Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-04
EMPLOYERS LIABILITY

"The national government should be a,
model employer. 1t should demand the
highest quality of service from each of
its employees and it should care for all
of them properly in return. Congress
should adopt legislation providing lin
tied but definite compensation for acci-
dents to all workmen within the scope
or the federal power including employees
OF navy yards and arsenals. In other
words, model employers liability act,
far-reaching and thoroughgoing should
be enacted which should apply to all
positions, public and private, over which
the national government has jurisdiction
THE number of accidents to wage
workers, including those that are pre-.
ventable and those that are not, has
become appalling in the mechanical,
manufacturing and transportation
operations of the day. 1t works grim
hardship to the ordinary wage worker
and his family to have the effect of
such an accident fall solely upon him;
and, on the other hand, there are
--hole classes of attorneys who exist
only by melting men who may or may
not have been wronged to undertake
suits for negligence. AS a matter of
fact suit for negligence is generally
an inadequate remedy for the person
injured, while it often causes alto
gether disproportionate annoyance to
the employer. The law should be
made such that the payment for acci-
dents by the employer would be auto
matte instead of being a matter for
law suits. >.4-
"Workmen should receive certain
and definite compensation for all acci-
dents in industry irrespective of negli-
gence.
Serves Public
NFTba &c hn af
public and on his own responsibility
and for his own profit he serves the
public. When he starts in motion
agencies which create risks for others.
he should take all the ordinary and
extraordinary risks involved; and the
risk he thus at the moment assumes
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, instead of falling upon the
man or woman least able to bear it, as
is now the case. The community at
large should share the burders as well
as the benefits of industry. BY the
proposed law, employers would gain a
desirable certainly of obligation and
get rid of litigation to determine it,
while the workman and his family
would be relieved from a crushing load.
with such policy would come in
creased care and accidents would be
reduced in number. The national laws
providing for employers liability on
railroads engaged in interstate COM
merce and for safety appliances, as
well as for diminishing the hours any
emp1oye of railroad should be per-
mitted to work, should all be strength
ened wherever in actual practice they
have shown weakness; they should be
kept on the statute books in thorough
going form.
"The constitutionality of the en-
ployers' liability act passed by the pre-
ceding congress has been carried be-
fore the courts. In two jurisdictions
the law has been declared unconstitu-
tional and in three jurisdictions its
constitutionality has been affirmed.
The question has been carried to the
supreme court, the case has been heard
by that tribunal, and decision is ex-
pected at an early date. In the event
that the court should affirm the con-
stitutionality of the act, urge further
legislation along the lines advocated
in my message to the preceding con-
gress.
"The practice of putting the entire
burden of loss to life or limb upon the
victim or the victims family is a form
of social Injustice in which the United
States stands in unenviable promi-
nence. In both our federal and our
state legislation we have. with rev
exceptions, scarcely gone farther than
the repeal of the fellow-servant prin-
ciple of the old law of ability, and in
some of our states even this slight
modification of complete outgrown
principle has not yet been secured.
''The legislation of the rest of the in
dustrial world stands out in striking
contrast to our backwardness in this
respect. Since 1895 practically every
country of Europe, together with
Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia.
British Columbia and the Cape of Good
Hope has enacted legislation embody-
i-g in one form or another the COM
plete recognition Of the principle which
places upon the employer the entire
trade risk in the various lines of in
dustry. I urge upon the congress the
enactment of law which will at the
same time bring federal legislation up
to the standard already established by
all the European countries, and which
will serve as stimulus to the various
states to perfect their legislation In
this regard.
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