Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-07-11
JUSTICE TO EMPLOYEES

gagged in the various industries of the
country amounts to about half mil
lion. In a large majority of instances
the MANNED employee, or those depen-
dent upon the employee whose life is
taken in the course of his employment,
receive no compensation whatever, and
they are thrown upon their own re-
sources, which frequently means upon
the charity of the general public, for
support. And where compensation is
obtained, it is usually as the result of
legal proceedings which cost so much
of the amount recovered for the ex-
penses of prosecuting the suit as to
leave little to the person for whose
benefit they are brought.
The public is gradually being con-
WINGED that this state of affairs is all
wrong, and the conviction has resulted
in some states in legislation intended
to relieve employees as much as they
can be relieved of the terrible danger
always hanging over them and those
dependent upon them, of being killed or
injured in the course of their employ
ment.
The National Association of Manu-
facturers, in a meeting held sometime
ago, appears to have recognized the
gravity OF the situation by urging its
members to establish "a system of
voluntary, mutually contributory, in
dustrial accident indemnity insurance"
and by offering substantial money
prizes for "the safest plants or the
best safety devices brought to its at
tention each year"
The cent New York legislature.
however, went further than any other
legislative body in this country has
gone in providing for justice to en-
ployes by the enactment of two bills
drawn UP by a special commission
created last year for that purpose. One
of these bills, which applies only to a
special list OF extra hazardous employ
ments, such as railroading, structural
work, electrical work, etc, gives to a
workman injured in these employments
the right to draw half wages from his
employer during his disability, up to
eight years. To the dependents of a
workman killed in these employments
it gives the right to get from the en-
ployers a sum equal to the workman's
wages for four years, with a limit of
$4,000.
The othtr of these bills known as the
permissive bill, applying to all en-
offers to employers and en-
ployes a chance to make a contract by
which the emloye gives up his I'M
certain right to sue for damages in
cases where he can prove negligence,
in return for certainty of compensa-
ton for all accidents according to the
rates named.
Concerning these bills, Senator J.
Mayhem Wainwright, chairman of the
which drew them, says:
"Our existing legal system for COM
those injured in the great
strife of industrial life is based on the |
negligence or fault of the employer
Unless such fault can be shown, there |
IS no redress. THIS THEORY HAS
BEEN DISCARDED BY PRACTICAL |
LY EVERY CIVILIZED COUNTRY |
IN THE WORLD, EXCEPT OUR
OWN, THE MODERN ECONOMIC |
THEORY BEING THAT THE LOSS |
Of LIFE AND LIMB MUST BE
AS AN ELEMENT IN |
THE COST OF PRODUCTION, FOR |
WHICH THE INDUSTRY MUST |
PAY, AND WHICH MUST BE Ia
KEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE SAME
MANNER AS THE WEAR AND |
TEAR ON MACHINERY. This is |
worked out in England by imposing the |
liability on the employer, leaving him
to protect himself by insurance; in |
Germany by a great general system |
IF insurance, requiring every workman |
to be insured by the employer, the cost |
Of insurance being shared by employ |
er and employe, the state guaranteeing |
found that our system. was fundament-
ally wrong and unwise. The main OBJ |
jections were:
81, But small proportion of work
men received adequate compensation, !
and therefore were forced to a lower |
of living and their dependents
became burdens on private or public
charity
20. 1t was wasteful being costly to |
and of small benefit to en-
ployes OF the 25OOO,OOO paid annual
Iy in insurance premiums in this coun-
try, but about 40 per cent reached the |
workmen; the rest is wasted in agency,
legal expenses, and the like
8. 1t is slow in operation, the delay
in operation of our legal machinery be-
ing so great that relief if at ALL comes
only after years of litigation.
a. 1t breeds antagonism between the |
employer and employe, and IS one of |
the most fruitful sources of the !
strained relations between capital and |
abor. Our evidence shows it is salts
factory to none, and tolerable only to |
Lhose who disregard their legal rights |
and settle without reference to them. |
at is estimated that the roll of killed and !
in the strife Of industry reaches
the ightful figure of 500, 900. Our
igures would indicate that less than 30 per
cent of these receive any compensation for
heir injuries, and that such compensation |
IS wOefully uncOmpensatOry If the princl-
pie of workmans compensation is adopted, |
lot only will the great majority of this |
roll be compensated, but the in
lucement TO employers to safeguard their
machinery and adopt other precautions will