Article November 30, 1918 Issue

To the American worker the dangers and fallacies of...

Walter H. Van Zwoll

Rockford (Ill.) Republic

To the American worker the dangers and fallacies of compulsory health insurance are becoming apparent. Originated by Bismarck as a bribe to the workingman and clearly planned to make him more subservient to the power of a central autocratic government, such a scheme should be attractive to no one.

It is evident to many that compulsory social insurance does not diminish sickness or reduce poverty. Its logical results, moreover, would be to weaken individual character by taking away self-reliance and responsibility. Malingering, carelessness, and dishonesty would be encouraged by such a system. Men who are now competent in their line would be discarded as incompetent defectives. Wage earners would find themselves classed as a mere group, a sort of human stock farm, whose homes would be subject to invasion by inquisitive political inspectors and investigators. They would be told by a politician what doctor they must employ and would be forced to pay for an insurance whether they wanted it or not. Government regulations would provide the manner and place in which the workman and his family must eat, sleep, play, work, and live.

Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman has demonstrated that while the German people were assured, as we in America have been, that compulsory insurance prolonged life to an unusual degree, the actual gain in longevity in Germany was considerably less than that in New York city for a stated period.

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