Arizona republican., 1912-04-27

tion Making Federal Labor Laws Fit Modern Conditions-LegaI Machinery SimpIifed.
 AS the result of the personal interest of President Taft in all matters af- fecting the workingmen of the country, congress has before it today q com prehensive bill on employers liability and worEmens compensation which is recognized as one of the most progress Siye of the many achievements of the Taft administration. The bill was re- ported by commission appointed by President Taft pursuant to a joint res olutiOn of congress passed on June %. 1910. and it was recently sent to con- gross by the president accompanied with a message recommending it's pas sage As drafted the measure pro- vides an exclusive remedy and com peuSatiun for accidental injuries re- suitiu@ in disabilities or death to em- ployec- of common carriers engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the District of Columbia.
 This comprehensive legislation is the direct outcome of r4le general unsatis- factoriness of labor legislation passed by congress ill recent years and is il- illustrative of the Taft method of reach ing an admitted evil by a painstaking investigation followed by carefully considered laws. AS is well known. the first employers liability law passed in the last administration was declared unconstitutional by the courts. X new law to take it's place was passed un- der thiS administration. but it was gen eralIy understood at the time that the comprehensive measure now before congress was to follow, both aS to liability and compensation, as soon as the necessary investigation into the subject could he made. The result is that the Workingmen of the United States. 50 far as they can he reached by federal law, will soon be working under one of the most enlightened la bor laws on record.
 Provision is made in the bill, as draft ed tentatively. that every common car rier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce shall pay cOmpensatiOns in the amounts specified in the bill to any of its employees who sustainS personal injury by accident arising out of and ill the course of his employment and resulting in his disability or to his de pendentS in case of death.
 II is provided in the bill that the in- jured employee shall have medical at tendance and surgical aid when nee essary, the last mentioned being limit ed to S200. The monthly wages of an employee are deemed to be twenty-six times the established days pay, and $50 is the minimum monthly wage pay ment. It is also provided that all com pensation shall be paid monthly unless computed to q lump sum.
 Death benefits are provided for at q specific percentage of the mans wages 10 be paid to the widow with an in crease in the amount when there are dependent children, and i'll case of no dependents the payment of the burial expenses is required. The matter of personal injury compensation is also covered ill q fair and equitable pro- vision.
 Another feature of the proposed act iS a clear definition of the term de pendent as well as of what consti- tutes an injury and an "employee.' Legal complications are provided for, reports of accidents. payments and operations under the law to the inter state commerce commission are re quired, and it is declared that the pro- posed act shall take effect on July 1. 1912, and cited as the federal com pensation act of 1912'
 in its investigations of this subject the commission determined at the out set that in substance the doctrines ot the common law originating under com paratiyely simple conditions were un just as applied 10 the complex relations of master and servant The use ot complicated machinery, steam and cleo tricity has had the effect of increasing the deplOrable antagonism between employer and employee and often giving a few injured employees large and frequently extravagant damages while the great majority have been lef to bear tue entire burden without any recOmpense whatever.
 At tue ume or tne duOptIOn or tht common law rules of liability indus trial conditions were radically differ ent from those of today. The numbe of employees was smaller becaus, there were few big industrial plants The business carried on was small Il extent, the appliances used in tn work consisted largely of hand tools while the power was simple in char acter, with little danger to the em ployee. Under such conditions tn rules of common law originated.
 Today there is a vast difference President Taft, in the message whic transmitted the report of the commis sion to congress, aptly says, in speak ing of the proposed bill, that 1t is on of the great steps of progress towar satisfactory solution of an importar phase of the controversies between en ployers and employees that have bee proposed within the last two or thre decades. The old rules of liability III der the common law were adapted to different age and condition and wei