Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-09
Speaks for Labor at Academy Of Po-
litical and Social Science.
TOLL EXACTED BY INDUSTRY
Conversation Laws Declared to Be
Preferable to Existing System
Of Employers Liability.

ployed. are killed or injured in the
course Of their employment as In any
other country Of the world said John
can Federation Of Labor, at the closing
session Of the American Academy OF
Political and Social Science this even
ing.
He continued:
What the workingmen desire and
demand is not so much compensation
for injury as prevention Of injury, and
1 believe that industry should bear
the pecuniary loss sustained by work
men as a result of industrial accidents.
just as it is now required to repair
its machinery and Offset the losses
caused by depreciation In the value Of
its plants.
Compensation Law Preferable.
From time immemorial the working
men Of tho United States have en-
deavOred to have enacted comprehen-
sive employers liability laws. and while
1 am in full sympathy with their ef-
forts in this direction, yet 1t Is to be
remembered that even the best system
OF employers liability means expense.
delay. and litigation, whereas compen-
sation laws such as prevail in foreign
countries work automatically, benefits
are paid Immediately. friction is elimi-
mated and a large measure OF Justice
IL done.
''On the whole, 1t would seem to me
that from every consideration Of sound
business judgment, practical economy
and fair dealing between man and mar
We should not hesitate longer in aban.
doning system that has been productive
OF SO much misery and injustice. to say
nothing Of the friction and Ill feeling
engendered between workmen and EN-.
ployer. Under our present system q
workman injured is compelled to sue the
only man on earth upon whom he has q
moral claim for employment, whereas
under an automatic compensation sys
tenn he receives as a right-not as 6
oenefaction-a definite amount Of money
sufficient amount to tide him or his de-
pendents over the period Of greatest dis
tress."
Cost of Industrial Accidents.
THE halting discussion of employers
liability in the United States has made
gains in the last three years which gives
some hope that the more Fundamental
issues involved may at last be faced by
our people," said John Graham Brooks
of Cambridge. Mass, who presided a,
the afternoon session. THE ways through
which we have fastened responsibility fol-
industrial accidents upon the individual
workman; the grotesque. abuse of our
fellow servant and 'contributory negli-
gence clauses in liability acts continued
Mr.. Brooks. are heavy counts both
Of fair dealing. The principle that the
cost of industrial accidents should be
borne by the industry is so far advanced
that nothing can now prevent its early
a.:
as our whole industrial life has been
SocialiZed.
Varying Views Expressed.
There were varying views expressed by
the speakers during the session today or
the many phases Of employers liability
workmen's compensation and voluntary
insurance. Walter George Smith of Phil.
adelphia. president Of the conference Of
commissioners on uniform state laws, de.
clared that the 'cOllectivist theories thai
are finding their expression in the work
mems compensation act. old age pensions
and other socialiStic or quasi-socialistic
laws are based upon theories that were
not recognized when the American Con
stitution was framed and are quite for
eign to American political and social sci
ence. 1t may be. said Mr.. Smith. that a
solution of the problem will be found
eventually III voluntary insurance Sch6m mes
Henry j. Harris Of the bureau of labo.
Of Washington told the delegates and
guests at the meeting that no European
country that had introduced a system OF
workmen's insurance had ever returned
to the liability system now prevailing in
the United States. and now discarded by
nearly every industrial country in Europe.
Massachusetts Law Unsatisfactory.
Workmen's compensation In relation to
the industries of Massachusetts, was dis
cussed by James A. Lowell, chairman of
the Massachusetts, commission on en-
ployers' liability and compensation, who
said. in part:
"The present law in Massachusetts re-
lating to employers liability has caused
very great dissatisfaction to the employ
ers becaus in the administration Of the
law litigation is very frequent and there
is a possibility Of a lawsuit resulting in a
verdict so large as to be serious burden
Lawsuits embitter the relation between
employers and employees Employees have
not been satisfied with the present law
because the result of the lawsuits is
doubtful, only one in every eight or nine
injured persons being successful, and
there is long delay during which the
injured employe is without means of
support. Very large sums must also be
paid to lawyers. The law is unsa tisfac-
tory to the public at large because so
many Of the injured persons become de-
pendent upon private or public charity.
This often compels the children Of a fam
lily to become wage earners at too early
an age.
Proposed Compensation Law.
"a bill proposed by the Massachusetts
commission provides for compensation
equal to one-half wages, not to exceed
$40 a week, for three hundred weeks.
All injuries lasting more than two weeks.
which were received in the course of
employment. were covered, and all kinds
of employment where more than five per-
sons we're regularly employed. The
amounts payable for deaths varied ac-
cording to the persons dependent upon
the deceased but were not to be larger
than the above sum. The new law was
to be substitute for the present en-
poyers' liability act of Massachusetts,
The injured employe could sue at the
common law. or proceed under the new
act, but not both.
"There can be no question that the
result OF the new law would be to
greatly improve the present situation.