Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-12-03

each Of its employees, and 1t should
care for all of them properly in re-
turn. Congress should adopt legisla-
ton providing limited but definite
compensation for accidents to all
workmen within the scope of the fed
eral 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 wageworkers. including those that
are preventable and those that are
not, has become appalling in the me-
chanical, manufacturing and transpor-
tation operations of the day. 1t works
grim hardship to the ordinary wage
worker and his family to have the eff
feet OF such an accident fall solely up
on him, and, on the other hand, there
are whole classes of attorneys who eX-
list only by melting men who may or
! may not have been wronged to under
take suits for negligence. AS matter
OF fact, suit fer negligence Is gen.
orally an inadequate remedy for the
person injured, while 1t often causes
altogether disproportionate annoyance
to the employer. The law should be
made such that the payment for acct
| dents by the employer would be auto
| matte instead of being a matter for
| lawsuits. Workmen should receive
| certain and definite compensation for
all accidents in industry irrespective
| of negligence. The employer is the
| agent of the 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 as
SumeS will ultimately lie assumed, as
it ought to be, by the general public.
J 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 com
munity at large should share the bur
denS as well as the benefits of indus
try. By the proposed law employers
|
obligation and get rid of litigation to
determine it, while the workman and
his family would De relieved from Il
! crushing load. With such Il policy
would come increased care. and acct
dents would be reduced in number. The
national laws providing for employers
| liability on railroads engaged in inter
| state commerce and for safety appli-
ances, as well as for diminishing the
hours any employee of n railroad
| should be permitted to work, should
all be strengthened wherever in actual
practice they have shown weakness.
They should be kept on the statute
books in thoroughgoing form.
The constitutionality of the employ
ers' liability act passed by the preced-
ing congress has been carried before
the courts. In two Jurisdictions the
law<has been declared unconstitution-
al. and in three jurisdictions its con-
stitutionality has been affirmed. The
question has been carried to the SUI
preme court, the case has been heard
by that tribunal, and a decision is eX-
pected at an early date. In the event
that the court should affirm the consti-
tutionality of the act l urge further
legislation along the lines advocated
in my message to the preceding con
gress. The practice of putting the en-
tire 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
prominence. In both our federal and
our state legislation we have, with few
exceptions, scarcely gone further than
the repeal of the fellow servant prin
ciple of the old law of liability, and in
some of our states even this slight
, modification of a completely outgrowr
principle has not yet been secured
The legislation of the rest of the indus
trial world stands out in striking con
, trast to our backwardness in this re
spect. Since 1895 practically ever!
country of Europe, together with Grea
Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Brit
| ish Columbia and the Cape of Coco
| Hope, has enacted legislation embody
| ing in one form or another the com
plete recognition of the principle which
places upon the employer the entir,
, trade risk in the various lines of in
t dustry. 1 urge upon the congress tn,
! enactment of a law which will at tn,
3 same time bring federal legislation III
, to the standard already established b.
: all the European countries and which
S will serve as a stimulus to the various
Z. states to perfect their legislation il
this regard.
: Eight Hour Law.
The congress should consider the ex
tension of the eight hour law. The con
stitutionality of the present law ba
recently been called into question, an,
{ the supreme court has decided that tn
: existing legislation Is unquestionabl
within the powers of the congress
The principle of the eight hour da
should as rapidly and as far as praC
II ticable be extended to the entire wor
carried on by the government, and th
present law should be amended to en-
i brace contracts on those public work
4 | which tho nrosaOt wordinp nf tho or