The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-05-04
CROWNHART SLATED FOR JOB
Will be Named as Commissioner to
Have Charge of Carrying Out Pro
visions of the New Act-Beck to be
On Commission

The workmen s compensation bill will
become a law within week, unless
Governor McGovern finds something in
the bill which demands revision, and
interest therefore centers on the three
appointments to be made to the com
mission which will administer the law.
Something more than ordinary gossip
says these three will be Prof. John r.
Commons of the University of Wiscon-
sin; Charles H. Crownhart, of Superior,
and Joseph M. Beck, the present COM
missioner of labor and industrial sta
tistics. Commissioner Beck is now
serving under "recess' appointment
by Governor Davidson, few of whose
appointments were made during the
last legislative session. His term
technically has run out, but it is said
that Gov. McGovern has refrained
from making an appointment until the
passage Of the workmen s compensa
ton bill was certain. This bill pro-
vides that the commissioner of labor
shall be an ex-oficio member of the
new commission, and Mr.. Beck's re,
seems certain.
Crownhart is Slated.
Charles Fl. Crownhart has been slat-
ed for this position it is declared from
the first. He managed the primary
campaign Of Senator LaFollette last
fall and ran independently for attor
ney general when his name was dis
placed on the Republican ticket by
that of Levi H. Bancroft pursuant to
a supreme court decision.
1t is not known whether Prof. Com
mons would accept place on the COM
mission or not, but there is no question
that he can have the position if he
will take it. He is one of the fore
most economists in the country and is
highly regarded by the administration.
Efforts to Prevent Passage.
1t has become known that as late
as Tuesday, when the amendment to
preserve the law as a whole if GER
tain features were held unconstitution-
al by the supreme court was being dis
cussed before the joint committee prior
to concurrence by the senate ,strenu-
Gus efforts were made to prevent the
final passage of the measure. Not only
were objections raised in committee to
the amendment, but personal pressure
was brought to bear on certain sena-
tors to refuse to vote for concurrence.
The Milwaukee Merchants and Manu-
facturers' association is said to be re-
ally opposed to the bill as a whole.
Will Have Court Test.
While the compensation feature of
the law will not go into effect until
next September, it will probably be
tested in the courts before that time.
1t is planned to cause friendly suit
to be brought as soon as it is time for
the secretary of state to audit the
salaries of the members of the com
mission. This measure, in the form
of a mandamus proceeding directed
against the secretary of state, would
take the matter Immediately into the
supreme court as a test Of it's consti-
utionality, and this question would
thus be settled by the time it became
necessary to put the compensation pro-
visions into effect
Would Remedy Defects.
IF the law at that time should not
be upheld, the decision would operate
simply against the abolition of the
two defenses of assumption of risk and
negligence of the fellow servant and
the compensation feature, in a purely
optional form, would remain on the
statute books until the next legisla-
ture, or the present membership at an
extraordinary session, could remedy
the defects found by the supreme
court.
Louis H. Limper, who is now serv-
ing his final year at Robert College,