judicial decisions shall we be able to work out toward consistency in this matter.  Another unfortunate result of this difference is that accident compensation, being made peculiarly the task of the employers, does not develop the spirit of responsibility on the part of the workers and of cooeperation between them and employers that other forms of insurance call forth, where representatives of both parties sit together in the administration of the system.

Sec. 15. #The compulsory principle#.  Insurance must be general in its application to all the persons within broad wage-earning classes, and in order to be general it must necessarily be compulsory, not voluntary, in its application.  To leave any form of insurance optional, or elective, with either employers or wage-workers, is to fail of the main purpose in a large proportion of the individual cases where it is most needed, and to increase the expense to those that are included.  Within a compulsory system, however, there should be given wide opportunity for the voluntary principle by admitting to the system others that are not compelled to insure, and to enable any insured person to increase his paid-up, nonforfeitable insurance at any time by extra payments made at times of unusually high wages, from legacies, or from any other exceptional income.

Sec. 16. #State insurance and a unified system#.  The state, through the public insurance office, must ultimately be the sole agency for insurance.  Only in this way can the maximum of simplicity and economy be attained.  Of course, this calls for a better appreciation of expert training, and a broader sentiment in favor of the merit system in the public service than we yet have in America.

There should be a unification of various kinds of insurance in one general plan and under one general administration for the whole state.  This should be done with full regard to the actuarial differences in costs as among various kinds of insurance, various trades, various establishments, and, to some extent, even the various individuals, so as to ascertain the costs and to distribute them equitably.

Only in this way can provision be made for entire mobility of labor, so that men may not be bound, as a condition for obtaining benefits, to continue in the service of any one employer.  To this end there should be interstate comity and cooeperation, so that the insured could at any time transfer his actuarial equity from one state to another.

Sec. 17. #The contributory principle#.  The contributory principle should be adopted, and both employers and wage-earners contribute to the cost in equal amounts.  But further, the general public interests may be recognized through the payments in aid of the funds (subsidies, subventions).  Both employers and employees usually seek to escape the burden, by getting the state to bear the whole expense[5] or by getting the other party to pay all or the larger part.  But it is