Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-02

Amendment a, by inserting in line a. at
ter the word whoever" the word will
fully" -
MIR. DOYLE of Millinocket Mr..
s pealier it seems To me expedient for
mo at this time to say just word I'M
defence Of this report Of the commit
te. on labor. and also in opposition tot
any amendment To the bill. observe
that in the ordinary courS" Of legisla-
ton a unanimous report from corr
mittce has carried great weight as 90
its future legislative condition. and
rightly 50 | believe. because the conf
mitt"c has u chanc, to hear both sides
% The mattcr and - Judge according
lN. Now in regard I" our committee
on labor II" contrary seems To h" the
rule. ami Wr have no; had nut n few
measures h"tare ~, ana don't know
hlll what il is q good thing. 1T sccmSl
t. rnai " No diitcrrnc" hos we report
inst r nor how unanimuu- our re-
port is. Somebody is always ready tot
tear IL 10 pieces. Ia add something to-
il or take something away lr"in il orr
,t4ucnd it in some manner. Now am
MOI advocating thai this hi9 should
be passed a il is merely Tor Tho nov
city al seeing the report from our
committee 20 through as it is reported
although confess that this would
haNr 4 tendency t. call to our mind
that We H. a working part of this
Legislature. But. Ir. speaker, lie
lievc tina, this bill as il is should be
passed I'll" gentleman from flalloW"ll
introduces an amendment and | am
sure he has acted in perfect good faith
in inserting the Word "WilflllY' after
the word 'WhocvCr' in the last sem
tence a. this bill. Now that little
word although innocent enough, 81
seems to me 10 cover n multitude 6f|
sins. and / wish to sly right here Thu
the Massachusetts biz before il reach
ed It's present Stage contained that
very amendment and II was found that
il was an injustice" tt9t in fact il was
nothing more than . joker. Now it
We accept the bill rs il is. the seem
ingly apparent hardships that might
arise on the part OF the employer
think will be greatly diminished If we
take INFO consideration the fact that
any reasonable man. any laborer. will
not take advantage Of any extraor-
binary crisis such as an impesSibility
white. on the other hand. if this
amendment is accepted, the number OF
cases Of the avoidance Of tho law will
be SO great that th. Ia#. will he prac-
tically useless.
Now. Mr.. Speaker. in adopting this
measure as it is We ar. not trying any
experiment. This is really the Massa-
chuSetts law. II there is no objection
to the principle ot this bill in the main
cahnot see Why there should be any
objection to this last part which Is an
exact copy of the ssachusetts Law
This is a labor measure. II has been
advocated by the lahorine interests
and has been reported unanimously by
the committee on labor They want
the bill as it is and not as tho en-
ployers want it: and | submit. Elr
Speaker, that if this bill has been
tried aud worked satisfactorily in
other jurisdictions the least We can
do is to give it a tar trial in Maine
CApplauseD,
Mr.. CLEARWATER of HallaweIl.
Mr.. Speaker, want TO say just Il word
think in the first place the gentle
man from Miilinocket misunderstands
me and my position. and wish u say
TO him and To the members Of the
House that l am unQualitiedly in ia
V"r of the bill. | don't understand
that the question pertains To the re-
port Of the committee in any way
The report Of the committee has been
accepted. Personally it gave mo pleas
ure to vote in favor oi the acceptance
of that report. | believe in the .secl:
~ payment bill, broadly speaiing
There may be instances whore it isl
not feasible one Of those instances
mas been shown in the ease or tho
numbering operations on III" drive
which has boon taken care of in the
bill. Lumbcrmen are exempt and they
should be. | don't like To- bring my
self into the matter personally hat tnI
SubStantiate my statement that [ do
favor weekly payment bill | want to
say that for a dozen years or moro
since ! have been small employer of
labor | have always paid weekly, not
because l was asked to, not because Il
was forced to. but because | believed
j. right thought it was the fair thing
to do. And so in offering this amend
ment | hope no one will criticise me by
saying or thinking that l am opposed
to the measure. for | am not.
The gentleman says that this is
Massachusetts law. That is very good.
But isn't it possible TO improve on that
law or improve any other law? We are
not here TO make laws for the state nf
Massachusetts but for the state oC
Maine. And ii we can make Il better
law for Maine than they have in Mas |
sachusctts | think We had better do
50. / want To say further that there is |
no joker in This word in the amend |
ment no niger in the Woodpilc, and !.
no one on Tia committee has any ret |
son so far as | know for feeling that d.
there is. We should not be afraid of ,
our own shadows. Here is something |
that | cut from n newspaper a day or
two ago: Portland. Shipping arriving |
here from the eastward report that !
Fox Island thoroughfare, Deer Island I,
thorOughfare and Eggemogin Reach |
and other thoroughfares between here
and MacliaS are closed with ice. There !
has been no communication for days" |
understand that thing frequently !
happens between Vinalhaven and
Rockland Rockland is the banking |