The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-26

the court determines the amount to be paid in fees by the claimant to his counsel. As CounsePs fee is cus- tomarily determined by the amount of the award and not by the work done, attorneys can usually only be larger claims on a speculative basis Thus very few minor claims are brought to court. A scrutiny of the settIame en4s registered with the De- partment of Labor showed that though many of the settlem ents were claims appeared in the courts The absence of machinery for adninistra- ton of the act clearly allows less scrupu1ous employers to repudtate minor claims with inpuntty. So ire Quent1y does this occur that the as- sociation endorses the estimate of the National Civic Federation and the American Federation of Labor that 40 per cent of the amount due as compensation to the workers of New Jersey is never paid at all.
 A most serious deficiency following from the court method is the amount of time consumed in making settle ments. 5In the settlement of claims arising from z2 fatal cases the aver age length of time was 27 1-2 weekss
 nent took an average of B weeks from the date of the injury. The report cites several typical eases showing the extent of the delay. In one case a widow and dependent children were obliged to wait fifty three weeks for an award of $I.sOo to be paid in weekly installm ents. This obviously meant that the family became either charges or the object of charitable aid, and one of the main purposes of the workmen's compensation, the prevention of dee- titution, was thwarted-
 The association estimates that the annual cost of litigation over com pensation claims in New Jersey is be- tween $5O,000 and $6O,00 This amount of money 1t Is pointed out Is spent in litigation over the per cent of the claims which are brought to the county courts which tend to give different types of decisions creating uncertainty and instability in the whole administration of the law. The same amount of money spent in equipping commission would give to the state the advantage Of expert decisions on all claims.
 The Association for Labor Legisla- ton strongly urges that all states adopt for an administration of com pensation laws the commission or board rather than the court system The association sums up the case against the court system with spe- ciaI reference to New Jersey in the following terms:
 Administration of a work1hen's compensation law by the courts, a number of separate and scattered tribunals each already overburdened by its ordinary business and all more or less likely to be unfamiliar with the laws, results harmrul1S in that
 CD tremendous delays arise, defeat ing one main purpose of a compensa- ton law, namely to care for the in- jured or his dependents financially during the period of no earnings; (2) fees necessarily paid to attorneys eat up large portions Of the awards; (S} settlements in violation of the law are frequently sanctioned by the courts or even ordered by them on their own initiative; (4) conflicting opini ons are handed down, confusing and comp1icating the whole system and making justice 9 matter of To- cation, not of law; and finally (5) many meritorious claims are not pressed because of a fear that court action will. result in dismissal from