Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-12-11

cent. or 10 per cent. of those following a
given occupation actually suffer injury or
death ought not to have any bearing Oh
the question of their receiving compensa-
ton. 1t is 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 injured or Killed IN
that occupation. Perhaps one of the most
striking omissions in the law is that it
does not embrace peace officers ana othefs
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 adequate
for wage-earner's family in the event or
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 re
ceive as compensation the equivalent of
one or two months earnings. In this re-
spect the generosity of the United states
toward its employees compares unfaYoraply
with that of every country in Europe-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 employe. 1t is in
evitable that daily familiarity with dan
ger will lead men to take chances that
can be construed into negligence. So well
is this recognized that in practically all
countries in the civilized world, except the
United States, only great degree OF neg
ligence acts as bar to securing eompen-
sation. Probably in no other respect is our
legislation, both state and national, SO
far behind practically the entire civilized
world as in the matter of liability and COM
pensation for accidents in industry. 1t 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 employers,
itself large employer of labor, and in its
dealings with it's employees it should set a
standard in this country which would
place it on 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 sum-
married. 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 between our practices and theirs
"a contrast not in any sense to our
credit.
The Congress should without further de-
lay pass a model employers liability law
for the District of Columbia. The employ
ers' liability act recently declared uncon-
Guiding In it's provisions employees engaged
in intrastate commerce as we'll as those
engaged in interstate commerce, has been
held by the local courts to be still in eff
feet so far as its provisions apply to the
District of Columbia. There should be no
ambiguity on this point. If there is any
reenacted with special reference to the
| District of Columbia This act, however,
applies only to employees of common car
riers. In all other occupations the liability
| law of the district is the old common law.
The severity and injustice of the common
law in this matter has been in some de-
gree or another modified in the majority of
| our states, and the only jurisdiction under
| the exclusive control Of the Congress
should be ahead and not behind the states
| Of the union in this respect. A compre-
passed for the District of Columbia.
I renew my recommendation made in a
previous message that half-holidays be
| granted during summer to all wagework-
| ers in government employ.
/ also renew my recommended ton that the
| principle of the eight-hour day should as
! RAPIDLY and as far as practicable be extend
| the government; the present law should be
| amended to embrace contracts on those pub
! lie works which the present wording of the
! act seems TO exclude.
The Courts:
1 most earnestly urge upon the Congress-
the duty of increasing the totally made
the whole there is no body of public scrv-
ants who do as valuable work, nor whose
moneyed reward is so inadequate compared
to their work. Beginning with the supreme
court the judges should have their salaries
doubled. 1t is not BETTING the dignity of
the nation that its most honored public
pared to what they would earn in private
life that the performance Of public service
by them implies an exceedingly heavy pc
cuniary sacrifice.
It is earnestly to be desired that some
method should be devised for doing away
with the long delays which now obtain in
the administration of justice and which
operate with peculiar severity against per,
sous of small means, and favor only the
very criminals whom it is most desirable
to punish. These long delays in the final
decisions of cases make in the aggregate a
crying evil; and a remedy should be de,
vised. Much of this intolerable delay Is
due to improper regard paid 10 technicalities
which are a mere hindrance to justice. In
some noted recent cases this over-regard for
technicalities has resulted in a striking de-
NAL of justice, and fragrant wrong to the
body polite.
At the last election certain leaders OF
organized labor made a violent and sweep
| ing attack upon the entire judiciary Of the
country, an attack couched in such terms
as to include the most upright, honest and
| broad minded judges, no less than those of
| narrower mind and more restricted outlook
| to prevent any. successful attempt to reform
| abuses of the judiciary, because it gave the
champions of the, unjust judge their eagerly
desired opportunity. to shift their ground
into a championship Of just judges who
| were unjustly assailed. Last year, before
the House committee on the. judiciary, these
| mands, specifying the bill that contained
| them, refusing all compromise, stating they
wished, the principle of that bin or nothing
labor dispute no injunction should issue
except to protect a property right, and spe
officially provided that the right to, carry
on business should not be construed as q
property right; and in second provision ss,I3
any act or agreement by or between two
or more persons that would not have been
other words, this bill legalized blacklistine
and boycotting in every form, legalizin e;
boycott which the anthracite coal strike
commission. so unreservedly condemned
| while the right to carry on business was
explicitly taken out from under that pro
lection which the law throws over proper
| ty. The demand was made that there
| should be trial by jury in contempt cases
thereby most seriously impairing the a a
course of policy which, if carried out
would mean the enthronement Of class
privilege in it's crudest and most bruta
form, and the destruction of one Of the
most essential functions of the judiciary
| in all civilized lands.
| The violence Of the crusade for this legis
lation, and it's complete failure, Illustrate
| two truths which it is essential our people
| should learn In the first place, they ought