Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1912-12-07
EMPLOYERS
LIABILITY
EXPLAINED
James A. Emery, Authority
on Subject, Addresses
Trade Board Members
WOULD HAVE EXPERIENCED
MEN ADMISISTER LAW

James A. Emery, of Washington, d.
c., an authority on Employers Llabll-
ity Law, addressed a largely attended
meeting Of the Wilmington BoarG OF
Trade last night on Practical Legis-
lation for Accident and nellef' Mr..
Emery, who is counsel for the Ma
tional Association Of Manufacturers,
having studied the question of Employ
ers' Liability and the Workingman's
Compensation &C IN Germany and
other countries Of Europe. showed a
thorough knowledge Of his subject and
was well received. His address was
most interesting and instructive, as he
viewed the question from all sides, and
while he expressed himself as heartily
in favor of compensation for injured
employees, he is of the opinion that the
law should always be made to At local
conditions and that It should be
enacted only after the most careful
consideration.
Mr. Emery volunteered to answer
any questions at the close Of his ad-
dress 4. Allen Hilles, who Is chair
man of commission that is drafting
a proposed employers liability and
compensation act for Delaware, asked
several questions regarding the merits
OF the elective and compulsory sys-
TENS of liability and compensation,
and if il were not true that the Ger
man system is very expensive. Mr..
Hilles also told of some of his eX-
periences and observations in Ger
many last year. Mr.. Emery, in reply,
told of the tremendous scope Of the
German system and of its defects He
said that since the compensation act
had been enacted, very much lager
number Of smaller accidents were re-
ported than under the old law, but
that the reason for this was that the
act compels the injured employee to
report his accident and receive medi-
cal treatmnet This is 20 protect the
employer. Mr.. Emery also answered
questions bout the legal points of the
dineren. state employers liability and
wOrkmen's laws but he said that very
little could be learned from them as
they have not been tried out suffi-
ciently. In, the course ~ his address
Mr. Emery said:
by Employers Liability / under
stand the existing system by which
tvery employer is liable to his en-
ployes for personal injury by accident
during the course Of his employment
when the same is traceable to the
actual or imputed fault of himself or
his agent, the injured man himself
being positively or comparatively
free from negligence. BY Workmen's
Compensation is understood a system
In which every employer becomes a
limited insurer OF his employees
against the economic consequence of
disability or death from work injuries
originating in or received during the
ccurss OF his employment. without re-
gard TO the fault of either party with
respect to such accident.
THE system of Employers Liability,
originating in the common law and
developed through its Interpretation
and modifying statutes which have
greatly increased that liability, rests
upon the presumption that substan-
tally every accident is avertable and
therefore due to misconduct on the
part of the person injured or his en-
ployer II therefore treats every
cu'pable injury as a wrong wrought
by the employer upon the employe
and to be compensated i'm damages APP
propIi late to the particular circum-
stances of each case. IL is therefore a
system which prescribes rules of con-
duct for both employer and employe,
giving redress by damages against the
misconduct of the employer and the
conduct of the employ himself as COM
piled with the law"
A system Of Workmen's Compensa.
ton presumes that the great percen
tage of work injuries arise from risk:
inherent in the way the modern worlC
does its work, arising from causes il
a large degree beyond the control o.
either employer or employe. But
industry as a whole should assume
a collective responsibility for the con
sequences of accident and distribute
the economic burden of work acct
dents through society as a charge il
production. instead of permitting it I,
fall upon the injured individual or hi.
family Il recognizes that the revolu
tionary changes in methods of prOduc
ton by the introduction of new me
chanical forces and appliances and thu
operation of the same at high speel
are elements of danger unknown Il
the simpler productive conditions 0
an carer ptIlou. ~ ittOEniles iuiNhci
more the national loss in the qualit.
OF citizenship and productive efficienc,
consequent upon the extensive dis
ability and consequent productive in
capacity of a considerable fraction o
the working population. IL recog
uizes that the present method of ad
iustiug personal injury claims is un
Just i'm principle, expensive in oper