The law adopted by the German Reichstag on the 23rd of May 1889 for insurance against invalidity and old age must demand careful attention as one of the most daring social and economic experiments in modern history.

Its many varied aspects solicit and repay the sedulous thought of the philosopher, as a contribution to one of the deepest problems in the evolution of man: of the statesman, as a signal tentative experiment in the compacting of a nation into an intimate and interdependent unity: of the economist, as a bold departure from principles of social condition which had generally prevailed, and as a practical criticism upon the doctrine of laissez faire: of the historian, as a problem in the mode of development of nations: of the moralist, as a contribution to practical social ethics: and of the actuary, as affording him a question which peculiarly is fitted to engage the disciplined thought and experience in which he has been trained.