Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-06-14
DAMAGES FOR ALL
INJURED WORkMEN.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SAYS HURT
WAGE-WORKERS SHOULD BE
COMPENSATED.
MUSTIGNORE NEGLIGENCE
1t Should Not Be Necessary for Injured
Employees to Go to Law
for Aid.

JAMESTOWN, n. Y, June TO-
Especial. THAT injured wage-workers
should be amply compensated by en-
ployers for injuries received while at
work, no matter whether negligent or not,
was the keynote of President Rooseyelt's
speech at the Georgia state building this
morning. He pointed out that it is
bitter injustice for the wage-worker or
his family tt bear the whole penalty of
an accident which Injuries him while ia
the discharge of his duties. The pres
ent contributory negligence practice, the
President declares, is based on the view
announced seventy years ago that prln-
ciples of justice and good sense demand
that a workman shall take upon himself
all the ordinary risks of his occupation
The President insisted that present con-
ditions demand the very reverse OF TINS.
1T is neither just, eXpedient nor hui
NAME" said Mr.. Roosevelt; 1T IS re-
voting to judgment and sentiment alike
that the financial burden of accidents ac-
cruing because of the necessary eXlgen-
ces of their daily occupation should be
thrust upon those sufferers who are least
able to bear it, and that such remedy as
theirs should only be obtained by liti-
cation which now burdens our courts.
Gas matter of fact there is no sound
economic reason for distinction between
accidents by negligence and those which
are unavoidable, and the law should be
such that the payment of those accidents
will become automatic instead of being
matter for a lawsuit. Workmen should
receive a certain definite and limited COM
pensatiOn for all accidents in industry,
irrespective of negligence. When the en-
nj h1 Of hn nI1lN &c
own responsibility and for his own profit,
in the business of serving the public, starts
in motion agencies which create risks for
others, he should take all, the ordinary
and extraordinary risks involved; and
though the burden will at the moment be
his, it will ultimately be assumed, as it
ought to be, by the general public. Only
in this way can the shock of the accident
be diffused, for it will be transferred
from employer to consumer, for whose
benefit all industries are carried on. From
every standpoint the change would be a
benefit, The community at large should
share the burden as well as the benefits
of industry. Employers would thereby
gain desirable certainty of obligation
and get rid of litigation to determine it,
The workman and the workman's family
should be relieved from a crushing load"
Accidents Would Disappear.
Such an arrangement, the President
argues, would reduce the number of acct
dents, as with increased responsibility of
employers would come increased care He
advocates federal and state laws to this
end.
He declares that the railroads show
little wisdom in fighting the constitu-
tionality of the national employers liza
bility act. He insists that no law is more
emphatically needed and lit must be
kept on the statute books in drastic and
thorough going form"
Must Bow to Federal Rule.
The railroads are prompt to demand
the interference and to claim the protec-
ton of the federal courts in times of riot
and disorder" said Col. Roosevelt, land
in turn the federal government should
see to it that they are not permitted sue
cessfully to plead that they are under the
federal law when thereby their own
rights can be protected, but outside of
it when it is invoked against them in
behalf of the rights of others. If it is
proper for the federal courts to issue in
functions in behalf of railroads, 1t is
proper that railroads should be held to a
strict liability for accidents occurring to
their employees. There should be the
plainest and most uneQuivocal additional
statement, by enactment of Congress, to
the effect that railroad employees are ell
titled to receive damages for any acct
dent that comes to them as an incident
of the performance of their duties, and
the law should be such that it will be
impossible for the railroads successfully
to fight it without thereby FORGETTING all
right to the protection of the federal
government under any CIRCUMSTANCES. IN
the same way there should be rigid fed
eral legislation to minimize all railroad
accidents"