The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-03-10
workmen,s Compensation

The public hearing given by the
special state commission Investigate
ing the subjec. of a Workmen's Com
pensation Act for Vermont presented
a subject OF much interest locally
1t viii doubtless call out variety
OF suggestions and we wish to offer
few The basic purpose of the bill
will be to provide some compensa
tion for any workman earning limited
wages who suffers an injury No mat
ter whether his injury is the result
of carelessness on his own part, care
lessness on the part Of fellow EN-
ployee or whether he accepts employ
ment with full knowledge of It's haz-
ard, he Is to be compensated for any
serious injury he may receive. The
assumption is that the employer
shall furnish such compensation even
if he is in no way responsible for
the accident. Statistics show that
the employee is directly responsible
for a very large percentage of in
dustrial accidents and yet the law
would hold the employer financially
responsible for the compensation for
the same.
This seems hardly fair to u.s. That
compensation should be provided for
injured workmen seems to us WISE
and just. But If the workman is
responsible for large part of the
injuries he receives why should
the employer bear the whole expense
for them? There is another benefl
ciary under the proposed law and
that is the public. workman who is
barely able to provide for himself
and family while actively employed
becomes q public charge whenever
disabled By accident and in this way
the public must pay part or all OF
the expense caused by such accident.
The proposed plan would tc con-
siderable extent relieve the public
OF this burden and shift it on the EN-
ployer. This SENS hardly just.
When laws have been passed
throwing this burden on the employ.
er he has generally protected him
self by insuring with liability com
panies. These companies do this
business in q way that makes the
employee sure Of compensation and
themselves certain cf good profit al
ter all the claims for the workmen
have been paid This makes the EN-
ployer's expense OF insurance tco
grea.
Granting that the workman is en-.
titled TO reasonable compensation
for any accident he may suffer. that
the general public would be relieved
to great exent from the expense3
Of paperism under the proposed
law, that the employer is responsible
for only part OF the accidents that
occur in his plant and that Insurance
by liability companies is toe expen-
sive, there seems to be much justice
in the following proposition. Let 4
state fund for compensation fer ac-
cidents be formed, one-third to be
provided by state taxation, onethird
TO be provided By per capita tax CT
laborers and the other third assessed
upon the employers in proportion IL
the hazard OF their particular lire OF
business. In this way the workmen
bears shart Of the expense OF the
carelessness OF hisself and fellow
laborers, the employer the expense
Of his own carelessness and the pub
lie pays only part Of what it now
does for the misfortunes OF the work
ing man. When the burden Is thus
egnally distributed let every form
of Industry and labor be brought un
der its regulations and nearer ap
preach to industrial justice secured.
st. Johnsbury Caledonian.