Arizona republican., 1908-12-09

in any modern war. No academi,
 theory about freedom of contract
 or constitutional liberty to contract
 should be permitted to interfere witl 1 this and other similar movements
 Progress in civilization has every
 where meant a limitation and regu
 lation of contract. l call your espe- cial attention to the bulletin of tht i bureau of labor which gives a state ment of the methods of treating tn,
 unemployed in European countries
 as this is a subject which in Ger
 many, for instance, is treated in con- nection with making provision fol
 worn out and crippled wOrkmen.
 Needed Legislation.
 Pending a thOroughgoing investi-
 gation and action there is certain | legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the last | session of congress, granting com pensation to certain classes of em- ployes of the government, should bc extended to include all employees oi the government and should be made more liberal in it's terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law between those en- gagged in hazardous occupations and those not so engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work it was hazardous in his case Whether 1 per cent of 10 per cent of those following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It is a grim logic which says to an injured employe or to the dependents of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because very few people other than he have been in jured or killed in that occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is that it does not embrace peace officers and oth- CTS whose lives may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the act provid- ing compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act. A years compensation is not ade- quate for a wage 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 acci- dent, the family would only receive as compensation the equivalent of one or two months earnings In this respect the generosity of the United States towards it's employees com pares most unfavOrably with that of every country in Europe-even the poorest.
 The terms of the act are also q hardship in prohibiting payment in cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employe. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take chances that can be con strued into negligence. So well is this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized world, ex- cept the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our legislation both state and national, so far be- hind practically the entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European international congresses on accidents the United States should be singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to em- pIoyers' liability legislation. This government is itself a large employer of labor. and in it's dealings with it's employees it should set a standard 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 a recent bulletin of the bureau of labor. and no American who reads this summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast be- tween our practices and theirs-a contrast not in any sense to our credit.
 District Liability,
 The congress should without fur ther delay pass a model employers liability law for the District of Col umbia. The employers liability act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently including in it's provision employees engaged in intra- state commerce as well as those en- gagged interstate commerce. has been held by the local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions ap- ply to the District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If there is any doubt on the subject. the law should be re-enacted with special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, ap- plies only to the employees of com mon carriers. In all other occupa- tions the liability law of the District is the old common law. The se- verity and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree or another modified in the majority of our states, and the only Jurisdiction under the exclusive con trol of the congress should be ahead and not behind the states of the un- ion in this respect A comprehen sive employers liability law should be passed for the District of Colum- bia
 r renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half holidays be granted during summer to all wage workers in government employ.
 I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the gov