The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-18
VALUATION OF
 HUMAN LIFE
What Fifty Widows Got Sums Paid at Cherry Mine Disaster-How the Fami- ly Fares in Ordinary Acci- dents.

ly Fares Ill Ordinary Acci-
 dents.
 s. c. Kingsley, Supt. United Charities of Chicago. | (Exc1usive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 A torch care1ess1y exposed and a
 pale of hay, on Saturday afternoon, November 13, 1909, caused one of the most dramatic mine disasters in in dustrial history. and cost the lives of
 Andrew Dovin and 257 fellow work men, Thrilling reScues by a heroic
 band of men who finally perished in
 an act of supreme sacrifice; sealing
 the shaft in the presence of an inef- fably pathetic group of women and children; the recovery of revolting hu- man shapes; the rescue of twenty-one men buried alive for eight days-aI this for weeks kept the press puIsing with stories of intensest human inter- est. This publicity acted with com polling junction upon the employing company, the giving public city coun- cils and the State Legislatures. In this, the wives and children of An- drew Dovin and his fellow victims were most fortunate. These men died a congregate death in disaster that was dramatic, thrilling, spectacular.
 One year. before this disaster, an ambulance backed up to NO. F Bond was in the ambulance. He was a worker in a steel mill and he was in jured in handling hot metal An acci- dent occurred in which he was burn in his death. The only newspaper
 mention of Abe's case was 8, three line statement in list Of accidents.
 The company settled for $500 and promised pern1An ent employment to Abe's wife. She went to work and her inadequate earnings were supplement- ed by charitable relief.
 The circumstances of Abe's nlisfor- tune are fairly typical of fifty other fatal accidents of which information was obtained through charitable or ganizations in ten of the largest cities of the country.
 want to consider the information about these fifty accidents, which occurred one at time in common place obscurity, and to contrast the circumstances of the wives and chil-= dren of these men with what hap pened in the way of compensation and relief for the wives and children of Andrew Dovin and forty-nine other victims of the Cherry catastrophe. The families of these fifty men, suf- dents. received in compensat1on $S,749-$1S7 apiece. The fifty Cherry families received from the company $90, ,0OO-$1, 800 apiece.
 the publicity and activity of the Red Cross. the press, business associations, the fifty families received in contri- buttons from the Legislature, miners unions etc $87, 600 in addition making a total of $177.O00; in the other, the families received $8.749 plus an inde- finite amount in relief and pensions from charity societies and a still more iHdeter erimnable sum from institutions nurseries, hospitals, etc. The average income in the. fifty fatal cases before the accident was $66S.47. Twenty-four occupations were represented The present. average income, after a period of a little more than a year since the accident-the wife and children going 4o al iF7O rooms, etc-was $238.8O a decrease of 62.4 per cent. The average number in the family was fve-wife and four children.
 The average age of the children was eight years and two months The av- craze age of the fifty men killed was thirty-four and a half years.
 A car inspector lost his life in crib fire at Chicago two years and three months ago He left wife and three children, aged seven, four and The employer offered a $1,5OO in set clement. This offer was not accepted and suit was begun and is still pend- ing.
 Had the laws of the following coun- tries been in operation in Illinois the family would have received, provided the widow did not marry and all the children lived to working age, aid in the form of annual pensions in the total amounts given below:
 Austria until youngest child is fif- teen 94,zO0Ao.
 France until youngest child is, fif- teen s, ,162.50.
 Germany until youngest child is fif- teen $5, O62. 50.
 Great Britain, three times annual wages $2,250.
 Hungary until youngest child is six teen $5,615.O6.
 italy purchase of annuities until eighteen $3,750-
 Norway until youngest child is fif- teen $4,26s.23-
 Russia. until youngest child is fif- teen sR,sGO. I
 The compensation to the victims of fifty fatal accidents ranged from S3, GOO to nothing. In two cases $7,000 each was awarded, but they were ap- pealed from court to court and the victims finally got nothing. The un- certainty and delay had a most de- effect both morally and These people were in sus% pense, setting their expectations on sums of money that would make them huge fortunes in their eyes and after living in this anti cipation, sometimes adopting a scale of living accordingly, so far as they could. they were finally disappointed and got nothing.
 Some of these excessive awards were an injustice to the employer, but when they were reversed and nothing was received, it certainly was ? Romoa]h YNuur Eat a