The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-03-08
/ WORK OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE. ]
FELLOW SERVANT
BILL CAUSES DEBATE
Its Friends Call 1t Humanitari-
ants Opponents a Law.
yer's Measure

It is probable that the Selb fellow
servant bill will be amended before
final action is taken on the measure
by the labor committees of the legis-
lature. 1t developed at a joint meet
ing of the committee yesterday that
the Selb bill is defective in some par
ticulars, but with amendments to be
suggested it is not improbable that the
bill will be recommended to pass. Inc
house committee named a subcommit-
tee consisting of ]. G. Lennon, Frank
Haskell and Harry Skinner, TO confer
with the labor people and the manu-
zfacturers who appeared to oppose the
bill in an effort to draft bill which
will be mutually satisfactory.
T. D. O'Brien and Ambrose Tighe APP
peared as the bills chief opponents.
but both admitted that it was some
what loosely drawn. 1t was suggested
that il be divided into two bills, one
extending the abrogation of the fellow
servant law from railroads, to which
it is now confined, to street car lines,
sewer and other excavations, telegraph
and-telephone lines, mines, canals, the
use of steam derricks and steam
shoVels building operations and the
use of explosives. The second bill.
which is made a second section in the
original BILL aims to put the burden
of proof of knowledge of defect in ma
chinery given the empIoye for his use
upon the employer. This will be
made a separate bill if suggestions
made at the hearing are carried out.
Says Bill Is Humanitarian
Mr.. O'Brien spoke strongly for the
bill on humanitarian lines and said
that it was a step forward. 1t was in
tended to cover only extra hazardous
employment 1t was not to abolish the
fellow servant law, but to extend its
classifications, he said. Both he and
Mr.. Tighe, who followed him, spoke
fervently of the injustice of applying
the law to railroads and not applying
it to street railway companies. Cases
were cited where the burden of injury
had been borne by an employe from
mistakes of a fellow employee that We're
real hardships.
Nothing but the absurd conserva-
tism of Minnesota declared Mr..
Tighe, has prevented the state having
law such as is proposed by the bill.
That the state is in this position,
where the employe bears the burden,
is due to the stupid persistence of the
courts in not applying modern ideas
development. 1t will not hurt the en-
ployer and will benefit the employee"
George S. Gillette of Minneapolis,
former member of the house, a large
employer of labor, made an extended
argument against the bill. 1T is n
lawyers bill on one side and a bust
ness mans on the other" he said
~ GU all know the contingent fee at
torney; you have seen him following
the ambulance as it bears away an in
jured employee"
Mr.. Gillette cited the law of Mime
sofa as applying in nearly all the
states of the union and compared the
record TO Colorado, which alone has
the law contemplated by the Selb bill.
He insisted that the bill contemplated
the Sinking by the employee of his just
liability and would impose a hardship
on the manufacturing interests of the
state. He said without similar laws in
other states the enactment of the SeIb
Dill in Minnesota would make competi-
ton difficult among manufacturers.
He urged that the bill opened the door
for fraud as between employees and
against the employer, and warned or
ganfzed labor that it was going too far
when it attempted to inject the pro-
posed law into the statutes of the
state.