New Britain herald., 1915-01-27
WHAT OTHERS SAY
Views on all sides of timely questions as discussed in ex- changes that come to Herald office.
Industrial Compensation.
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin

The report Of~the Massachusetts ll- dustrial board of the second full year of operation of the compensation act in that state, which has just been made public, has many points or 1n- terest to Pennsylvania at this time when the framing and enactment of a similar law is an accepted duty of the current legislature. The Massach sets system is one of elective com pensation, with insurance guarantee- ing responsibility, but as rejection of the scheme by an employer forfeits his right to the technical defenses of contributory negligence, fellow-ser- wants fault and assumption of risk, the voluntary assent on the part ol employers Is nearly universal. Eight hundred thousand wage-earners in the state are covered by insurance, eighty-seven per cent of all the non ia tai industrial accidents reported and seVenty-one per cent. of all latal ac- cidents were indemnified through ln- surance policies. each class showing distinct gain over the previous year.
 Such general adoption of the plan and the increase has been consistent since the date of this report-estab- fishes a presumptive case for the suo- cess of the law. which is further borne out by the analysis of the cost of compensa ton furnished by the re- port. The pay roll for the manufac- turing establishments in the com monwea Ith is reported as being $46O,- 0OO,OOO year, and the cost of insur- anCe avera geS one per cent. on that basis The value of the manufactured product of these establishments was $1,65S,72S,3 and the cost of com pensation finally charged against that finished product of industry amounted to nine one-hundredths of a cent or nine tenths of d mill on a dollar.
 No accurate figures to the cost of such compensation as was squeezed out of industry under the old system of employers liability subject to the chance of litigation are in existence, but it is doubtful that if the cost of litigation were to be added to the az gregate of damages paid and to that were to be added the cost of insur- ance carried voluntarily as pro- lection, the assessment that finally rested on industry would be less than this figure, while the benefits of the expenditure would have borne no comparison to those of the compen- SatiOn system.
 Yet there are some elements of disa ppointment in the report, which should not be overlooked in the grati- ficatiOn of the general result. The aggregate of industrial casualty in creased in the second year over the figures of the first year. The total number of labor days lost in the state in the second year was 1,197,737, compared with 1,156,7S7, the previous year, or an increase of 8 1-2 per cent. The wage loss in the second year showed an increase of S207215. The number of non-fatal injuries in creased nearly seven per cent. and of atal injuries over twenty-eight per cent, which fact the industrial board attributed to the failure of employers to take greater interest in the safety work which the board is undertaking as a part Of its pro- vince.
 The definite statement is made in the report that $1,S0O,OOo might be saved annually in the cost of insur- ance, if employers would organize committees of safety and adopt other means of accident prevention which have been suggested by the board, and if the compensation law is to full fill it's ultimate mission. It must not only indemnify the worker or his dependents for Wagc-carning power lost by industrial accidents, but must prevent such loss. The mission of fire insurance is not more to in demnify for fire loses than to pre- vent fires and loss. Life insurance companies are learning that it is part of their province to prevent disease and death. It is a part of the purpose of the compensation law to prevent industrial accidents. The parallel may be applied in more detail. Just as the individual owner of property may fire insurance by applying the various forms Of precaution and protection. while the negligent property owner pays the price of neglect in a high CT rate, and the man careful of him. self and sound in body gets a pre- ferrcd rate on his life insurance the employer who is careful of the safety of his employees ought to get low accident insurance. rate. A compen- sation law should not assess a uniform burden on all employers. but should offer. a premium for caution and safe guards.
 Two years and more of actual eX- perience in the industrial community of Massachusetts ought to be fruit ful of good advice for the compensa- tion experiment fn Pennsylvania.
 l!iitcracy Declining.
 G'ittsburg Post.)
 If there ever were any doubt among persons who aim to be fair-minded as