The news & observer., 1897-02-06
The lad tciarv Commitre Favors
Change il Law.
INTERESTING ARGUMENTS
p r. LACY AND JUDGE AVERY
SPEAK FOR CHANGE.
p. r. ATTORNEYS OPPOSE 1T
England, Germany and Many States IN
This Country Rave Abolished
the Antiquated Servant

Laws.
Yesterday afternoon the House c0n1-
onf1tee ON the Judiciary considered MI
Hartness's bill to allow a railroad EN-
r,lave to 6nstit1rte action as passenger
for damages The text OF MT hart-
uess's bill is as follows
rrhe e,aner.al Assembly of North Caro-
lima do enact:
Section /. That any servant or empioye
.of any railroad company operating 4h
Hbjs State who shall suffer injury TO ms
person or the personal representative oil
anv such servant or employe who shall
have suffered death, IN the course of his
services or employment with said COM
,.onv nv tbe negligence, carelessness or
sneon,petency of any other servant EN-
plove or agent of the company OF oy
any defect in the machanery, ways OF
apnliance4s of the company shall De emu
tiai n. maintain am acton AGAINST SUCH
company. ,,.
Sec. 2. That any contract or aSneeinenl
exTessed or implied made by any elli-
pIoye of said company TO Waase ehe
heneht of the aforesaid section snail De
null and void. soo
Sec. 3. That this act shall De IN iofoe
from and after its raItIhca uSon.
Can't. w. ii. Day, attorney Tor tle
& A. t.. made the first speeeh against
;ts massage and he argued unat II was
already covered by Supreme court ~.
sjons; and that ii was wrong 10 uiscrlni-
mate against the railroads. lie olu nol
speak long, but to the point. ,,p
Can't. Day stated that 10 pass tne plh
xraa an 1,niust discrimination against the
railroads, and asked Wny not put IL uii
coranrafions. firms and co-partnershaps.
ua fnrnber stated that in most instances
employes of the railroads had a reine-
.dv but to place this law upon the statute
hooks would give opportunity for consplr-
acy between employees TO get damages.
When Mr.. SchulSen came to speak ne
ranlied to this statement showing the
fallacy of such an argument and the an
iusfiee of making this charge against
honest men.
Next Judge Whitaker arose and said
that he had not appeared for many rail-
roads as he was a high priced lawyer,
hut that the A. G. T.. had employed him,
but THAT he had not had time to careful
10 nrenare himself. lie followed very
rnt,eh Can't. Day, except he injected free
masses and the lease into ms argument,
and declared the air was full of preJu-
dice against railroads. While arguing
a4lv his side he incidentally struck a sly
hlow at railroads. The Judge also mel
dentally admitted that when III the Leg
;saf1re he rode on free passes. tDoes
that mean he appears against that Dill
flso0 He made the best speech Ior the
corporations against the demand that
tha employes of railroads all over The
country are making.
Mr.. Hartness, introducer of the bill,
and Mr.. Sculken both made able speech
es for the bill.
Among other things Mr.. Hartness said:
That the employees went ait the COM
rnand of their employers and were com
PEELED TO go forward in their duties re-
gardless of the risk. The employees We're
the intelligent operating power of the
company that produced its wealth and
made its great value. 1t was but just
and eouitible to place the risk upon the
company, it being the eontrater of the ae-
tion of the employees. Under the present
laws of North Carolina if a railroad sec
tion master and a measley calf was
caught on bridge and THE engineer
should carelessly fail to stop his train
and kill the calf and injure the employe
of the road the owner of the calf could
recover damages and the injured section
master could not. That more than ten
States have passed this law to protect
the employees of the railroads and why
should North Carolina be behind IN this
act OF humanity?
While Mr.. Cook did not arise, he gave
one or two intimations and showed
clearly and decidedly that his heart and
Judgment were with the advocates OF the
bill The chairman, Mr.. Sutton, from
Fayetteville, stated several times that ne
did not favor the bill. Mr.. Chapun
offered an amendment which was con-
sidered by both sides as rider ITO kali
the bill, it was that the law apply to
every corporation.
Mr.. Hartness asked permission for Mr..
B. II. Lacy, Commissioner of Labor, to
address the committee, and said that he
had invited him to be present Mr.. Lacy
said he began work in q railroad shop
at the age of Is, and ran an engine for
16 years. He would not presume to argue
a question with ex-judges and the ablest
lawyers the State could afford. lie
thanked Judge Whitaker for his speech,
called attention to the fact that he stood
alone; that the gentleman on the other
side were all high-paid attorneys; that
the railroad men could not appear for
themselves, and that if they did they
would lose their jobs on the very first
Dossible excuse that he knew that every
word he was saying was a nail in his
coffin as far as work on any railroad was
concerned; that when the meeting was
called to order he had advised some rail