Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-27

been 4 busy session in accomplish
ment. We are to be credited, to begin |
with, not only with such laws as may |
be enacted and put upon the statute |
books, but with some matters that |
have been carefully considered and
turned down Many of them have |
taken up Il great deal of time, in some
instances more time than has been
given TO some of the laws that we
have passed.
The program that this Legislature
Will have to 90 before the people on
! is, in its larger sense, divided into
two parts as | understand it. The i'm
portant bills that this Legislature has
passed may he divided into two classes,
those relating to the conduct of the
business of the state. and if the
second place, those that make up what
| call the human welfare program of
this session.
! Among the business list / need refer
! briefly to only a few: The Act relating
to advertising for employees during
| strikes; tha Act including railroads in
! the weekly payment bill; the Act to
punish the use of false statements in
| securing credit: the modification of
! the fish and game laws, which is now
| in process, which is itself work of
tremendous labor. 1t has been contem-
plated by various Legislatures but it
| has finally been accomplished by this
committee on inland fisheries and
| game under the direction of the sena-
| tor from Kenncbcc; the law relating to
| investments, popularity called the Blue
! Sky law. introduced by the senator
| from Penobseot, Senator Richardson
after very painstaking study a law
which l believe will be enacted; and
| the public utilities bill which needs no
| comment from me.
! But, important as the business part
of this program has been, the other
half of it. the human welfare program,
is much more Important. and as d
background for this most important
bill of that program. Z want to refer
briefly to some of the salient features
of the human welfare program up to
date. The teachers pension bill which
affects every community in this State,
as the senator from Somerset so elo-
aueotly said when the bill was pending
! in the Senate on its final passage; the
State cerUication of teachers which
we have tried for. for three sessions.
!
ed at this session. the Act changing
the burden of proef in certain cases
where contributory negligence is de-
! Tense; the Act providing for the treat
ment of juvenile dependents by State
institutions receiving State aid; the
Act 70 provide for indeterminate sent
Penoeseot, Senator Bailey. and to my
/ adx- nI CiN-4a.
piece of legislation; the Act to provide
/ for presidential primaries which is now
on it's way through and which l as
sumo will receive its passage; the So
called white slave law, considered
| favorably by the Senate and now on
its way through; and the State goard
of charities and corrections. a measure
| which in the mind of a great many
people is hardly inferior in Importance
to the public utilities bill itself.
Now we come to the climax of the
| human welfare program of this ses-
sion of the Legislature, the so-called
| workmens compensation act. and the
| theory of it is familiar. l blieve to
| every member of this Senate,-the rea-
son for it in these modern days In
| the old days the employer and the en-
|
| groups, side by side. The conditions
that governed the labor of an employee
were familiar to his employer and u.s.
| ually We're shared by the employer.
| and in the little shop or on the farm
| they worked in small groups together,
| and under those conditions the rules
/ of common law that apply TO the re-
| lations of master ana servant have
| grown up.
| In these days Of large aggregations
of capital, of large plants employing
great numbers of men, those rules are
no lOnged adequate. No longer does
| the employer work side by side with
his employee, under the same condi-
tiuns. and knowing all the conditions
| of the labor that the employee per
forms And it has become necessary.
and that necessity is being recognized
in state after state of this Union, to
adopt some new means of assuring
to the employee proper and prompt
compensation for the accidents that re-
suit in the ordinary course of indus
trial labor.
With that necessity in mind, both
political parties in the last campaign
promised legislation along this line
the Republican party perhaps more
definitely promising a workmen's COM
pensation act both in it's platform and
through the utteranceS of its candi-
date for governor and others upon the
stump.
The Democratic party, however, prom
Used in its platform what may fairly be
interpreted to mean a workmen's com
pensation act in some FORM
bill has been introduced. COM
mittee of this Legislature, and especial
ly a subcommittee of that committee on
judiciary has been working for weeks
upon the measures, the same methods
have been followed that were followed |
in the ease of the public utilities bill,
and the work of that committee has
been painstaking and thorough and
faithful to the last degree. The bill is
now here before us for consideration.
Before we enter upon the discussion
of the bill itself-and / will say that
the bill is to be explained by the men, |
bers of the committee and l shall not
touch upon it's features-I want to say /
Just one word about the practical con-
ditions that surround it in this Legis- /