Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-12-10
good and they often do harm to those
who inherit them in their entirety.
Prote ction for Waneuorke

good and they often do harm to those
who inherit them in their entirety.
Protection for Wageworkers.
The above is the merest sketch hard
s1yS even sketch in outline, of the re-
forms for which we should work But
there is one matter with which the
congress should deal at this session
There should no longer be any palter-
ing with the question Of taking care Of
the wageworkers who, under our pres
emit industrial system, become killed,
crippled, or worn out as part Of the
regular incidents of a given business
The majority Of wageworkers must
have their rights secured for them by
state action; but the national govern
ment should legislate in thoroughgoing
and far-reaching fashion not only for
all employees Of the national govern
ment, but for all persons engaged in
interstate commerce. The object sought
for could be achieved to measurable
degree, as far as. those killed or Grip
pied are concerned, by proper employ
ers' liability laws. AS far as concerns
those who have been worn out, I call
your attention to the; fact that definite
steps toward providing old-age pen
sions have been taken in many of our
private industries These may be in
definitely extended through voluntary
association and contributory schemes,
or through the agency of savings
banks, as under the Massachusetts
plan. To strengthen these practical
measures should be our immediate
duty; It is not at present. necessary to
consider the larger and more general
governmental schemes that most Euro
pean governments have found them
selves obliged to adopt.
Our present system, or rather no sys,
tenn, works dreadful wrong, and is Of
benefit to only one class of people-the
lawyers When workman Is injured
what he needs Is not an expensive and
doubtful lawsuit, but the certainty Of
relief through immediate administered
tive action. The number Of accidents
which result in the death or Gripping
of wageworkers, in the union at large,
is simply appalling: In very few years
it runs up total Yar in excess Of the
aggregate Of the dead and wounded in
any modern war. No academic theory
about freedom of contract" or "consti-
tutional liberty to contract" should be
permitted to interfere with this and
similar movements. Progress in civili-
zation has everywhere meant limita-
ton and regulation of contract. I call
your especial attention to the bulletin
of the bureau Of labor which gives
statement of the methods of treating
the unemployed in European countries,
rs this is subject which in Germany,
with making provision for worn out
and crippled workmen.
Needed Legislation.
Pending a thorodghgoing invest1ga-
ton and action there is certain legis-
lation which should be enacted at once
The law, passed at the last session Of
the congress granting compensation to
certain classes Of employees of the gov
eminent should be extended to include
all employees Of the goYernments-and
should be made more itss
terms. There is no good ground for
the distinction made in the law be-
tween those engaged in hazardous oc-
equations and those not so>engaged. IT
a man is injured or killed in any line
of work. 1t was haza rdous in his case.
Whether one per cent. or ten per cent.
OF those following a given occupation
| actually suffer injury or death ought
not to have any bearing on the ques-
ton OF their receiving compensation.
1t is grim logic which says to an in
jured employe or to the dependents Of
one killed that he or they are entitled
to no compensa ton because very few
people other than he have been injured
or killed in that occupation. Perhaps
one of the most striking omissions in
the law is that it does not embrace
peace officers and others whose lives
may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws
of the United States. The terms of the
act providing compensation should be
! made more liberal. than in the present
act years compensation is not ade-
| quate for ge-earner's family in the
| event of his death by accident in the
| course of his employment And in the
| event Of death occurring, say. ten or
| eleven months after the accident, the
| family would only receive as compen-
l. If tyNn
months earnings. . In this respect the
generosity of the United States towards
its employees compares most unfavora-
| bly, with that of every country in Eu-
rope-even the poorest.
| The terms of the act are also a hard
! ship in prohibiting payment in cases
where the accident is in any way due
| to the negligence of the employee. It is
inevitable that daily familiarity with
danger will lead men to take chances
| that can be construed into negligence.
| So well is this recognized that in prac-
! tically all countries in the civilized
world, except the United States, only a
| great degree of negligence acts as a
bar to securing compensa lion. Pro5a-
| bly, In no other respect is our legisla-
ton, both state and nallonal so far be-
I hind practically the entire civilized
1 world as in the matter of liability and
/ compensation for accidents in industry.
It is humiliating that at European in
| ternational congresses on accidents the
/ United States should be singled out as
! the most belated among the nations in
respect to employers liability legisla-
ton. This government is itself a large
! employer of labor and in it's dealings
with it's employees 1t should set a stan
l dard in this country which would place
| it on a par with the most progressive
countries in Europe. The laws of the
United States in this respect and the
laws of European countries have been
summarized in recent bulletin Of the
bureau of labor, and no American who
1 reads this summary can fail to be
! struck by the great contrast between
our practices and theirs-a contrast not
in any sense to our credit
Law for District Of Columbia.
4 The congress should without further
delay pass model employers. liability
i law for the District Of Columbia. The
i employe liability act recently de.
clared unconstitutional, on account OF
q apparently including in its provisions
employees engaged in intrastate com.
merce as well as those engaged in in.
terstate commerce, has been held by the
local courts to be still In effect SO fal