Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-05
COMPENSATION.
Continued from Page one9


words in favor of the workman's COM
pensation act from the standpoint of
the employer.
Il first became interested in this
subject when gathering statistics and
information as to costs of labor ana
materials in my investigations for the
tariff board. The cost of materials in
the manufacture of a product is a
comparatively easy thing to determine
but the cost of labor per unit of pro-
duct is the most difficult problem that
the careful investigator is confronted
with.
The splendidly organized labor in
terestS have fixed prices of labor with
almost the nicely and precision of
commodities in production. This cost
of injuries then, is about the only
element left which upsets the equilibri-
UNI of both labor and capital.
There will undoubtedly be concerns
which viii for a time be embarrassed
and perhaps injured by this new prin-
ciple but l believe that the very great
benefit which will accrue to the pub
lie at large and to labor in particular
will offset and more than counterbal-
ance.
The common law assumes that the
employer could not be liable unless he
had been guilty of some fault of eth
er omission or commission, and the
workman had not been guilty of con-
tTihutoTy negligence and had not as
stunned the risk in the course of employ
ment. The workmen's compensation act,
on the contrary, makes the employer
, liable as an insurer regardless ~ wheth-
er he has been guilty Of any fault or
not and. also regardless of the contribu-
tory negligence of the employee or his
apparent assumption of the risk of the
business, spent cXtravagantIy or in
vested ioolishly.
To the manufacturers and employers
OF labor I saY without reserve that
believe that the total cost OF injuries
and deaths under the workmen's com
pensation act viii be less than the
present cost Of damages including le-
sal expenses which in one way or an
other they are obliged to pay under
the common law system.
To the workmen of Maine say most
emphatically that this act will give
far greater compensation for injuries
than he can hope for under the old sys-
TEN. He will not need to employ ex-
pensiye counsel to sue for damages and
possibly perjure himself and his friends
including often his family physician
and hired medical experts
/ Rev. Henry (. Dunnack
Rev. H. E. Dunnack of Augusta
then spoke briefly in support of the
measure. He said that six months
ago he thought he knew something
about the subject, but since then he
had been reading and found that what
he knew was not so great an amount
of information as some of the others.
He came before the committee chiefly
to express the sentiment which pre-
vailed generally among clergymen in
favor of this bill
John F. Connolly, commissioner of
labor, believed that one of the chief
BENEFITS of the measure would be in
the prevention of accidents. He
stated that in a year S14 accidents.
s. of which We're fatal, had been re-
ported to the department. In most
cases conditions that caused the acct
dents have not been improved and in
nine out of 10 because the employers
suffer no financial loss.
Joseph A. Parks of the Massachu-
sets Industrial Board was called by
Mr. Deasey and explained some of the
workins of the compensation law in
that state. He argued strongly
against allowing employers to carry
their own insurance because of the
risk to the employees. Individuals are
subject to all sorts of reverses and
may not be able to pay the eompensa-
w 10 11ta al
~ willing to do so. He did not favor
allowing any individual insurance un-
der the act
People of Maine Demand Law.
Former Attorney General PhilbIook de-
sired to add just word in favor of the
principal of the workman's compensation
law. The time had arrived when it was
recognized fact that there must be a
compensation for the broken and Worn
bodies coming out of the industrial es-
Establishments, as well as for the worn and
broken machinery of these establish
ments. The people of Maine expected
that this Legislature would enact such
law as this and he urged that they not
be disappointed.
Mr.. Philbrook then cited the case of
the Central Maine Power Company which
took out an industrial insurance and
found that its employee who met with
accidents We're not being fairly dealt
with and discontinued the insurance.
Then it set aside a certain sum of mon
ey, to which it was constantly adding,
and took care of these cases itself. 1t
did not wait for suits at law to settle
these matters. out endeavored to show
its men that it was interested in them.
He hoped that when the law was finally
drafted there would be provision by
which a company which had established
such a custom could be within the law