New Britain herald., 1915-03-27
NOVD APPEARS BEFORE COMMITTEE
State Insurance Urged at Work.
 Tl5n'S Compensation Hearing.

1 amendments to the wOrkmens com- pensation act, held yesterday in Hart ford before the judiciary committee | in the hall of the house, closed short- | ly before 6 o'clock last night. About | thirty workingm en from New Britain l were present at the hearing, which was attended by the largest crowd F since the suffra gists and antis gath 1 cred in the legislative halls during the l holiday week. Several representa- 1 tive of New Britain's manufacturers 1 were present.
 The volume of objection to the 1 measures favored by the working gmen 1 was not as great as had been expect l ed. None spoke in behalf of tho 1 Hartford insurance companies Ralph 0. Wells, representing the Connecti- cut Manufacturing association, said that compensation is not necessarily something to which the employe is naturally entitled. The natural basis of compromise, he said is fifty per cent, which the law now provides for, and not siSty-six and two thirds per cent, which is being proposed. ac spoke against state insurance. Arthur L1 Shipman of Hartford, representing the Manufactures asso- citation, characterized the aatmpt of the Workin gmen to have the state take care of the maimed and the injured IS socialism. He did not think the state had yet got away from the old-fash- toned principles of individualisn. He favored the suggestions made by the compensation com missioners.
 In reply to MT Shipmans. state ments c. J. Danaher of Meriden, who With Professor Willard C. Fisher of Middletown had framed the present act, said that the doctrine of indivd- ualism had been discarded for the doctrine of state responsibility by ev- cry state in the country .-..
 In the absence of J. ohm Mitch ell, of the American Federation of Labor, who had been expected, Professor Fisher was the ablest speaker who ap- peared before the committee in favor of workmens compensation He said he would speak for himself alone and some of his statements might not meet with the full favor of the Fed eration of Labor. The question of Workmens compensation had been his chief scientific interest for six years.
 The state, he said was not being asked to take on any burden. Indus try supported the burden, whether by
  The compensation law, he said, added only one cent to the cost of a S1O ar ticle to the manufa cturers. Mr. Fish CT spoke at length in favor of state insurance. "The only question of de- sirability of insurance between the state and private companies depends only on the quality of service givcnI and cheapness," he said.
 C.. J. Danaher of Meriden, was ap- plauded when he said that the work~ men of the state intended to return past favors at the hands of the farm- CTS by helping them get out from nn- der the provisions of the act.
 Julius c. Stremlau, president of the Connecticut Federation of Labor, di- rected the presentation of ar guments on the part of tho working men. Those who spoke in favor of the labor measures were Jasper Mac- Leavy of Bridgeport, first vice. -presi- dent of the Federation; Sol Son. theimer of Hartford, second vice. president; Robert Cunningham, rep resenting the United Hatters of Dan bury; William Sullivan, president of the state carpenters union Robert McNeily of Norwich, Carl Lang of Bridgeport, J. l.. Andrews of Will;-
 
 tic, representing the Journeymen Plumbers association James Plunk- ett of New Haven, William Ryan sec retary of the Meriden Central Labor Jnion Victor Siebold of New Haven, John J. Tanning of New Haven, Will liam Larkin, a metal worker of Bridgeport; Robert Leahy of Derby, representing the 2,500 trolleymen of the state; Charles Stout, ex-president of the Bridgeport Central Labor Union; Ira M. Amborn of New Haven, Ernest O'Brien of Bridgeport, Sam uel Murray of Greenwich Samuel Beardsley of Bridgeport; Representa- tive Martin German of Danbury. Sen ator Charles J. Heinneman, ex-Sena- tor Mayor Remedy of Somers and J. F. McGrath of New Britain, president of the Carpenters union.