The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-11-09
HELP FOR TOIL L /
Minnesota Likely to Pass En-
pIoyers' Liability Law.
IN HANDS or COMMISSION.

constitutionaIity Of such Legislation
Practically Settled by Decisions of
New York and Federal courts---view
Of Judge Brown.
When the subject Of workingmen's
compensation act was before the last
legislature 1t was the prevailing opin-
ion--any antagonistic view was so
small as to be negliGble--that the pro-
posed enactment should provide for the
compensation OF every injury sustain
ed by an employee, the question Of
blame or fault on either side to be
eliminated. 1t was simply a matter Of
providing suitable compensation for
Injury where there was no fault on the
part OF the employer and no serious or
willfnl misconduct on the part Of the
employee in occupations where danger
is inherent from the use of power and
machinery. The difficulty of preparing
anything like a scale and at the same
time of securing a uniformity that
would not discriminate against EN-
ployers In Minnesota In competition
with other states led to the reference
Of the entire subject to a commission
which is expected to report to the next
legislature.
The possible nconstitutionality OF
an act Of this character was limited at
rather than proclaimed. The common
law provides no available remedy for
injuries occasloned by industrial acct
dents not attributable to the negligence
Of the employer. and 1t was questioned
whether the legislature had the power,
under our system OF constitutional gov
eminent, to write this English provl-
sion into statute. This point has aris-
en- In case In New York state, where
such law Is In force. and the supreme
court Of that state has sustained it's
constitutionality 1t was set up by the
railway defendant that not only had
the legislature exceeded Its powers in
the act, but that its terms deprived
the railway company OF its liberty and
property without due process of law
and denied 1t the equal protection Of
the law In contravention Of the four
teenth amendment to the constitution.
Upon all questions involved the court
ruled against the railway and sus-
tanned the law. 1t holds the legisla-
fY1f mao MI ~. ftn
mon law and may provide remedies
where relief under the common law is
impossible. 1t says the cases relied
apoa bya the railway ra&Fely point out I
the shifting character of the border
line between the statutes which are
upheld by the court as being a legiti-
mate exercise of the legislative power
to pass all manner of necessary and
wholesome acts for the protection and
well being Of the public, although such |
acts interfere with personal liberty |
and the right to do as one viii with |
his own, and the statutes which are |
held by the courts to be unwarranta- |
BILE interference.
Emphasis Is laid upon this finding of |
Justice Brown of the federal supreme |
court; while the cardinal principles !
Of justice are immutabn. the methods
BY which justice is administered are |
subject to constant fiuctuation, and |
The constitution Of the United States,
which Is necessarily and to a large ex-
tent inflexible and exceedingly difficult
If amendment, should not be SO con-
'trued as to deprive the states of the
power to so amend their laws as to
make them conform to the wishes of
he citizens as they may deem best for
he public welfare without bringing
hem into conflict with the supreme
aw Of the land"
There will be no opportunity for the
inal adjudication of this case before
he Minnesota legislature reaches con-
liberation Of the subject. The New
fork statute has been used as model
or parallel laws by other states, and
he decision Of the supreme court of
lew York will be taken as strength
ming the principle upon which 1t la
Paul Dispatch.
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