Bisbee daily review., 1914-12-12

position of having to frame a meas
 ure of compulsory compensation which, under the wording of the con stituuon, could only be optional They doubtless did the best the ycould un- der the yedy difficult circumstances,
 but the result has been eminently
 unsatisfactory to all parties con cerued. Any law which leaves the
 question of compensation for death
 pr injury 10 the financial soundness
 of the individual employer is bound to be a hardship on the employe, as
 only responsible corporations are in
 position to meet a heavy loss
 through an accident The miner who
 goes out to do assessment work on
 one of the thousands of prospects,
 owned by parties of small means,
 meeting with an injury can obtain no relief It is estimated that no more than 40 per cent of the labor employed in the state would under this defective law, be able to collect
 damages for injuries rdeath.
 I think it is a fair assumption that
 he great majority of the employers lf labor today recognize the business l of the axiom that the industry should bear the burden of it's hazards but it | is only fair that the financial degree of responsibility should be defined and understood by both parties. A aw which binds one party and not he other is in its very essence un- tair and intolerahle and can only be
 a fertile source of misunderstanding
 and distrust
 Until the constitution of the state has been amended making it possible
 to introduce a system of sate insur- ance, such as that so successfully op-
 erating in the State of Washington,
 or compulsory compensation bill like those of New York or Massachu-
 ,etts. the moneys which in the ordi- nary course of events would go 10 al- leviating the suffering of the injured will serve to render the ambulance
 chaser prosperous and contented.
 Perhaps the most pernicious law
 passed by the last legislature and es-
 pecially aimed at the mining industry is the so-called eight hour law
 which provides that an employe shall
 no remain underground for & longer
 period than eight hours in any tweh tv-our. This, in the experience O. . the large mines of the state, meant that deducting the necessary time tC get 10 and return from the working
 place and a half hour for lunch, the , miner only averages seven hour work It is inconceiyablc that th' framors of this measure could haV' , believed that it would mure to th'
 beneGt of the best interests Of labor i. II is of that class of Legislation whicl endeavors to throttle ambition an
 efficiency, 10 make all men of th r same degree Of mediocrity and U P prevent ability and inudstry assertinl a itself. In the past and before th s passage of this law, the miner or m' a chanic of ambition was glad to get e few hours extra work as oyertlm i. each week not only for the additiona r. money there was in it but m oraer ' f acquire experience in a class ot labo | which was impossible during hours c regular operation. The result of th IT. massage of this law has been Cha ,t the average wage Of the employe Ina L. been curtailed and what is more in if portant, his opportunity for advance O ment has been materially reduced A If a eommentary on legislatihn of thi l. class directed at single importar O industry it might be proper to mel
 ton that of the fifty-four members l. the first legislature but seven Of thel a. could be classed as representatives n -----