The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1914-12-26
CONTINUED from page ~

parts. Part I, History Of the La.
Dor Department of Labor and Labor
Laws of Minnesota, traces the de
velopmentt of the labor department
from 1887 to 1914, and records the
enactment and essential features of
every labor law passed in Minnesota
since the organization of the state in
1858.
Part II, "The .Workmen's Compen-
sation Act'' consists of five sections.
1t opens with statistical report
which shows that 112 fatalities and
1890 injuries covered by the act oc-
Cured during. the first nine months
after it became. a law, but that 5S0S
of these were slight injuries for which
no compensation was payable. All
payments due under the act had been
made before June 80, 1914 in 246s
or 67.6. per cent Of the other 1884
cases, and payments had been started
in 735 others. No settlements were
reported up to- June 80 in the other
431 cases, but the department states
MORE ..
that it knows that payments had been
started in many of them.
Compensation Paid.
The total amount Of compensation
paid in the 246S "closed cases. was
s157,o36.71. The gross compensation
due in these cases was $16O,412.04,
but $4950.95 was deducted by vari-
GUS employers who discounted pay
ments due at future dates to their
present value when making lump sum
settlements. No tabulation was made
of the amounts paid in the 735 par
TALLY closed" cases because these
amounts would be included in the
next years figures. Twenty one fa-
talities, were compensated by the
payment of $23,0S0.77 or $1100 each,
but nine of the deceased left no de-
pendents. and the total amount due
in these cases was only $937.33. The
average compensation paid in the
other twelve cases was $1845.28.
The total medical costs to employ
ers reported to the labor department
up to June 80, were $129,715.77. OF
by 70 firms with 1852 employees
who do not carry insurance and most
Of them hire doctors either at an an
nual salary or on a percentage of the
pay roll. The other $48,247.63 con-
s'ists of $22,47o.26 reported in cases
where the disability lasted less than
two weeks, and 25,77S.37 in cases
where the compensation was paid up
and the cases closed. No attempt
was made to ,tabulate the medical
costs in the partially closed cases.
The, other sections of the COM
pensation report present the court
decisions rendered under the act, a
description Of the administration ma
chinery by which the act has been
handled, a discussion Of certain Sec
lions of the act that have failed to
accomplish the objects intended, and
"a comparison of the amounts of COM
ipensation payable under the Mime
sofa act with the amounts payable
under other American laws.
=, Inspection Service.
: Part III Industrial Accidents. and
Part Nv Inspections of Work
Places are particularly interesting
done by the states inspection service.
partment contained detailed studies
of industrial accidents and the causes
of industrial accidents in Minnesota
and it was not thought necessary by
the department to publish third re-
port covering the same ground this
year. The current report lays espe-
cial emphasis upon the results at
tanned by the safety work of the past
five years. >: It shows a steady decline
in the number of fatal accidents from
PSI in:1910 to 149 in 1914, a decrease
Of 40 per cent in four years. The av-
erage number of fatalities during the
last three years has been but al or
only Sc per cent of the fatal rate of
1910 The fact that the low ia
tality rate has already been MAIN
tanned for three years gives reason
able ground to hope that it is per-
manent. achievement, and that the
near future holds hope of a record be-
low 100 fatal accidents a year. The
decrease during the last four years
has already effected saving of over
100 lives year. And who can con-
ceive what that. means in human
misery averted?
The figures for the four years 1910
to 1913 reveal that non-fatal acct
number The decline from 1910 to
cent. The figures for 1914 cannot be
compared with those of the previous
years, because the Workmen's Com
pensation Act, which went into effect
on October 1, 1913, more than dou-
bled the number of non-fatal acct
dents reported. The department were
able to secure reports of all fatal
accidents during the previous years
but large numbers of non-fatal ones
| were not reported. The efficiency of
| the reporting system did not vary
materially from 1910 to 1913, and
comparisons can therefore be made
for those years, but not for 1914.
These results have been due to the
steadily i'm proving efficiency: Of the
states factory inspection, to the in.
creased earnestness of employers in
safety Campaign that has been con-
Quoted by both the state and various
private interests. The inspection re.
port, shows that 1929 orders were
issued by the factory inspectors in
1914, over 10000 of which required
machinery to. be guarded. "a re.
i Quired guards around and. on plat