The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-10-25

publican Legislature Gave the Law
A Grand Trunk train was wrecked
at Birmingham, Mich, Sunday, Sept
Is. Among other casualties a mar
was killed. He was James ii. Meyers
head brakeman. The published reports
say his wages were $S5 per month, o.
$40 per week. James Meyers was
killed on the fourteenth day after {
new law had gone into effect in Mich
igan, the Workingmen's Compensation
law. To this law and the fact tina
the weekly wage mentioned, is to b'
added third, that on the "wednesday
following there appeared before the
widow and her two small children il
Battle Creek an agent of the Crane
Trunk Western railway. And, said the
agent to the widow:
Your compensation for your hus
bands death will be $4,000. That il
the sum of SO per week, half YOU
late husbands wages, for a period o.
$50 weeks. If you want the $4,000 il
lump sum you can have it,"
Three thousand dollars does mo-
really compensate for the death of &
husband and father. No string o.
figures with dollar sign leading then
can do that. Perhaps that was the
Widows thought. But on the Other
hand there is consideration of what
might have been, what really was, il
the common run of cases, all through
the years that came to notable enc
Sept. LIST, last.
I'VE find that the average compel
sation and relief as to fatal accidents
IN the industrial enterprises of Mich
gan had been S338.53," says the com
mission which investigated conditions
while the old law was in effect.
Whence it follows that, while one
may reserve to himself the reflection
that money compensation does not
wholly compensate, the measure o1
compensation is today more nearly
full than it was of yore; and the bal
ance is as $4,000 cash in hand against
$33S.53 won after long litigation and
continuous heartbreak, with ever the
haunting fear that there wouldn't be
1t all. Not the least cruel of the ele
ments of the old time situation indeed
was this element Of uncertainty.
People are beginning to affirm the
belief that the new Workingmen's
Compensation law is the most bene
fetal single statute ever enacted by a
Michigan egislature.-Detroit News
Sept. q. 1912.
The foregoing story clipped from
the News, paper which is certainly
not biased in favor of the Republican
party, seems to set forth the universal
opinion of the press of the state. The
leading dailies and weeklies of De
troit and other Michigan cities have
voiced the same sentiment in story
and editorial.
Formerly, as shown in the story r.
the News, an injured employee was
compelled to spend from three to five
years in fighting his damage case
Through the courts, with never a hope
OF getting more than half of the yer.
dict rendered by the jury. Then the
amount paid for the loss of human
life averaged little more than $500.
This condition was made possible
Inv tho font haf old lat
was on the side of the employer. II
gave him several defenses which have
been abolished by the new law. Chief
of these were the fellow servant doc
'trine and the doctrine of ordinary
care.
I Under these doctrines a man who
had been injured in the performance
of his duty could collect little If il
could be shown he had known the risk
even though he had been forced to
assume that liability to feed hungry
family. II, to pratect his loved ones
from starvation or shelter them from
the winters chills, he had taken a job
at the side of AN incompetent fellow
semploye, he was given nothing in
case of injury through the fault of
that fellow servant" whom, perhaps,
he had never spoken with in his life.
II he was negligent himself, he could
not make the company suffer no mat.
ter how grossly they transgressed the
principles of caution. They didn't
make the company divide on the neg
ligence-the worker bore it all.
Under the new law all these de-
lenses are eliminated. Now, when a
laborer is injured, his employer must
come to him. They cannot offer to
settle" They must pay down a certain
amount Of cash at once, an amount
based on the extent Of the injury ae
determined by state commission
and on the amount of wages the EN-
ploye was earning. There is no law.
yer's fees There are no court costs
The workingman gets 1t all.
The voters Of Michigan are going
to vote to continue in power the Re
uuhItcan MARTY tho orpa piz alton that