Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 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.

| JAMESION y, y. Y, June 10
I Special. 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 Rooseyelts
! speech at the Georgia state building this
morning. He pointed out that it is a
! bitter injustice for the wage-worker or
! his family t. bear the whole penalty of
an accident which Injuries him while in
| the discharge OF his duties. The pres
cnt contributory negligence practice, the
| President declares, is based on the view
| announced seventy years ago that ''prin-
| ciples of justice and good sense demand
| that workman shall take upon himself
! all the ordinary risks Of his occupation"
| The President insisted that present con
| ditions demand the very reverse Of this.
| 1T is neither just, eXpedielt, nor hu-
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 eNigen
cieS 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.
Automatic Benefit Dispenser.
AS 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
viii become automatic instead OF Being Il
matter for Il lawsuit. N'OTkmcn should
receive q certain definite and limited COM
pensation for all accidents III industry.
irrespective OF negligence. When the en-
pIOyef, the agent OF the public, on his
own responsibility and for his own profit.
III the business OF serving the public. starts
III 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. 1t Will ultimately be assumed, as it
ought to be- by the general public. Only
III this way can the shock of the accident
| be dIffuScd. for it will be transferred
! from employer TO consumer. for whose
dement, all industries are carried on. From
every standpoint the change would be q
benCnt. The community at large should
share the burden as we'll as the benefits
OF industry. Employers would thereby
gam desirable certainty of obligation
and get rid Of litigation to determine it.
The workman and the w0rl,man's family
SHoulo DG renewed from a crushing load"
Accidents Would Disappear.
Such an arrangement, the President
argues, would reduce the number of acci-
ueHtS, DIS 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 la
blllty act He insists that no law is more
emphatically needed and 1t must be
kept on the statute books in drastic and
thCrou&h-&ClHS form.
MuSt Row tn EaGnroI D7,Ie
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
i'll 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. it is
proper that railroads should be held to a
strict liability iUr accidents occurring to
their employees There should be the
piaiuest and most unequiyUcal additional
statement, by enactment Of Congress- to
the effect that railroad employees are en-
tiJlcd to receive damages for any acct
dent that comes to them as an incident
81 the performance of their duties and
the law should be such that il will he
impossible iOr the railroads successfully
to fight it without thereby FORGETTING all
right 10 the protection Of the federal
government under any circumstances. In
the same way there should be rigid fed
eraI legislation to minimize all railroad
accidents.