Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-09-25
Workman Compensation Law

The current number OF the MlSSlS-
sipri Valley Lumberman contains an
editorial, under the caption, Three
Years of the Washington Compensa-
ton Law" that shows high opin-
ion of that law, from the standpoint
of both the employer and employe.
The article is reproduced below:
Laws governing compensation for
injured workmen in this country are
comparatively new in operation and
In some of the states where these
laws have been effective they do not
seem altogether satisfactory. Some
of them are still in their experiment.
al stages and will be amended and
altered as experience points out their
defects. To be altogether satisfac-
tory and effective they must receive
the approval and support Of both en-
ployers and employed, and that they
may do so it is necessary that they
be fair to both. Judged by results,
the theory and practice of the Wash
ingtcn state law appears to be near
ly correct. There may be some minor
details in which improvement can be
made, but the experience of nearly
three years appears to prove that con-
ditions have been better both for en-
players and employed. The cost to
employers has probably been less than
under the common law, and the
amounts paid to injured workmen or
their dependents has been vastly
greater. In an address before the Pa
cific Logging Congress, held recently
at Bellingham, the chairman of the
industrial commission presented sta
tistics which support both state
ments.
At the close of business on July
81 of this year, after thirty-four
months operation, the total amount
paid in by employers of the state was
a little more than four million dol
lars. OF this amount, two and a
quarter million dollars had been paid
directly to injured employees; nearly
two hundred thousand dollars had
been paid in pensions, and a little
more than million dollars had been
set aside as a pension reserve to pay
pensions already allowed, leaving a
balance on hand of about half a
million dollars.
AS nearly as statistics can be OBJ,
tanned, the employers of the state
previous to the enactment of the law
were paying cut a million and quar-.
ter dollars per year in casualty in
surance, and it is assumed that 9TH
err employers who did not carry this
form of protection would have paid
at least a half a million more. 1t is
not known how much these unpro
tected employers paid out in actual
damage claims, but it was probably
enough to bring the total cost, pre-
vious to the inception of the law
to about a million and half dol
lars annually. Thus the actual cost
to employers for the thirty-foul
months was probably two or three
hundred thousand dollars less thar
formerly.
From the same source of statistics
the operation of the Washington ac'
will show that the workmen as &
whole have received directly or ir
pension reserves more than three
times what they would have received
under the old system. Under the ole
system, lawyers representing injured
workmen usually took the cases OF
contingent fees which provided ar
equal division with the claimant If {
favorable verdict was rendered. II
addition to this, the state courts cos
the whole people of the state large
amounts for litigation expenses, ant
the employers or the casualty com
panies paid out large sums as fee'
to lawyers who fought the cases. A!
still further addition to the cos
to the state and it's people, ther,
was the expense of caring for in
jured who did not receive any com
pensation whatever, and the loss o
time incident to the idleness that re
suited from the injury
The Washington law divides thu
various risks into classes, and eacl
class is administered separately ant
is self-supporting. The amounts pai'
in by the employers in any class arr
devoted to the settlement of claims
in that class only. The cost of ad
ministration of the law is paid b.
the state from separate fund, ant
is no greater-and probably mucl
less-than was the former cost o
litigation. During the first thirt,
months of the operation OF the law
the administration cost was abou
seven and a half per cent of tn
amount contributed by the employ