The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-12-09

made mr. . liberal than IN tho present
act ,car'S compensate rs not ndc-
dUutc tu" a Wage-ea rner'S tg mily VA the
even; OF his death hy accident IN the
course ~ his employment, And In the
event ~ death occurring, say, ten or
eleven months after the accident the
family would only receive as Compcn-
satiou the equivalent Of one or two
months earnings In this respect the
gepcrt ty of the United states towards
IT'S employees compares most mfaVora-
hy with that of every country In Eu-
ropc--cvcn the poorest
Tho terms or tho act are also a hard
shin In prohibiting pJymtnt IN cases
wherc Toe Het d.ut W. w any way dar
70 the negligence OF the employe. II is
inevitable that daily familiarity with
DANGER win lead men to take chances
that can be construed into negligence.
50 Well is this recognized that in prac-
tically an countries in the civilized
world except the United states. only
great degree Of negligence acts MS a
bar 70 securing compensation. Proba-
bly, IN no other respect is our legsla-
ton, both state and nauonal. so far be-
hind practically the entire civilized
world as in the matter Of liability and
compensation for accidents in industry
II is humiliating that al European in
ternatiunll congresses on accidents the
United states should he singled out as
the most belated among the nations in
respect to employers liability legisla-
ton, This government is itself large
employer Of labor and In its dealings
with its employees II should set q stan
dard in this country which would place
II on n par with the most progressive
countries IN Europe, The laws Of the
United states in this respect and tho
laws Of European countries have been
summarized in q recent bulletin Of the
bureau Of labor ana no American who
reads this summary can fail 20 be
struck by the great contrast between
our practices and thcirs--n contrast not
n any sense to our credit
Law for District OF Columbia.
The congress should without further
delay pass q model employers liability
law for the District Of Columbia The
employers liability act recently de
clared unconstitutional on account of
apparently including in its provisions
employees engaged in ntrastate COM
merco rs Well as those cnEag ed I'm i'm
terstate commerce has been held by the
local courts 20 he stili I'D effect so FAR
as its provisions apply to the District
Of Columbia. There should be no M
blguity on this point II there Is any
doubt on the subject the law should he
ra-eractsd with special reference TO the
District of Columbia This act how
ever apniics only 10 employees Of COM
mon carriers. In all other occupations
the liability law Of the district is Tire
old common law. The severity and in
Justice Of the common law in tbs mat
ter has been in some degree or another
modified in the maioritr of our states,
and the only jurisdiction under thr OK
elusive control Of the courres- &lDuld
he ahead and not behind the states OF
the union IN this respect coWprc-
honsive employers liability law should
he passed Tor the District Of Columbia,
renew my recommendation made IN
previous message that haif-hniid1 rs
he granted durgE summer IN all wage
workers iH government empiny
also renew nv r5commoadstIon that
the principle Of the cight-hour d"V
SHOULD as rapidly and as far as prartI-
cable ne extended 70 the entire work
being carried on by tile gof ernment
the present law should be- amended 10
embrace contracts on those public
works which the present wording OF
the act seems To exclude.