The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-12
$ cut off through the negligence of the


 corporation, he is rushed to the company hospital, perhaps unconscious, and before he has opportunity to see attorney or friend the agent calls to see him. He is told that the agent has seen every witness and obtained a written statement from each. that the company Is not liable in the least, but that he was injured by req son of his own negligence, but the com- pany Is sorry for him and wants to help him. He is told that if he puts his case in the hands of lawyer he will lose his job and never work for the company again, that the company has regularly paid attorneys to fight the case through all the courts in the state. consuming four or five years of litigation, that eventually the company is bound to win out or even should the company finally offer him a little more that he will have to give his lawyer half, but that tho company will give nothing by way of settlement if he does put the case in tue hands of an attorney. Just at this juncture, perhaps,s a hundred silver dol- lars are poured out on the table or chair and he Is told that the company Is will ing to do this much for him because they want to help him, but he must sign a re- lease. Now in the case of a negro the sight of one hundred dcs,ars in silver will almost make him tumble and he
 
 the pen and gets about enough to buy him a wooden leg and a few provisions to tide him over till he can get some thing to do. Sometimes he is offered a permanent position with the company at a stipulated salary for the rest of his life. above the regular salary for this kind of work. and just think, you will have a position for life at $125.O0 per month";" The statute of limitation runs and per- In aepi6antc fOraVQr barred in year from the date of injury; he is then fired or his wages are reduced at the pleasure of the company and he has no recourse whatever
 It Is commonly reported among the law yers that certain corporations have an understanding with certain shyster by which he is notified at once when an &C., cident occurs and Is given the names and addresses of each person injured. He pro- ceeds to the residence or hospital, gets the case. has his client sign a power of attorney authorizing the shyster to settle the case at whatever he thinks best, and the shyster then proceeds to the company and settles cases worth s5009 to $10,0OD for $50 to $200. He then explains to his client that he investigated the case and found that the company was not liable and he thought he had better settle for whatever he could get; he gives the vic tim his half and then proceeds to the company again, but not to settle his clients case. In other words, if this rumor is to be credited. certain shysters are merely the agents of certain corpora ticns who hold a license to practice law. Now I do not think the claim agent should be censured too severely if he is doing the work assigned to him, and 1t stands to reason that if his work is un- satisfactory he would not be retained. do not mean to insinuate that all the public service corporations, nor all their agents, engage in such practices, any more than I would say that all the at torneys do the things said about them. but the experience of many lawyers at this bar will bear me out in many things I have said.
 Now what about the just and meritor- ious damage suit? must say that I deem 1t the only safeguard and protec- ton the working man has. When we consider that each year in the United States alone there arc more persons kill ed and maimed by the railroads alone than fell in the battle of Gettysburg, I think 1t needs no further argument to convince that the laboring man and his family need protection. There are crimi- nal statutes. both state and city, it is true. but do they afford him any pro lection? Do they feed his family when he is killed in the discharge of his duty? How many arrests are there in Blrming- ham in year of persons connected with corporations for violations of law regard ing negligence wherein the lives of thou ands are put in Jeopardy? What does @ small fine amount to-? But when you touch the strong box the corporation im- mediately begins to devise some means of lessening the number of accidents, they make more rigid rules regarding speed, and begin to use more safety ap- pliances, not that they love humanity more, but that they love the damage suit less I commend one of our public service corporations most heartily for impulse moved, in an effort to reduce the number of accidents caused by per- sons attempting to board cars while in motion. I, for one, would be willing never again to have damage suit for personal injury if means could be es- tablished by which personal injuries could be eliminated.
 But what is the remedy, or is there n remedy? think the corporations should fight every fake damage suit to the court of last resort. if necessary. I think they encourage litigation every time they settle a case in which they know there is liability. They owe 1t to the community as well as themselves. For the old adage, if you kill fly there will be three more come to attend the funeral. applies just here think the corporations should offer just and reasonable settlements in such cases as they are clearly liable; l think they should not tolerate any re-