71 8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
by stating that the number and standard of recruits from the districts where the con- sumption of alcohol is large is inferior as compared with other sections.
M. Bertillon then spoke of the work of the "National Alliance for the Increase of the French Population." He said that the society had been instrumental in obtain- ing the passage of a bill which provides that certain classes of government employe's shall receive an increase of 50 francs per annum when their families exceed two chil- dren. The extension of this plan was urged.
At this point of the discussion M. Babeau objected that the progress of the popu- lation in France was compared with the rate in other countries. The increase, he said, should rather be compared with the rate of increase in France during preceding cen- turies. M. Bertillon replied that France must be compared with other nations if her place in the march of civilization is to be rightly estimated. Fifty years ago, he said, the population of France was about equal to that of Germany. Today Germany has 56,000,000 people, and France has but 38,000,000. At the present rates of increase, within ten years Germany will be able to put into the field twice the number of soldiers France can muster. " La Population francaise en 1800 et en 1900; rapport de la premiere reunion de travail de la Socie'te' d'Economie sociale (reunion annuelle 26 Juin, 1900)," in La Reforrne sociale, December, 1900, Nos. 115, 116. H. B. W.
The Carl Zeiss Stiftung : A Public Industry and a Practical Philanthropy.
The JOURNAL has recently received from Jena, Germany, a copy of the statutes and by-laws of the Carl Zeiss Stiftung, an interesting institution of that place, a sketch of which appeared in the October, 1900, issue of McClure's Magazine. The head and originator of the organization is Professor Ernst Abbe, who !in 1883 and 1884 was aided by the Prussian government with special appropriations of money for the prosecution of experiments in the making of fine glass for scientific purposes. Out of this beginning has grown, not only a large and very important lens and glass factory, but one of the most successful and suggestive experiments on record in the organization of industry. The principle on which the enterprise is founded is that industry is primarily for public service, and not merely for private gain. The Stiftung has been in active operation for a period of over nine years and employs some 1,600 or 1,800 men. To quote from the article above referred to : "The Stiftung is unique among institutions. It is the creation of a law of which Professor Abbe was the author, and it is in the nature of a corporation under state control. To this Stiftung Professor Abbe turned over all his interest in both of the great plants at Jena, retain- ing only a directorship. A commissioner of the grand duchy visits the works every week and assists the local directors in carrying out the tenets of the law. The pur- pose of the Stiftung is twofold : first, it provides for the comfort of the personnel of the works, from the directors to the lowest apprentice boy, by means of a unique sys- tem of pensions, sick benefits, profit-sharing, and educational advantages ; secondly, it provides for large contributions toward the advancement of science. No one con- nected with the institution receives any of the private profits of ownership. Professor Abbe himself receives merely the salary of a director, which, according to the law controlling the Stiftung, can never be more than ten times the average salary of the 'standard ' workman of the shop the workman who is more than twenty-four years
of age and for more than four years in the service of the firm Professor Abbe
is entitled to a pension when he shall cease his active connection with the business, the same as every other employe". If it should be absolutely necessary to discharge a workman, he must not only be given due notice, but the Stiftung must pay him, if he has been employed for more than three years, a sum equal to his total wages for from six months to two years, according to the length of time he has been in the works. And after five years' service every workman who retires for age or invalidity receives a pension, or, should he die, his family is pensioned. In this way he is absolutely secure in his work. The Stiftung sets aside a certain definite sum from its earnings every year, and this is so invested outside of the business that it will pay all pensions and discharge advances, thus making the pension system independent of the vicis- situdes of the business, for, even though the business failed, the money would be on hand to pay old and faithful servants. Every workman is given a two-weeks' vaca- tion every year, with pay for half of it, and he is also paid in full for all holidays except Sundays. Moreover, the whole lens manufactory, with Professor Abbe at its
