South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-12
Sen. SUMMERS AND REP. HAGER-
TY AND THEIR CRITICS.

appearing IN both local newspapers,
through which Mr.. Ethany +. Gardner
pTesumes 10 take Sen. G. r. Summers
and Rep. Charles a. Hagerty TO task
for their votes on the $50 hour law
and workingman's compensation act.
respectively. just one word-Or two.
If the gentleman will take the trouble
TO inform himself ne Will find that the
opposition 10 the sou hour bill was
pretty general in the senate and that
when the 1885 substitute came down,
the support of il was quite solid. Sen.
Summers may have been a trife more
strenuous than some OF the others up
20 the point where the proposed law
had assumed provisions which. in his
judgment, the industries and mer-
camille establishments of the state, as
well as the working girls themselves,
might be able to stand. 1t was not a
platform measure, hence leaving each
senator and representative TO follow
his own views on the subject; different
than appears 20 have been the case
with Rep. Hagerty and his vote on
the workingman's compensation act
save that he semi-repudiated this
plank OF the democratic platform be-
fore he was elected, so that no one
needed to have been misled.
In campaign speeches at New Car
Isle, Granger and several times here
in the city, Rep. Hagerty boldly stated
that despite the workingman's COM
pensation plank in the democratic
platform, he doubted if when passed
il would prove to be any other than
an employers compensation act, and
gave the public warning that he would
not vote for such a law if he were
elected. He gave as his reason. that
no law would be possible of passage
that would not be more of an advan-
tage to the employers than it would
be 10 the employees. and while the law
placed on the books is one OF the best
in the union, its value is yet 20 be test
cd. Mr.. Hagerty's views on this sub
ject were aired in the papers during
the campaign. He stated that the
labor legislation of 1911. left Indiana
workingmen in a far better position
20 recover pecuniary damages, than
would any form Of insurance compen-
sation, which employers fully recog-
nized He made of himself an
Independent candidate, though run
ming on the democratic ticket, so far
as the workingmen's compensation act
proposed in the democratic platform,
was concerned. The party. however.
made good on the proposition, in spite
OF hia opposition.
No law was ever passed by any leg
islature on which there was no room
for difference of opinion. MT. Gard
ner, however. being an organized-la-
Dor man, VIII perhaps be interested TO
know that Fred i. Feick, for ten years
a labor lobbyist in the legislature, but
a member OF the 69th assembly. as
serted on the floor of the house after
the bill had gone TO the senate, that
had he fully realized the terms, he
would never have voted for it. and like
! Rep. Hagerty seems to have come TO
/ recognize those features claimed to be
4 bad. Rep. Hagerty asserts that work
| ingmen who have to settle within the
| provisions OF the act, having it brought
i home to themselves. Will never be sat
isfied with the operations OF the bill.
] Rep. Feick is already working on some
| amendments to take out the sOcal!ed
/ objectional kinks through the legis-
/ lature of 1917. but we still insist, de-
spite their objections. that the pass
age of the law recognizes a principle,
and effects a start that is good and
4 places Indiana two years ahead of
] any new law with the same objection
able features in il, perhaps, enacted
by some legislature yet to come.
Taken as whole st. Joseph
county's representation in the state
assembly. can look its constituency
pretty square in the face. and needs
not blush. II is easy enough 10 crit
icise always. and particularly so when
you know nothing about a bill. except
Il that YOU like the looks OF its title. and
know even less about conditions that
enter into their passage. The $50
hour bin, providing for "a 5Q-hour
week with not more than nine hours
labor in any one day FOR working
0AAAtAl AlNA NeAA Al4 At4A 81 any 4AAAA4A-
mum wage provisions might and
probably would prove a hardship To- "a
great many OF the very people whom
ii was intended 10 help Members OF
the senate in changing the provisions
from $50 10 1O-55-meaning . hours
week with not more than 10 hours
Inc any one day-thought they were
providing for "a Saturday afternoon
Il half-holiday. and were going as far CAS-
present industrial conditions would
ADMIT Of IL was "a start. and a rec
ignition of the principle, which, if
we were permitted 20 advise the peo-
4 PIE who wanted the $50 law passed.
we would say they might well have
been thankful for
n But evidently they were not After
the measure had passed the senate