Norwich bulletin., 1910-11-03

would happen to mine if I were to meet
with an accident that cost me my
| life?
| Lawyers and Court Fees Leave But
! Little.
I will tell you what would happen
/ indeed I don't have to tell you. If you
| have q generous and humane employer.
| he viii help you, possibly give you an
! easier job, possibly take care of your
| family until yau are able to get back
4 on your feet. In that event you are
1 an object Of charity. If you haven't
humane and liberal employer, or if you
! have an employer who thinks he is
| justified under the circumstances III
refusing conpensation-as he has
| right to do in eight cases out of ten
your other alternative is to go to law
| Corpora tons do not let a case go to
court unless they think they can win
! it. They have money enough to take it
/ through to the highest court They
/ have the best lawyers that money can
hire. 1t will take you from two to
| four years to get your case through
the courts. Cases have been known to
drag along eight or ten years. How
much is there left for you or your
family after the lawyers and the court
! fees have been paid?
| Should Wipe Off Fellow Servant Rule.
Now. my friends, when you get into
run into three rules of law? The first
is what is known as the doctrine of
assumed risk which, being inter
/ preted is that the man takes his own
I chances when he undertakes a job.
| The second is the doctrine of contrib
utory negIi gence." which means that
| the man is careless himself. The third
and this is the one to which L would
| especially direct your attenuon-ls
/ what is known a. the fellow servant
/ Il hat &c hn al
| Simply this, that if Engineer Bosworth.
/ who a few days ago died d death of
uEsung feroism at his throttle in a
| wreck on the Valley division of the
! New Haven railroad had met his end
] through the carelessness of a telegraph
operator asleep at his key. whose
livery name he might never have heard,
| Bosworth's family could not have col
| Iected a nickel from the New Haven
| railroad because said operator was his
| fellow servant" I don't know what
you think about it, gentlemen. but II
think this is an abhorrent. cruel and
archaic law. I think it ought to be
! wiped off our statute books. 1t came
| into use when industries were carried
on in little shops, employing perhaps
| half q dozen men, and its purpose was
| to make men careful OF the safety of
| their fellows. The world has gone by
it. 1t doesn't fit present conditions.
| Goodwin's Stand.
| Charles A. Goodwin, the republican
| candidate for governor, agrees with
| you and me in this matter He has SO
| stated many times in the most une
quivocal terms. He wants it abolished.
| He wants an employers liability bill,
or woTlcingman's compensation act,
passed. What does Judge Baldwin
think? Well. I don't know what he
! thing out of him on the subject. In
| response to a series of inquiries sent
to me by the organized labor of the
state he has replied that he. does not
| care to answer interrogatories of that
nature He says he is going into the
| governors chair "unpledged.' He
made q speech here in Norwich few
+ days ago. Maybe some of you heard
| him-at least L hope you did. Did you
hear him say anything about the
workin g1nan's compensation act, or the
I public utilities bill or the removal of
I the S.. 900 death limit? Did he mention
| any of the living issues now before
! the state of Connecticut? Did he men
( measures were endorsed. but upon
which he consented to run without
! having Grad it? No. He outlined a
/ brand new set Of issues among which
/ ras that of cutting down the tariff
that buIwark of New England industry,
the one thing that stands between the
J high wages of this country and the.
| low wages of Europe and the pauper
wages of japan.
What Judge Baldwin Thought.
Less than two years ago this Is what
| Judge Baldwin thought about the fell
| low servant law, 1t will be found in
! the case of Hoxie VS.. New York, New
/ Haven and Hartford Railroad company,
| in which he upset the federal employ
| ers liability act passed during the ad-
| rniuistra ton of Theodore Roosevelt for
| the purpose of remedying this very
| evil. Mind you / don't criticize the
decision. I assume that it was good
| law. Judge Baldwin is an honorable
| man and an able and upright Judge.
But he said something in that decision
which he did not have to say--What
! the lawyers call an ''obiter dictum."
/ Re said that thu fellow servant rule
| lis part OF that general American
common law resting upon considera-
tioHs Of right and justice that have
been generally accepted By the people
| OF the United States"
Not Right or just.
| Ia" Is not right" it is not just" and
| il is not generally accepted by the
| peeple of the United States. Am /
| presumptuouS in making this state
| ment? Not at ALL 1t is not my state
ment. Listen to the criticism of re
| sponstole legal ma zine of high stand
| ing, 2 pubiics ton known as Law
| Notes In an editorial found on page
III of tbs issue of October, 1910, will