The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-01-23

to the compensation act and regula-
ton of private employment offices.
Consolidation of State Boards.
"a glance over the roster of the
state boards and commissions, sal
ared and non-salaried should con-
vince us that we are much over-gov-
erned along that line. A state tax levy
of % mills for the next year is con-
vincing enough that retrenchment is
needed. Each legislative session sees
some new board or commission Great
ed and appropriations for the conduct
of the states business mounting stead
lily skyward. Farmers who have stu
died the question are of the opinion
that many of the present state boards
can be abolished altogether, placing
their work within the scope of some
other department of state government.
The operation would no doubt be pain
full to those suddenly divorced from
the public payroll but entirely sue
cessful when viewed from the stand
point of the taxpayer.
Blue Sky Law.
"a bill to protect investors in stock
selling concerns was introduced at the
last session by our forces but did not
pass How many victims there are in
this state who have poured their hard
earned dollars into the hands of stock
jobbers, whose limit was the blue
vault of Heaven, their assets unlimit-
ed gall and highly colored prospec-
fuses, it is hard to estimate. The
legitimate business enterprise has
nothing to fear from such a law as
proposed. The concern that is 60 per
cent water, 80 per cent gall and 10 per
cent physical value, would be put out
of business, as it should be.
Road Appropriations.
"The farmers will tell you Of roads
serviceable for years, the only outlets
from their farms to market, ruined
by reconstruction under state contract.
The farmers oppose also scenic high
ways built at the expense of laterals.
No progressive farmer is an enemy of
the good roads movement, but he
wants utility roads first roads for
the automobile tourist, second. The
farmer is not Directing to the scenic
highway per Sc he is Directing to any
system of road building which leaves
the farmer without an outlet to his
markets, while the automobile enthu-
siasts tour the state in their luxurious
touring cars.
Fish Code.
what sins have been committed in
thy name, One of the greatest in
dustries in our commonwealth and
one that follows the slimiest trail of
all, What do you think of fishing
lands, owned by the state and leased
by private corporations, from which
scarcely enough revenue is derived by
the state to pay the cost of stocking
and maintaining our hatcheries and
the conduct of our state fish Warden's
department? OF laws passed by a
greedy combination making it mis-
demeanor punishable by fine or i'm
prsOnment to give out from the office
of the state fish warden, actual sta
tistics of the fishing industry, an in
dustry carried on on your land and in
your waters? What do you think of
the spectacle of a state official order
ed into court by a grand jury to pro-
duce figures concerning that Industry,
warned by the attorney general of the
existing statute, and only obeying the
grand jury after summarily ordered
to do SO by a superior court judge
What do you think of an industry that
took last year fifteen million dollars
worth of fish from the waters of Pu-
get Sound, paying back to the state
the munificent CD royalty of ninety
cents a ton, and of canning concerns
that own their own traps being eX-
cused from paying even that small
sum? An industry driving its traps
on land owned by you, taking its flnny
catch from your waters, growing rich
beyond the dreams of avarice, lnsol-
emily defying the people of a sover-
eign state and compelling legislatures
to do it's bidding Fish code revision
that will turn into the states Golfers
the income that justly belongs to the
state!
First Aid.
The workmen's compensation law
is probably the best constructive piece
of legislation the State Federation OF
Labor has ever had a hand in pass
ing. | take credit for it's passage in
the name of organized labor of this
state, secure in the belief that without
the appreciation and active work of
our people, both in the convention OF
1911 and the legislative session OF
tndJ year, JHe Oil COulu hOI nave
passed Under no circumstances
would l for one be willing to go back
to the old system of sueing for dam
ages in the courts. In the year 1908
there was paid into casualty insur
ance companies from the industries OF
this state, over 100000, only about
one-sixth of that amount ever finding
| it's way back into the pockets of in
! jured workmen or their dependents. II
is estimated that under the old sys
tenn but one out of every eleven in
jured received damages in the courts
In the first "a months of the laws op
Grafton, there has been paid directly
to injured workmen or their depend
ents, 81 ,529, 1926. Inadequate though
the amounts may be, thousands o
workmen are now receiving some com
pensation where formerly they wer'
objects of charity or victims of costl'
litigation.
"The principle of compensation TO
injuries is just but we should b.
idiotic did we refuse to take cogni2
ance of defects in the law and not tr,
to remedy them. The weakest thin