The Alaska daily empire., 1915-06-28

tenn by which the individual employer ! recompenses a laborer In the case o
 accident In the United States you
 have experience of the abuses thai
 may occur where the burden of prool
 is on the injured workman and he
 must appeal to the courts in order to
 secure what he is entitled to. Ever
 when this necessity is elmiminated
 and the compensation is paid him au tomatically without any lawsuit the system is unsatisfactory Suppose a company should fail the day after workman was injured-what then!
 workmen's compensation
 We have solved the problem by malS ing the employers as a body responsi
 ble An injured workman receives
 from to SO per cent. of his wages according to whether he is wholly or partially unfitted for work. In the case cf his death, the sum of 90 kroner is paid toward the expenses of his funeral The widow receives 20 per cent. of his wages as long as she lives, and 10 per cent. additional for each child under fifteen years, Che whole. however, not to exceed half of the mans wages.
 Safeguarding Mothers
 The most important social legisla- tion before our country at present is that which seeks to safeguard the mothers and young children. We are learning to respect motherhood more
 whether in or out of marriage. Rules of morality are not accidental or ar. bitrary but are founded upon the experience Of the ages of what best advances the welfare Of tho race In our modern civilization we have been prone to forget the mother in the de- velopment of the nation and as we return to a natural view of her place in society. we realize the duty of the community to provide favorable con ditions for the birth of healthy chill dren. This duty may involve spec ial regulations for the woman wage earuer, and the question of how far these regulations should extend is one of the problems before our law giyers today
 Our present factory laws, which apply to plants employing as many as five workers, prohibit the working of women for six weeks after child birth, and l have introduced a gov ernment proposition extending the time to eight weeks, two weeks to be before the birth of the child The question naturally arises. How is this woman going to live in the mean while? Under our present sick-bene- iit law, which covers practically the same class, @ woman receives so per cent. of her wages during the period of enforced rest and free medical at. tendance. We have also introduced a government proposition extending the benefit for the full period of eight weeks. fixing a minimum of one krone a day. and providing free midwife as well as free physician A very i'm portant clause of the proposed propo. sition is that which extends these privileges to the wives of men pay. ing premiums under the sick.benedt law In this case the maternity bene- fit is to be fixed at 20 kroner instead of the percentage of the womans wa ges. As married men pay no larger 1 premiums than bachelors, the com munity would in this way directly aid the father in bringing up his children. !
 We know of course, the stock ar- guments against an these laws That we are encouraging shiftlessness. de- stroying private initiative and putting 3 premium upon large families among those least able to care for them, while taxing more prudent members of the community to support the less desirable. In reply would say that we are seeking only to relieve want. and l fail to see how this could en. courage shiftlessness or destroy in- tiatiye. Would man break his les In order to set sick benefit or would woman have child in order 10 receive a small maternity bene- It?
 One duty now before our people is Inc protection of the unmarried mo. hers. Although the percentage of children born out of wedlock is not ]. nigh in Norway compared with oth- er countries, their number is cer- ainly sufficient to warrant special egisladon. The death rate among hese children is something appalnngl sometimes to as much as hree times the rate among children | porn in normal conditions Under he old Norwegian luw lligitimate .hiidren had the same right of inheri- ance as those born in wedlock. but 'y more recent legislation the fath- r is not legally father at all He is eQuired to pay the mother a small um. but only on her demand, and the urden of proof rests on her She ften shrinks from making a claim: he is perhaps aslaried or she is fraid of offending the man. and so 3sing a possible chance of marriage. q ometimes she suffers much prlya- ! lon before she receivas aid. or she { nay not receive it at all.
 In osler to remedy this evil we F...4t..f.t ...as,.. ..