The previous speaker called the bill defective, because the principle of relieving the laborer from all contributions had not been consistently followed; and he spoke as if this principle had not been at all followed.  Laborers, receiving more than 750 marks in three hundred working days, are, it is true, not affected by it; and this is due to the origin of the bill.  The first draft read that one-third of the contributions should be made by those county associations which would have to support the injured man in conformity with the poor-laws of the State.  We did not wish merely to make a gift to these associations, which at present are responsible for 80 per cent. of all injured working-men, that is for those who do not come under the law of liability.  We, therefore, accepted as just the proposition that these associations should pay one-third toward the insurance of those men who formerly would have become their charges.  Laborers, however, whose pay is large enough to keep them from becoming public charges, when they meet with an accident, hold an exceptional position.  I am, nevertheless, perfectly willing to drop this exception in the bill, as I have said repeatedly.  But since the Reichstag in its entirety has thus far placed itself on record as opposed to any contribution from the State, I should not gain thereby any votes for the bill.  I wish to declare, however, that this limit of 750 marks is of no consequence compared with the theory on which the bill is based.  It arose from a sense of justice toward the county associations, which were not to be burdened with higher taxes than would equal their savings under this bill.  Later it was discovered from many actual examples that the insurance according to the existing county associations was impossible, because the State, which really is responsible for the care of the poor, had distributed it in an arbitrary and unjust way on the various county associations.  Small and weak country communities are often overburdened with the care of poor people, while large and wealthy communities may have practically no charges, since the geographical position alone has determined the membership in the various county associations.  The result, therefore, of levying the necessary contributions on these associations would have been a very uneven distribution of the assessments.  Being convinced of this, I suggested the substitution of “provincial association” for “county association”; and thus the bill read for several weeks, until we yielded to the wishes of the allied states and of the Economic Council, and left to each state the question whether it wished to take the place of these various associations or preferred to call upon them in any way it chose.  These are the steps by which we reached the 750 mark exemption, and the unconditional share which is to be paid by the State.  This share is nothing but a hint to the legislature how to distribute the care of the poor to the various county—­and other associations.  Whatever is done, you will agree with me that we need a revision of our poor-laws.  Just how this will eventually be accomplished is immaterial to me.