out that safety engineering has become a well established profession; that safety is essential to efficiency; that education is the keynote to universal safety, emphasizing the fact that the public school is the logical starting point for this educational cam

1 Practical Safety Methods and Devices; Manufacturing and Engineering, by George Alvin Cowee. New York, Van Nostrand Co., 1916. 464 pp. Illustrated. $3, net.

2 Industrial Accident Prevention, by David Stewart Beyer. New York and Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916. 421 pp. Illustrated. $10, net.