El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-11

The discussion Of the plans for work
mems compensation at the conference
Of the National Civic federation held in
New York city brought out the great
progress made in this direction in the
United States. says the New York
Times. At the same time it shows
that public opinion is not yet
clearly defined as to some important
phases Of the subject
There is general agreement on one
pOint-that the old common law de-
fences in case Of injury should practi-
cally be abolished. These are three in
number. First is that Of contributory
negligence by the injured emplOye. This
is so difficult to define, the workman
in the highly organized industry of the
time, employing varied and complex
machinery, has so little control Of the
cOnQluOnS or his occupation, that the
old doctrine can no longer be fairly
. applied. The second is the negligence
Of a felOW-emplOye, and against this
the same objections are still stronger
The third is the doctrine that a per-
son in taking employment assumes
the risks attending it. As he cannot
guard against those risks as often he
cannot even know at the time what
those risks are, and as, generally, his
need Of work is such that he has no
choice and is not a free agent, this
doctrine is now generally admitted to
" ODSD4EAE aS wei as extremely n4-
just The chief objection to all these
defences on the part Of the employer
IS that, when pleaded in the courts,
they give opportunity for endless de-
lays and numberless technical diff
culties. which increase uncertainty,
augment costs and make the admins
tratiOn Of justice futile to do justice.
Another point on which there is
pretty general agreement is that, what
ever compensation for injury is pro-
Vided for by law the injured person |
and his dependents should be en-
abled to obtain It surely promptly and |
with no deduction for costs. Toward /
this end various plans are now in oper-
atom In one OF two states the law |
fixes the amount of compensation for 1
specified and classified injuries. col !
1ects the funds to pay it, and disburses /
them. The sources of the funds vary. I
In Washington they are collected from 1
the employers alone; in Ohio a small I
percentage IS gathered from the work /
men. In most states employers may /
assent to the plan or not If not, they /
are forbidden to plead any OF the three /
defences we have described In New 1
Jersey the employees may choose /
whether they will accept the terms \
fixed by law. or viii sue the employer /
for their common law rights
The cOmpIexity and uncertainty Of 4
legislation and legal decisions on this 4
general subject have been so great that 4
q system OF employers liability in /
surance has grown up In principle i
It Is not open to serious objection. In \
practice it has become veXatiOus and
often unjust 1t substitutes as defend
ant in suits for compensation for in
jury IN the place Of the employer who |
may vel feel that it is to his interest
that his WOrkmen shall be fairly
treated and shall know that they are
a corporation which is tempted to pay
as little as possible, and, sometimes
to discourage suits by delay and costs
The only one Of the state systems. we I
believe, that is framed specifically to |
avoid the objections to this mode Of
settlement is that of Massachusetts,.
In that state the employers may elect
whether they WIZ come under the law, I
but If they do not they cannot plead
the old common law defences in civil
suits. The employees also may make
the choice. If both come under the (
law, then the payments fixed by the
law are secured by the employers tax
ing ont an adequate policy in an Ordi-
nary liability company, or in the En-
ployers' Insurance association author
lied by the state, in which the insur-
ance can be had practically at cost
This, it viii be seen. is a plan to in
sure, not the employers. but the en-
ployes from loss.
The main aim. as we have said, of
all these plans is to secure to the in
jured certain and prompt payment of
damages defined by the law It is an
aim which is very generally approved
by the more intelligent employers. The
for study and experiment, but that it
VIII ultimately be substantially
reached there is, happily, very little