Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-27
PLEA FOR WORKERS
Taft Hopes Compensation
Law Will Be Adopted.
GIVES VIEWS ON SUBJECT
Would Affect 100000 Employees
of Railroads Of the Country.
COURT COSTS SHOULD BE LESS
Proper Methods OF Distributing
Damages and Practices of For
eign Countries Discussed.

i
actment of law for workmen's compen-
sation. which, he declares. should be
handled without injection of politics.
| The law the President urges would d.
rectly touch 100000 employees Of rail-
roads. deeply interest 10000 owners of
railroad stocks and bonds and be long
step in the direction of uniform legisla-
ton by the states looking to enactment
Of laws benefiting workmen in all lines of
industry.
Parts of the interview of vital concern
to workmen generally are as follows:
my hope and belief is that there will
be passed at this session, with practically
little disagreement between the houses of
Congress or among the parties. a COM
pensation bill that will be an enlightened
substitute for the anciently founded prin-
c1ples of the common law as applied to
the liability of the employer to the en-
ploye for injuries or death sustained in
daily work. Whatever I can consistently
| will take pleasure in doing 1t has been
nxed hope that / might be able to sign
| progressive measure of this kind before
the close of my term of Office
bearing upon the railroads and their en-
ployes upon the. statute books?''
Merely the Beginning.
THAT Is true, but it is just the initia-
tive In legislation OF this kind-merely
the beginning of comprehensive laws,
| FAIR alike to employer and employe. The
proposed workmer's compensation I adj
vocate is intended to take the place Of Ii
existing liability law. That law, whic..
has only recently been declared constitu-
| tional by the Supreme Court, Attorney
General Wickersham intervening on be-
n hn mi Ckn&
| tablisfes the right Of the employee OF COM
mon carriers doing an interstate busi-
ness to recover damages for injury or
death resulting in whole or in part from
employees OF the carrier, or by reason OF
| any defect or inefi1ciency due to the car
| riers negligence In Its cars, engines, APP
pliances machinery. track, roadbed.
w WORK boats. o, Wharves or other equip.
rule, provides that the fact that the en-
ploye may have been guilty of contribu-
| tory negligence should not bar recovery
OF damages. but should only reduce HIS
damages in the proportion that his negli-
gence contributed to his injury or death.
The doctrine OF the common law
originated when the relations between
master and servant were compare
| lively simple: when machinery was not
| complex; when one man gave employ
ment to comparatively few workmen and
could personally supervise them to guard
against accidents. and when all the en-
ployes Of one man knew each other.
| their habits and faults. It was not un.
reasonable, therefore, that the employee
should be denied damages, where he had
| been negligent himself. or had accepted
| service with full knowledge OF ell the
risks involved, including that of q fellow
servant, who might be responsible for
| causing accident or death.
But today machinery Is complicated
and dangerous; steam and electricity. and
al hnwS
dustrial world. In the railroad field
especially the occupations of the men are
extra hazardous. and there Is deplorable
| loss of life and limb No longer does the
employer know the habits and charac-
teristics Of. the employee; small business
| has become one of huge proportions. One
great railroad system Of the country en-
ploys 125.O0O men; master and servant
sion must be intrusted to officers and
foremen; the real employer Is far re-
| moved from the workmen.
Basis Of Compensation.
Man today is injured through the in
herent dangers Of industry. and the basis
Of compensation ought to be changed and
| made a risk Of industry itself, SO that
the liability will follow from the fact of
injury. That should be SUFFICIENT, and
there should be law for compulsory
compensation to employees Of interstate
aoa Tor ths or h out
The remedy and compensation should be
exclusive Of all others now provided by
law. Such q bill would embody most
righteous and just solution OF the ques-
ton. fair alike to the railroads and their
employees
why not extend the law to Indus
tries generally? Why confine it to the I'M
terstate commerce railroads?'
1aA Avkn ~ tIaA Ia oh
by state legislation for the states. The
authority of Congress to enact the pro-
posed law has been questioned, but am
satisfied that Congress has the constitu-
tional power. The decision OF the SUI
preme Court in the employers liability
case seems to establish the fact that this
is a regulation Of interstate commerce un-
der the commerce clause Of the Constitu-
whether the railroads are denied due
process of law according to the fifth
amendment to the Constitution, and still
another objection might be that the right
of trial by jury, according to the guaran-
tee Of the seventh amendment, Is denied,
I'm the meantime the states will, /
hope. direct thoughtful attention TO the
| subject with q view to uniform lesisla-
| ton patterned after that which has been
80 carefully planned. few Of the states
| have already enacted laws looking to the
| elimination Of the common law doctrines.
/ should like to see the governors and
| legislatures OF the various states try TO
| reach q common basis for legislation. In
| many matters of no more vital conse-
| quence the states have sent representa-
i tives to conventions for the purpose Of
/ bringing about laws working in unity.
''The circumstances under which rail-
road mans labors are performed are such
/ that right OF recovery should be confined
/ to 'willful Intention, or 'intoxication.' No
| railroad employee ought to endanger the
/ lives Of passengers and the property Of
| his employer by going to his work In q
/ state Of intoxicatien or becoming that
i way while on duty.
Cost IN England small.
''The cost OF settlement OF accidents
| and deaths in England. under their COM
pensation laws, has been exceptionally
i small. Facts gathered some years ago
! showed that most Of the litigation had
been over questions of principle. The
vast majority OF the injury cases were
settled by agreement. Fully So per cent
| Of these were settled out OF court. In the
/ death cases there was not over p per
/ cent before the courts, and these included
cases where the superintendent Of bene-
fits among the benehciaries had to be
| fixed.
/ 'sThe matter OF expensive court costs
and all-arUund litigation Is one Of the
principal things the proposed BILL In
Congress seeks to avoid. Under the
/ common law principle now prevailing
in this country employees frequently re-