The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-09
DONOHUE WOULD CHANGE COMPENSATION ACT BY
 REDUCE WAITING TIME
Thinks The Award For Specific Injur- ies Should Be Increased === Com pensation. Commissioners Discusses Operation Of. Law Before State Federation

Improvement in the conditions of the
 industrial workers.
 4The Compensation idea is simply
 an attempt to place employer and eIn-
 pIoyee on the same reasonable basis, and is simply in line with the idea
 that men suffering injury in Nopera- | tions, hazardous or not, should be provided for by some means so that l the burden should not fall on the enn- 1 ployee. Whether the burden falls on the employer or employees the gem 1 era1 public has to bear it as a rule in I the end any way. When it falls on i the employer, he can raise the price of his goods, and the burden can bes so distributed that no one suffers any 1 great Hardship; but when the em- ployee was compelled to bear it, the I burden fell often 6n his immediate
 family and so, did an injustice to in- nocent parties. In the end they W ould 1 be unable to cory it, and the state I was then compelled to assume the burden. The main point is that we l should take care that the burden does l not fall on those least able to bear it. E The Compensation plan seems to be a very practical solution and the Ismost reasonable method of treating I the situation. The old idea that a I 1'workman. when he receives his pay, lreceived compensation for the risk un- T NAS4 l<1kA6l1e Is HOW lOOk0Ql upon as aD- I.surd. for the mass of workmen re- lceive hardly enough to give them a living.
 This first effort on the part of the. I government to take care of it's ern- pIoyees had a far-reachingf effect l When the government gave it's stamp T of approval. it was soon taken up by si the state legislatures. and favorably Isacted upon in many of them The sE state of Massachusetts. which seem ed to be the pioneer state in this line, sl shortly after that act was passed by
 the government, passed a similar law Il for its railroad employees.
 First Compensation Law in Germany
 The great pioneer nation in Com Ipensation laws seems to be Germany. st Germany was one of the first coun-
 tries to put into practical operation Fl the Compensation Law, and they have
 now in operation an o1d-age pension i law Some few years after Germany l put it's Compensation Law into effect, 4l Great Britain passed g Compensation I Law and while it caused a great deal of legal entangiement at first, it has .l proved sto be great success. These laws were drafted on the plan. and had for their basis, the fact that acci- i dents were a. part of occupation and, f as such the employee she uld be en- I titled toscompe ensation as much as to his wages After the new law was adopted in England, the idea became gradually injected into the world of
 labor in the United States, and little by little the legislatures broadened
 their views on this subject finally
 coming closer to the British idea
 which could not but appeal to any
 one looking at it from cold, com
 nonsense logical view. Deaths by Accidents
 i The laborer is worthy of his hire,
 and accidents for which the employer t is more responsible than the employee
 should. of right, be consi idered a part
 of their hire. It is neither right nor just that the laborer should suffer for
 the shortcomings of his employer.
 Too many lives have been lost, and the hazards have been Increasing
 more than the means for preventing < them. The enployeFsis is the man who
 increased them, hence it is only fair j, that he should bear his share of the
 burden incurred by their increase
 Industrial Accidents
 tIn this country one-half of the z deaths which occur as a result of ac-
 cfdents occur in industrial occlIpa-
 uonss~ and are the result of machin- | cry in motion, showing the necessity E of greater protection, for the greater : part of these injuries are proven tab bIe.
 Our loss of life does not compare at all favorably with that of European : I-countries,- showing InoSz SorcIbIy that we are in need of more strenuous , laws to support the men who are do- ing our factory inspecting. It is worthless to have a man in the posi- 2 ton of factory inspector if he is not
 supported by the law and supported by a law that. will back him up to the ; full extent of removing any dangero ous 5 piece of ma achinery which may seem necessary. It is a potent fact that 2 too many lives are sacrificed every , year in our haste and greed for 7 wealth. and a remedy is demanded. Compensation Law in Connecticut i've have now been operating un- der the Compensation Law in the State of Connecticut4 some eight months, but the three months pre- feeding the date on whichs4the Com pensation Law went into effect were
 spent in strenuous work, shaping uI the forms and bulletins preparatory to the law going into effect. The -Commissi oners held frequent meet ings twice a week, or sometimes more
 and these meetings were. continued late into the night, and after consider able work the various forms were got ten out and put into the hands of the Town Clerks, so that they might be
 accessible to the public. At first
 there seemed to be a general com l plaint from everybody on account o1 7 their lack of knowledge concerning g the law. and on account of certajr l features of the Act which were not s made clear by it's draft
 RefusaIs by Employers.
 Probably the one feature of the f law which tended to make the Act al f most unjustIy unpopular was the fail s ure to exempt the employers of less s then five employees and on that ac- : count. after the Attorney General had ], given us his ruling, it was necessary = to prepare special forms and cause g every small employer to fill them ou s and file their refusaIs to accept IT . my district, the Second Compression. g al which includes all of New London
 Windhan, Holland and MiddIeseS e Counties, there have been filed te s date 2,608 refusals to accept the act l and the feeling of the small employ