The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-09-05

10 thelr duties, and search Tor such
leadership, and support Il when they
md II.
The stay at home man u. unlen ia
Just rs much resporsibie for the sins
Of omission and commit sion Of MS or
/ SEant.atio MS the stay At horne man Ia
d d city Is tor the civic solHlltiens under
= which he suffers and about which he
complains:
Improve Standard o. EiSinH.
All Tint can properly ne done should
i be done by all OF Us to help inward tie
standard OF living and 10 Improve the
ability OF the average man 20 tcnth that
s standard: There are still N the United
statess great masses OF skilled and nm
organized labor whose conditions Of (
Y work and living ,lre harsl and Ipitiablc:
~ tits a shocking Ind ictneiit of our lns
dustriaI condition to be tod In a mat
ter OF course way Iii a COVE niiient re-
port that thousands of men n this
country are compelled to toll every day
in the week. without one day cf RESI-, for
d wage Of So a month Such d condis
tion Is bad for them and In the end bad
for all of us. Our commercial develops
mcnt should be heartily eiicoura ged,
but It must not he allow % CONNER
cialize our morals. AZ
This opens a yitnlly important field
OF legislation to- tho national goyetTs \
nent and to the state alike; Il "a
humiliating to think bow far We Of y
this country are behind most Of the
other countries In such matters Prac,
stically all civilized countries have for
more than a dccadc prob bited by the
strictest regulations the poisonous
match industry, vet we had not done
anything at all until very recently to
protect the laborers against this hors
fible danger. The national govern;
mcnt made an inFcs tigation, d yearago
Into this industry, which showed d
condition OF things unspea ably shock
ling and revolving. 4
sLegisiat ton to prey these abtses
was introduced IN cong ress which wdA
not passed. Since tiep the companies
in fault have ostenta tioislS5 announced
that they have done away with the
Objectionable conditions. hope So
but, whether they have or not, q INV
Should be passed in stringent form to
prevent any possible bacGsltding.
Employers Liability
So 1t Is in the matter OF injuries to
employees. lnwhat IS called .semploy-
ers' liability Legislation other indts-
trial countries hive accepted the prin-
eiple that the industry must bear the
monetary burden fits human sacrl.
fees and that the employee who IS ms
jured shall have a Gxed ana definite
sum 81 s X
| The United States still proceeds on
an outworn and cnriot1sly improper
principle, in accordance with which Ii
has too often been held by the courts
TINT the frightful burden Of the acct
dent shall be borne In Its entirety NY
the very person, least able to bear It.
Fortunately, In asTumber Of stat
in Wisconsin and in New Yorls, for
instance these defects In our indus
trial life are either being ,remedied OF
else are being made subject Of H.
telligent study with n view to their
remedy. In New York q biz .eml,ody-
Ing moderate compensation for 2cei-
dents has already been passed! Other
states will undoubtedly followsin the 4
same path. s ~
The federal governmen has; SO fgr
rs Its own employees are concerned,
been the first to recognize and put
into shape this principle. However,
this pioneer Inv was not made com-
prehensive enough; 1t does not cover
NIL the employees Of the federal GOV
ernment that ought to come within lis
provisions, and the amount paid for 3
permanent disability or death Is en-
tirely inadequate. e "
Nevertheless It was a great step IN 4
advance to have this principle Of work
ipgmen's compensation accepted and
embodied in the federal statutes, and
the recent action Of congress III pro- i
viding for a commission to study and
report upon the subject gives promise
that the same principle will soon be-
applied to private firms that como
within the jurisdiction Of the federal
government. X n
Protect Women and Children
Women and children should beyond
all question be protected. and In their
cases there can be no question that the
states should act They should be par
ticular objects of our solicitnde. and
they should be guarded in an effective
fashion against the demands OF q 100
1 greedy commerchlism. ~
On my recent trip In the neighbur-
hood of Scranton and Wilkesbarre
every one ] spoke to agreed as to he
immense Improvement that had been
wrought by the effective enforcement
OF the laws prohibiting children under
/ the age Of fourteen yenrs from work
! li ;iilnng and prohibiting women from work
ling more than ten hours u day. Per-