Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-03-03
Ohio Labor Fights
Fellow Servant axe
Miserable Farce OF Present Judge
Construction of Law Must Stop.
WORKMEN KILLED AND =
CORPORATIONS ESCAPE.
Pro-Trust Judges Designate Boss
as Employs. ''Fellow-SerVant."

Federal and State Judge made doc
trine of fellow-servant as applied
in suits for damages for accidents
that kill and MAIN employees in
Ohio.
Tom Sykes -ag ed 10 years, few
years ago was employed at the Stan
dard Lighting Plant Of the Amer
lean Stove Co., in Cleveland, oper-
attng a Press Machine. One day the
machine got out OF order and the
foreman came along and attempted
to repair tito repair it.. Whilst do
ing so, he ordered Tom to remove
the dies, whilst he tested the ma
chine by tripping it, and whilst Tom
had Mis- hand in the machine, this
foreman negligently tripped the ma
chine andScut, Toms right hand off.
The American Stove Trust Co..
offered Tom $4,000 as compensa-
ton for his lost hand, but Toms
parents acting for him, believing
that boy Of 49, right band was
worth more than $4,000 entered
suit in the Common Pleas Court Of
Cuyahoga county. for $4,000. Had
the Standard Lighting Co. remained
an Ohio corporation and not Joined
the Stove Trust, Tom would have
had clear case for damages, be-
cause the Ohio Common, or Judge
made laws recognized the foreman
as Superior, and not a Fellow
Servant, and Tom would undoubted- ,
ly have recovered somewhere be-
tween five and ten thousand dollars.
But, The American Stove Trust
is what is known as a foreign cor
poration; that is a corporation that
gets it's charter to do business from
some other statesthan Ohio, and u1l-e
der our peculiar system of laws,
had the right exercised it to remove
the case from Ohio courts to the
United States Circuit Court.
Federal .Judge-Made law, that is
the common las as interpreted. by
the United States Supreme Court
makes all employees, including sup
-erintendentRs and -foremsls,- fellow
servants, bars the right of the in
jured to recover damages, where the
injury was caused in any way by the
act or in obedience to the orders OF.
those Judge-Made Fellow Servants,
the superintendent and foreman;
and as the fact, was proven without
any doubt that Toms hand was cut
off by the negligent act of this Judge
Made fellow servant" foreman, Tom
was unable to recover one cent in
damages for that lost right hand.
Judge Taylor, following the estab-
lished rule relating to fellow-serVantj =
in United States Courts decided it
against him Again were the fell
low servant common law OF Ohio
enacted into statuary law, that is a
law passed by the Ohio Legislature,
Tom would have had a perfect suit
for damages in the United States
Court. Why? Because Court rules
requires that U. S. Judges must fol-
low the Statuary laws of the States
in which the suit is being tried, but
they are~not required to follow the
Common or Judge-Made law in Ohio.
they make thir own Common Judge
made law.
In plain words foreign corpora
tioQs enjoy special privileges opera
ting under the protecting wing of the ~
Federal Courts, can totally disre-.
gard the common law of Ohio, kill
and MAIN as they please without
cost, provided they. can prove it was
done by the act Of the superintend-
ent or. foreman, whilst Ohio corpor-
atoms and employers must pay.
General Employers Liability. Bill
H. B. No. "A makes the Common
fellow servant law Of Ohio, into
Statutory law and remove this spe-
cial privilege enjoyed by foreign cor
porations. The. Metzger Employers
Liability Bill passed in 1908 rempY-
ed this special privilege from for
eign railroad corporations and the
railroad workers can now recover
compensation form all alike, is there
any reason why the Miners, Steel
and Iron and all other workers en-
ployed by foreign corporations will
be any longer tempered in getting
compensation from all alike, is there
from accidents. H. B. No. "A haas
been reported out favorably by tho
committee on labor, and will come
up for passage in the House of Rep-
res ntatiYes the latter part of this
week, write a letter to your legisla-'
tor and ask him to vote for it.