Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-06-10


| hired help.
| RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCIDENTS.
For example. the great increase In
mechanical and manufacturing opera
| lions means a corresponding Increase
iu the number of accidents to the wage
workers employed therein. these lnclud-
ing both preventable and inevitable ao-
c!dents. TO the ordinary wage workers
! family such calamity means grim
| hardship. As the work is done for the
| employer, and therefore intimately for
the public 1t is u bitter Injustice that
] IL should be the wage worker himself
and his wife and children who bear the
whole penalty Legislation should be
| had. alike from the nation and from the
states. not only TO guard against the
needless multiplication OF these acct
| dents, but 10 relieve the financial SUI
| ferlng due to them. Last winter Con-
gress passed a safely-ap appliance law
| which marked a long stride In the right
| direction. But there should be addition
! al legislation TO secure pecuniary com
| pensation 10 worltmen suffering from
| accidents, aud when they are Killed, 10
| their families. At present both IN the
| sphere covered by national legislation
and IN the sphere covered by state leg
islation, the law In too many cases
leaves the financial burden of indus
erial accidents TO be borne by the In
| jured workmen and their families; and
IA workman who suffers from an acct
dent either has no case at all for re-
dress or else must undertake suit for
damages against his employer.
RISKS OF OCCUPATION.
The present practise is based on the
view announced nearly 10 years ago
that principles of justice and good
sense demand that workman shall
take upon himself all the ordinary
risks of HIS occupation In my view.
prime pies of justice and good sense de-
maud the very reverse of this view.
which experience has proved to be UNI
sound and productive of widespread
suffering. It Is neither just, eXpedient.
nor humane, II is revolving to judg-
ment and sentiment alike, that tho I'm
aucia burden OF accidents occurring
because Of the necessary eXigencies OF
their daily occupation should he thrust
upon those suffering who are at least
able to bear II, and that such remedy as
is theirs should only be obtained by
litigation which now burdens our
courts,
NEW DOCTRINE OF NEGLIGENCE.
As matter Of fact there is no sound
economic reason for distinction between
accidents caused by negligence and
those which are unavoidable and the
those accidents will become automatic
instead Of being a matter for a law
suit Workmen should receive certain
definite and limited compensation for
all accidents in industry, irrespective of
negligence, When the employer. the
agent of the public, on his own respon-
sibilty 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, II will ultimately he assumed, az
II ought to be, by the general public.
only in this way can tho shock of the
accident be diffused, for II VIII be
transferred from employer to consumer.
Tor whose benefit all Industries are
carried on From every standpoint the
change would he benefit The
community at large should share
the burden as well as the benefits Of in
dustry. Employers would thereby gain
desirable certainty Of obligation and
get rid Of litigation TO determine II. The
workman and the workmans family
would be relieved from crushing load,
DUTY OF CONGRESS.
The national government should be
model employer II should demand the
highest quality of service from its em-
poys and should care for them properly
In return. Congress should adopt legis-
laton providing limited but definite
compensation for accidents to all work
men within the scope of the federal
power, including employees In navy
yards and arsenals. Similar legislation
should follow throughout the states.
The old and inadequate remedy of suit
for negligence would then gradually
disappear
Such policy would mean that with
4 l.
would come increased care, and acci-
dents would be reduced in number The
temporary burden involved will not
hamper our industries. Long expert
ence of compensation laws in other
countries has demonstrated their bene-
fit What we advocate is only a sim
pie measure Of justice, only one steD
toward the goal Of securing, so far as
human wisdom can secure, fair and
equitable treatment for each and eve
ryone OF our people.
MISTAKES BY RAILROADS.
As a corollary Ia the above let me
point out the extreme unwisdom of thc
railway companies in lighting the con-
stituuonaliiy OF the national employers
liability law. No law is more en-
phatlcally needed, and It must he kept
on the statute books in drastic and
thoroughsolug form, The railroads
are prompt TO demand the interference
and TO claim the protection of the fed
eral courts In times of riot and dis
order; and IN turn the federal govern
mont should see to II hat they arc
not permitted successfully to plead
that they are under the federal law
when thereby their own rights can be
protected but outside of 1t when II t.
invoked against them IN behalf Of the
rights of others II II is proper for the
federal courts to issue injunctions it.
behalf OF railroads II Is proper that
railroads should be held to "A strict
liability Tor accidents occurring Ia
their employees, There should be the
plainest and most unequivucable add
tional statement by enactment OF Con-
gress. TO the effect that railroad en-
ployos are entitled 10 receive damages
tor any accident that comes to them
as an Incident OF the performance of
their duties, and the law should b..
such that it will be impossible for the
railroads successfully TO fight II with
out thereby FORGETTING all right to the
protection OF the federal government
under any circumstances. In the same
way there should be rigid federal legis-
lption 10 minimize all railway acct
dents
FOR \ BIG NAVY.
In closing, friends and fellow citi-
Zons Of Georgia. let me say one word
suggested by the recent ceremonies.
in which you have lust taken part, M
connection with your gift 10 the noble
battleship named after your state. Our
battleships and great armored cruisers,
our lighting craft. are named after tho
states OF our Union, and this symbol