Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-12-13
Accidents

come appalling. 1t Is a Sup1ect OK
which the national government should
take supervision. 1t might be well to
begin by providing for a federal In
spector Of interstate railroads some
wher along the lines of federal inspec-
ton Of steamboats,, although not going
so far; perhaps at first all that 1t
| would be necessary to have would b.
| some officers whose duty 1t would M
to investigate all accidents or interstate =
| railroads and report In detail the
causes thereof.
Employers Liability.
Congress should adopt legislation pro-
| viding limited but definite compensa-
ton for accidents to all workmen with
In the scope of the federal power, In
Guiding employees Of navy yards and
arsenals. In other words, a model m
| ployers' liability act, far reaching and
thoroughgoing. should be enacted
which should apply to all positions.
public and private, over which the ma
tional government has jurisdiction.
The law hou be made such that
the payment for accidents by the en-
ployer would be automatic instead Of
being a matter for lawsuits. Workmen
should receive certain and definite COM
pensation for all accidents in industry
irrespective Of negligence.
BY the proposed law, employers
| would rain a desirable certainty Of OBJ
~ dtloI liz Z ~ " "
determine 1t, while the workman and
| his family would be relieved from a
crushing load.
The constitutionality Of the employ
ers' liability act passed by the preced-
ing congress has been carried before
the courts. In the event that the
court should affirm the constitutional
ity Of the act, l urge further legislation
along the lines advocated in my mes
sage to the preceding congress. Since
1895 practically every OF Eu-
rope, together with Great Britain, New
Zealand, Australia, British Columbia,
and the Cape Of Good Hope has enacted
legislation ~embodying In n form or
another the complete recognition of the
principle which places upon the en-
ployer the entire trade risk in he
various lines of industry.
Eight Hour Law.
The principle Of the e~ight-hour day
should as rapidly and as far as prac-
ticable be extended to the entire work
carried on by the government: n
the present law should be amended to
embrace contracts on those public
works which the present wording Of the
act has been construed to exclude.
investigation of Industrial Disputes.
Strikes and lockouts, with their at
tendant loss and suffering, continue to-
increase. For the five years ending
December 81, 1905, the number Of strikes
was greater than those in any previous
ten years and was double the number
In the preceding five years. These fig
ures indicate the increasing need OF
providing some machinery to deal with
this class of disturbances in the inter
est alike of the employer, the employee,
and the general public. l renew my
previous recommendation that the con-
gress vor bly, consider the matter OF
creating the machinery for compulsory
investigation of such Industrial contro-
verSies as are of sufficient magnitude
and of sufficient concern to the people
of the country as a whole to warrant
the federal government in taking ac-
ton.
Employment of Women and Children.
A thorough and comprehensive meas
ure should be adopted at this session
Of the congress relating TO the employ
ment of women and children In the
District of Columbia and the terri
tories. The investigation into the
condition of women and children
wage-earnerS recently authorized and
directed by the congress is now being
carried on IN the various states, and /
recommend that the appropriation
made last year for the beginning Of this
work be renewed, in order that we may
have the thorough n comprehensive
investigation which the subject de-
mands. The national government has
as an ultimate resort for control OF
child labor the use of the interstate
clause to prevent the prod
ucts of child labor from entering into
interstate commerce.. But before using
this it ought certainly to enact model
laws on the subject for the territories
under its own immediate control.
The Really Dangerous Criminals.
Vice in its cruder and more
archaic forms shocks everybody; but
there is very urgent need that public
opinion should be just as severe in con
demnation of the vice which hides itself
behind class or professional loyalty. or
which denies that it Is vice If il can
escape conviction in the courts.
Swindling in stocks, corrupting
legislatures, making fortunes by
the imitation OF securities, by wreck
ing railroads, by destroying COM
petitors through rebates-these
forms Of wrongdoing in the cap
italist, are for more than
any ordinary form of embezzlement
or forgery; yet it is a matter of ex-
IRENE difficulty TO secure the pun
ishment Of the man most guilty OF
them, most responsible for them.
The business man who condones
such conduct stands on a level with
the labor man who deliberately sup
ports a corrupt d~emagogue and agi-
tator, whether head of a union or
head Of some municipality, because
he is said to have stood by the
union" The members of the bust
ness community. the educators, or
clergymen, who condone and en-
courage the first kind OF wrongdo-
ing, are no more dangerous to the
community, but are morally even
worse, than the labor men who are 4:
guilty OF the second type of wrong
doing, because less Is to be par {:
doned those who have nc such ex-
cuse as is furnished either by ignor- :
ance or by dire need.
Farmers and Wage Workers.
The national government, through
the department of agriculture, should
do all 1t can b. joining with the state
governments and with independent as
sociations of farmers to the
growth In the open farming country
OF u institutional and social move
ments as will meet the demand Of the
best type of farmers, both for the I'M
provement Of their farms and for the
betterment OF the life itself. The
farmer must not lose his independence,
his Initiatives his rugged self reliance,