Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-08-30

non -ndZafdOuS empiONmentSl is Killed OF
injured while in the performance of his
duty he or his representatives promptly
and without delay certainly and without
doubt simply and without any lawsuit
shall receive compensation; that such
compensation shall be 10 per cent. of the
average earnings OF an employee or in
jured not, however. to exceed $40 per
week, which is equivalent to more than
$43 a month, and not less than s. per
week which is equivalent to $2167 per
month. The law provided further that
il should be optional with employee
whether to accept its provisions. If he
preferred to take his chances to SUE his
employer under the existing law he c5a.d
preserve and maintain that light by Civ
ing his employer notice.
Now pattangall says that this COM
pensation is grossly insufficient But this
compensation was satisfactory to every
representative of labor who appeared be-
fore the Legislature. 1t provides for the
same compensation as is fixed by the law
of Massa ehusetts Rhode Island, New
Jersey and nearly every Northern statel
have before me the report sf the indus
trial accident commission of tue state of
Washington. In that state nine hundred
and twenty-nine thousand dollars has
been paid out to injured workmen in the
period covered by the report without a
dollars deduction for lawyers fees or
other fees. How much money after de-
Quoting expenses has actually reached
workmen in Maine in the same time?
| have also before me the workman s
compensation law of the state of New
Jersey. This differs in some respects
from the one introduced in Maine but
the compensation provided by it is exact
ly the same. Turning to the last page
of the act find these words: May 9,
1911, approved by the Governor, The
Governor of New Jersey who not only
approved the bill but recommended it and
urged its passage was Woodrow Wilson.
According to Pattangall, Woodrow Will
son handed to the people of New Jersey
Gold Brick.
But there is one bill that Mr. Pattangall
seems to approve He says, again quot
ing his words as reported in the Water
Vile Sentinel: There is bill now pend
ing in Congress which provides for a
compensation of $25 per week, provided
| the employee is earning this amount
| want YOU to ask Mr.. Peters and Mr..
Lawrence when they come here if they
| would vote for that law now pending in
Congress- z-fs
Now If there were such a bill and
If | favored ii l. would sooner, trust
a man like, Mr.. Peters who voted for
| some compensation for injured work
men than to trust Mr.. Pattangall who
with others butchered the only bill pro-
Vldlng for any compensation for IN
Jured workmen in the state of Maine.
But further answer is that there
| is no such bill pending in Congress
| and never has been. The bill pending
| in Congress which is Senate Bill $3.50
and which applies of course only to
| the District of Columbia and To en-
| ployes of interstate railroads provides
! for minimum compensation of s.
per week, amounting to $2167 a
month. Now | would not, of course,
accuse Bro. Pattangall of mendacity.
He is getting to be very touchy and
| is threatening suits for libel. Hav-
ing always scrupulously avoided IL
belling others, except those persons
that he has taken occasion to men
tien, he is naturally sensitive about
being libeled himself. But | feel
| bound to say that man who in un-
dertaking to explain Il proposition and
in quoting from a printed document
substitutes and work week for the
word month" is more careless in the
handling of truth than any man who
| has appeared in public life in recep.
year, with the single exception of Df
/ Cook.
/ / aequit Mr.. Pattangall of intention
| al misrepresentation He probably
/ dreamed that there was a bill pending
| in Congress providing full compensa-
ton for an injured workman whose
| wages were $25 a week. A man, of
| course. is not responsible for his
dreams. But when he tells his dreams
not as dreams but as facts, when lie
offers the hallucinations of his trou-
bled sleep as evidence, as clear ex-
plantations of important public acts,
even his dreams become important to
disclose his nominal attitude.
When Pattangall tells the people to
ask Mr. Peters if he would vote for IA
bin providing minimum eompensa
tion of S25 per week, notwithstanding
no such bill exists outside of his own
disordered Imagination, he means, if
he means anything, that he would vote
for bill providing for such compen-
sation.
Reasonable representatives of labor
are satisfied to have Maine manufacture
ers and employers charged with burden
of compensation equal to that charged
| by other states upon competing manu-
facturers and employers. Reasonable
manufacturers and employers are per-
| fectly willing to bear the same burden
of compensation as is borne by their
competitors in other states. But what
think you. Mr.. Manufacturer of a man
who is Seeking election tor Congress who
is willing to put upon the, shoulders of
| Maine employers a charge for compen-
sation to injured workmen two and one
half times as great as that borne by EN-
ployers engaged in similar lines in neigh
| boring states? Mr.. Pattangall displays
| all the excessive but temporary zeal OF
| the new convert. Last winter he was OPP
/ posed to any compensation to injured
| workmen. He now advocates compen-
/ sation two and one-half times as great as
| anybody asks. You remember the story
/ of the man who was found belaboring
the poor Jew. He was pulled off of the