Henry Seager's 1910 Book on Social Insurance

In 1910, Columbia University Professor of Political Economy, Henry Rogers Seager, published one of the first American books on social insurance. This work, "Social Insurance: A Program of Social Reform" is both a classic and an early exposition of the philosophical movement for social insurance in America. The philosophy expressed by Seager would be the same general viewpoint favored by many of the founders of Social Security in America. Seager's books expresses the thinking of Americans toward this new idea of social insurance which had in origins in Europe at the end of the 19th century.

We are republishing Seager's book here in its entirety.

Note: This document is in Adobe PDF format.

Title Pages and Table of Contents (3 pgs./48k pdf file)

Chapter I. The Common Welfare (23 pgs./1,380kb pdf file)

Chapter II. Industrial Accidents, Illness, and Premature Death: Prevention (29 pgs./1,445kb pdf file)

Chapter III. Industrial Accidents, Illness, and Premature Death: Compensation (31 pgs./1,536kb pdf file)

Chapter IV. Unemployment: Causes and Remedies (31 pgs./1,527kb pdf file)

Chapter V. Provision for Old Age (31 pgs./1,591kb pdf file)

Chapter VI. Next Steps in Social Advance (31 pgs./1,543kb pdf file)