The Socialist and labor star. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1911-1915, 1914-05-22
Our Bogus Work1nen's
Compensation Law
Trying 10 Stay the Oncon,ing Revolution

much Of Justice it dispens"s to tn,
mJlllers may be Judged by tho Hr-
cllin! it is receiving 1T the hanc!@ ~!
the coal operators and other large en-
ployers Of labor. They see hat Il
good thisg it is-for them. 1t guar
antcrs iham against suits and actions
1T law, and furnishes them i very
cheap insurance. They arc not Liable
Cor the accidents suffered by their ent-
ployces no matter how careless tic
employer may be- Coal operators
may disobey express laws passed 70
the purpose of safe. guarding the liv' :
o. the miners ard hey are not liable
II damage. They may neglect 70
sprinkle mines containing dang<'ou"
t'ust and other explosives, and tbs
cause all explosion, like the recent ore
1t Eccles, yet they are not Liable I
:ivil actions for their criminal negi =
wence. All the operators have to d .
: to pay their dues into the 'W"rk-
mems Compensation Fund.- ard tEry
are immune for further costs. ih::.
fact acme will have !; pirNnunc"d Ten
,lcncy to make the operators careless.
4 will tend to cause them moi to il
tail up-to-datc safety devices ard
equipment. They can reason that it
vii! o%I tier? nothing # minrr is
injured. The State will pay the bill
ish- ka- bihLic.
The Vast Virginia law is taken lar
'ci fan: n, Obi" l2y int is pro
visions are not near . fuv ra5i: t.
:',c worker. For instance, the Ohio
law allows $4,000 for funeral cXpcr-
ses, while our law allows just half
that amom.-f75.00 90. The spirit in
VI hich the coal operators meet the pro-
:isions of our law may be shown by
he fact that Gov. Hatfield felt Gale"
upon to warn them not to Swindlc the
Public Service Commission by clGin'-
.ng more funeral expenses than was
actually paid. It nay seem har:i to
believe that the operators would rob
the dead by skimping on funeral OK
pcnSeS and tEcn collecting the full!
amount from the State, hut the action
If Gov. Hatfield lends considerable
color to that view. But Capitalism is
as Soul-less as 4 hyena and as heart
less as stone. The still quivering
bodies If murdered babes out in Col
orado is irrefuta5le evidence cf that
fact.
The "CompensationS" laws Of some
states, Washington for instance, re-
quire the whole Of the premium; II I've
paid by the employer. Our law makes
the worker pay ten per cent Of the
amount. In Washington it is 4 mis-
demcanor, with 4 naXimur punish
ncnt Of one year in jail and one thou
sand dollars fine, for tho employer to
make his workers pay any part OF the
amount. But West Virginia, with its
fed-nnck legislators and bonehead
statesmen" makes the workers paE
i pant IF the damages for their own
injuries. But for that matter, the
workers have it ali to pay in some
:.hape or other The boss simply fig
ucs his contributions to the 'cCmpen-
sation" fund rs part Of the running
expenses o: his business, and adds the
Increased expense, II there j., any, on
t. the price of his product. It's no
use, boys, YOU can't beat the skin
same OF capitalism. Ii will hang your
working class hide on the barn door
by taking that hide off one way q:
other.
As mentioned AbHrc, OK law gives
no right Of action TO an injured en-
)loy2c, where his injury is due to tho
Employer violating some law enact
ID for the safety Of the worker. The
boss NAV &c as careless as he likes,
md no matter how disastrous his care
iessncSs may prove to hts workers,
they have no right to sue him. On
the contrary, the OHIO law permits an
injured worker 10 sue when his inju-
~ is due to his employer violating
my Law, ordinance or order Of court.
The object of this provision is plain
Ii makes the employer look to the
safety Of his machinery, appliances
md equipment. He must see that they
are reasonably safe, under penalty OF
losing the protection OF the law. West
Virginia labor SINNERS were wise in
having this provision eliminated. Its
absence will mean money in their
pockets. Every timo ''rerre jentative*
+ labor" try to get 4 bill through -hc
legislature, some ore puts a joker in
i. They slipped joker N the MIXING
lax .:nne years ago, and the anscphis-
titated Labor champions" apparently
never got a glimpse Of it.
4 cry went up from organized labor
FOR new mining law. Afte: I spirit
I'd campaign, they got law through,
providing, among other things, for s
nine foreman at over! mine. This
law was patterned after the Pcnnsyl
vania mining law. Of course the law
,eci,.d in its preamble hat it was
e.. the protection of the miners and
II that. Prior to lis passage We had
tic English common law, which, with