One form of government supervision that has been specially commended in other countries is the German service book. This represents the most complete safeguard that has been devised to protect employers from imposition on the one hand and, on the other, to assist employees in securing places. Every person before going into domestic service must obtain from the police one of these books. A blank page is filled out by the police, giving a description of the person about to enter service. When the first engagement is made, the name of the employer and the date of beginning service are entered in the book and it receives the official stamp. When an employee leaves a place, the date with the reason for leaving and a statement in regard to the character and efficiency of the servant must be entered in the book by the employer and the book then returned to the police. No domestic employee can secure a position in Germany without one of these service books—it is a passport that must be viséd by the government officials and previous employers before he can enter or leave a position, and no passport regulations in any country are more stringent than are these service-book requirements in Germany. It would seem, therefore, that this public statement concerning an employee and the official recognition of it by the police authorities ought to be an unimpeachable recommendation. That this is not the case, however, seems to be the all but universal testimony. The service book is of value in weeding out inefficient employees, whose inefficiency, however, would often be self-evident without the aid of a service book. It is not only true that in this, as in every other form of recommendation, the mistress is anxious to say the best thing possible for a maid to help her in securing another place, but the law compels an employer to go still farther and to say nothing that will prevent an employee from finding employment. If an employer suspects the honesty of an employee, he is not free to state that suspicion in the service book; if he has positive proof of his dishonesty, he must enter legal complaint against the employee; if he has no such evidence, he must not even hint at his suspicions. Moreover, the law goes yet one step farther and compels every employer to believe an employee innocent in every respect until he is proved guilty. Not only is he not free to say that he suspects the honesty of an employee, or to leave out the word “honest,” but he must state positively that the employee _is_ honest.[343] This policy is justified on the ground that it is a necessary protection to the weaker class, but it of necessity impairs the absolute reliability of the testimonials given, and it lessens materially the value of the service book as far as it concerns the employer. Even in Germany with the aid of the strong arm of the law it seems as impossible as it is in other countries to devise any system of recommendations that will tell