The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-03-03
DEVICES NOT FURNISHING RE
TURN FOR EACH NICKEL.

/ incy are DcttcT ncyuidtcu ! nan
in Albert Lea; Presbyterian Or
ganization Discussed the EN-
ployers' Liability Bill at Its SEES
sion Last Night.
From Tuesdays Daily.
| The Presbyterian Brotherhood held
an interesting meeting last evening.
Ladies of the different divisions fur
nished a most excellent dinner at
$50 o'clock, and short business
session followed. The committee
that was appointed at the previous
meeting to investigate the way slot
machines are operated in the city
was not ready to present a report.
j. r. Brandrup, the chairman, asked
to be relieved of the duties, and DR..
G. ID. Snow was appointed i'm his
place. The other members are TheO-
dore Williams and X. f. Hunt. The
committee is to report at the next
meeting.
Mr.. Williams said that he had
made some investigation and had
found that the machines during the
last few months were not furnishing
return to each nickel put in, but
that there was a game of chance
about it. A man might put in five
nickels and not get anything. He
had seen students spending their
money at the machines However,
Mankato has them much better reg
ulated than Albert Lea. At the Y.
M. c. A. convention there last week
he had noticed, at the hotel, many
boys from twelve to fourteen years
old playing the five or six machines
in the lobby, and their language
abounded in billingsgate, and no.
body rebuked them.
Paper on Liability Law.
c. e. Phillips read a carefully pre-
pared and thoughtful paper on EN-
ployerS' Liability" He said that I'M
der the present laws, an injured en-
ploye can recover damages only
when the accident is due to the neg
ligence of the employer They fail
! TO provide for injuries due to in
evitable accidents, caused by mod
ern machinery. While there has
been an advance in invention there
has been none in the law. The ma
Jority OF accidents now occur through
danger incident to the business and
without the negligence Of anyone.
Should the injured workman bear
the burden of these inevitable ac-
cidents?
The employers compensation code
now before the legislature follows
closely the English law Mr.. Phil
lips outlined the provisions of this
bill, which gives the employee the
right to recover for all injuries I'M
less purposely self inflicted, and
without regard to negligence. The
code is applicable to all dangerous
employments, including every indus.
trial employment engaged i'm for
profit. and this is to be construed
broadly. The measure shifts the
compensation from the poor employe
who is financially not able to bear
lt, to the employer, who is not to
blame, but the loss will not fall on
the latter, but eventually on the
consumer. Why should not the con.
sumer pay for the cost of produc.
ton, which includes the cost of ac.
cidents? The consumer has the adj
vantage of cheapness due to mod.
ern machinery, and why should he
not also stand the damage done by
that machinery? The financial loss
to the injured workman should en-.
ter as an item of cost of production
Burden on Manufacturer.
The burden on the manufacturer
would not be materially greater, for
most manufacturers carry manufac-
turers' liability insurance. The re.
port OF the state labor commissioner
OF Minnesota shows that of the
money paid out by these insurance
companies on their losses, last year,
81 per cent went to pay the expense
OF Investigations, ETC., while only rs
per cent went to the employees, and
in many of the cases the employees
had TO pay out large part of what
they received for attorney hire and
other cost of litigation. Investigation
by the labor department in Europe
shows that as high as IS per cent
of the damages paid by insurance
companies there went to the injured
laborers, while only fifteen per cent
went to the expense account.
Mr.. Phillips said that it was hoped
to save a great economic waste now
going on, by the bill now before the
legislature. If the employee has a
just claim, he will get a large part
of what now goes to pay the eX-
pense of litigation, and juries differ
in the amounts that they would
award for the same injury. 1t cost
Hennepin county last year more to
try the personal injury cases in its
courts than the sum of all of the
verdicts given litigants. Some of
the cases where verdicts are given
are appealed and the verdicts over
turned and more expense is created.
Litigants receive only about two
thirds of the amount of the verdicts.
| . Weak Points in Measure.
| There are two weak points in the
measure. One is the provision for