The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-03-07
LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR
woRKMEN'S COMPENSATION.
Opinions of Labor Union Man Relative
to Proposed Vermont Law.

Editor, Barre Daily Times: / notice
quite lengthy article on workmen's
compensation, as seen through the
glasses of the editorial staff of the st.
Johnsbury CALIFORNIAN, the same appear
| ing in recent issue of your esteemed
paper.
| ! do not know where the theory or
| philosophy of workmen's compensation
originated, but j dare say, without fear
of successful contradiction, that it orig
| mated in either the mind of the man
who worked or in the mind of sociolog-
ical student, and not in the mind of an
employer. For years we workmen strug-
gled and fought for one thing only, the
improvement of working class condi-
tions, through active measures working
towards the elimination of accidents.
But our efforts to bring down to a min
imum the number of accidents through
prevention We're unsuccessful until a
method of bringing this about through
u workmens compensation law became
clear to us.
want to say that one man is just
as dear to his family as another, wheth-
err he works at the most mental labor,
or whether he holds the highest office
in the country. Compensation does not
take the place of the man who is in
jured or meets DEATH but it does
accomplish what for years we struggled
to obtain, accident prevention.
This is what we desire and to accom-
plish it we have had to work upon the
theory of profit and dividends and fnan-
cial return to the man who owned the
plant or machinery with which we
worked, and we are struggling for a
compensation law because such a law
will provide an opportunity to bring
financial returns to the employer who
endeavors to and will eliminate acct
dents.
As we are struggling therefore for
compensation for the injured employe.
we are likewise engaged in an effort to
prove to the employer that it is more
economical for him to prevent accidents
than to pay compensation. Upon that
theory we have worked for years. FL
nally it has become the trend of the
times. We have kept saying to the om-
ployer. employee and the politicians that
they must give to the workingmen some
law that would force the prevention of
accidents.
II cuoulu NlllitlHt any itHldIhS OF
statements made in The Caledonian, |
do so with the utmost courtesy. but with
the feeling | must be plain, because
am responsible for $4,000 members Of
our organization in the state of Yer
mont.
Much has been spoken of malingering
upon the part of employees under certain
forms of insurance or compensation.
That there may be some of this may be
true, but if every employee in the state
OF Vermont would malinger for at least
six months, would he, in justice receive
one-half of what those who never re-
ceived anything under our out-of date
common law doctrine were entitled tog
One of the objections on the part of
business men regarding the adoption of
the compensation law is that it would
make necessary change in the conduct
of their business. Any reform that
means a change in this respect might
mean loss OF dollars and cents. Or
ganized labor does not make this its
Organized labor has made
mistakes, but no more than have been
made by any other element of society.
The employer might be blamed for
certain phases of the present system,
but the one phase that is worst of all, |
and you may think my remarks are bit
ter, yet they are plain facts, was that |
most despicable kind of man, the am
bulance chasing lawyer, who has no
thought for the injured, the widow or
the orphan, but thinks only of the dol |
lars and cents he can get out of acct