Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-04-28
Senator Thinks Hold Over
Committee Will Have Facts
Ready for Next Leg
iSIature

The end of the present sessions &C.
tivity on the workmen's compensation
bills, the agreement of the senate to
have a follower committee appointed
to investigate labor conditions on the
islands and report to the next legisla-
ture the result of its work, together
with a suitable measure for the bene-
fit of employees injured in their labor,
has received the approval of Senator
A. J. Writ, strong advocate for a
workmen's compensation act, and
Chairman of the special committee
which drafted the late Industrial in
suranee bill.
Though firmly urging the passage Of
the Industrial Insurance measure at
the time 1t was up for consideration
last week, and still of the opinion that
the bill as drafted by the committee
would be successful if enacted now,
Senator Wirtz Is not dissatisfied with
the action OF the senate. He will
probably be a member of the hold
ever committee, and II so he will be
undoubtedly active for the next two
Years working on the problem before
the committee.
It Is almost certain chat the COM
n ittee, by whomever composed, Will
have different ideas on the compensa-
ton problem Being one which has
had attempted solutions tried in many
of the states, and abroad, numerous
theories IN the form of aws have been
advanced, put in practise and declared
successful. Senators Mh0 have made
8 study or the 1f6BfeII have followed
different theories and aEfived at diner
ent conclusions.
Whether the measutes which have
been pronounced successful on the
mainland would prove the same were
they introduced here, 1r whether the
Industrial insurance plan, as operated
in Germany, would be satisfactory
here are questions to he decided by
the committee.
During the battles on the public
utility bills, the chief Argument
against the ones introduced by Sena-
tors Rice and Metzger was their bulkf-
ness, each one covering about 100
printed pages. 1t was contended that
they were not workable, that they
were concerned too much with detail,
and that the territory needed a short
and simple utility act, such as the one
Governor Frear wrote and which is
now law.
Arguments to the same point were
made on the compensation act. Many
contended for a more simple measure
than the one originally introduced by
Senator Writ. And the senator him.
self was displeased with the many
amendments made to his bill by. the
judiciary committee. saying that it
had complicated the proposed law
with legal procedure until it seemed
almost unavoidable. Senator Writes
idea of a workmen's compensation
law is one that will work automatic
ally, and without the necessity of an
injured employee obtaining the assist
ance of a lawyer. @ .. -.
During the next two years, as he
works on the measure, sc will prob
ably keep that foremost in mind. 70
have such a law it Is necessary to set
out in cold figures the value OF leg
or an eye or an arm, to be computed
on the basis of the wage of the in
iured workman. This Phase of it has
received some little opposition, it be-
ing urged that it often leads to injus-
tice in the shape of unfair settle
ments. r.. =@ H.
On the Industrial insurance theory,
an accident fund would be created, to
which the territory, employer and en-
ployed contribute proportionate parts.
A commission would be formed to hear
and determine all cases Of accidents
to workmen, and reward them their