Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-10-20
KNUTE NELSON.
United States Senator from Minnesota

on their trainmen, train dispatchers,
and telegraph operators, Congress, In
March, 1907, passed the act limiting
the hours Of labor for this class of
employees. BY an earlier act, that of
June, 1898, Congress had made pro-
vision for the arbitration of disputes
between the railroad companies and
their employees as to wages, hours of
labor, and conditions of employment.
To promote and protect the safety of
railroad employees the so-called Safety
Appliance Law of March, 1898, was
passed, providing, among other things,
for an improved brake and car-coupler
system. The act also provided, that
in case the railroad companies did
not comply with it's provisions any en-
plOye, receiving an injury in conse-
quence thereof, should not be deemed
to have assumed the risk even though
he continued in the employment after
the failure Of the company to comply
with the provisions of the law. The
scope of the act was enlarged and
strengthened by the act of March q,
1908, and still further greatly enlarged
and fortified by the act of April H.
1910. The three acts combined make
a strong and broad safety appliance
code for the relief and protection of
railroad employees. The safety ap-
pliance laws have also been supple
mented by the so-called ash pan act
of March 8, 1908, requiring locomotives
to be equipped with an ash pan which
can be emptied and dumped without
the firemen crawling under the loco
motive.
For years the federal courts had
been applying harsh and arbitrary
rules against railroad employees when
they or their families sought to re.
cover damages for injuries or loss of
life occurring in the service, and as
a consequence all railroad companies
that could do so transferred the suits
brought against them into the federal
courts, where it was exceedingly diff
cult, in most cases, to secure compen-
sation, by reason of the fact that the
courts applied the fellow servant rule,
and the rule of contributory negligence
with great strictness,, and by also ap-
plying the assumption of risk doc.
tr1ne. These were all court-made rules
that had no direct statutory basis. To
cure this evil and to afford the rail.
road employees fair show for recov.
cry Congress passed the so-called En-
ployers Liability act Of June 10, 1906
But the supreme court held, by bare
majority, this act to be invalid be-
cause it covered state as well as in:
terstate traffic. To overcome the ef
feet of this decision, the Congress
passed the Employers Liability act OF
April 1908, which is not open to the
defect discovered by the court in the
earlier law. Under this last act, as
under the former, the fellow servant
rule is eliminated and contributory
negligence is no bar. to recovery, but
Ionly bears on the measure of damages
land not even on that when the injury
occurred through the failure Of the
railroad company to comply with the
safety appliance laws. The rule as to
assumption of risk is eliminated and
the railroad companies cannot limit
their liability by any contract, rule
lregulation, or other device. This act
lis 9 just one. and has accomplished
| q most vital reform. In this connec
!