The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-10
MERITS WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION LAW BY DUFFY Member of Industrial COm- mission of Ohio Addresses the Civic Forum
 LEGISLATORS-ELECT
 ATTEND MEETING Advantages of Law Over Former Systems Explained by Speaker.
 Similar Law to Be Pre-
 scented Here

| Thomas J. Duffy, chairman of the in- dustrial commission of Ohio, in very clear and forcible manner discussed the i Ohio workmen's compensation law before the Civic forum at the Civic association clubrooms last night. MT. Duffy was member of the legislature that adopted the original workmen's Compensation law of that state and has been a mem- Der of the commission charged with its administration ever since it became ef- | fective.
 | He pointed out, in his speech and in answer to questions, the merits of the
 law and it's advantages as compared with 1 the former system whereby private in surance companies underwrote industrial accidents. The Ohio law was originally adopted in 1910 and amended two years later to make it compulsory, thereby eliminating liability insurance compa- nies from the state. Under the law as it now stands every employer of five or more employees must contribute to the state insurance fund out of which all employees are compensated for injuries SuStdlheu III tHe CouiSe ol eHoii SihpAoy
 ment without regard to whose fault caused the injury.
 AWARDED COMPENSATION In the case of death the widow and children or other dependents are award ed up to s5OOO, payments being made twice month for a period of eight years For injuries that totally or par tially impair the employees ability to earn a livelihood weekly Compensation equalling two-thirds of the average weekly wage or salary is paid for vary~ ing periods, depending upon the extent of the injury. "The ambulance chasing lawyer and the professional insurance adjuster are eliminated under the Ohio law" said MT. Duffy. "They are both evils that should have no place in in dustrial accidents
 Answering a question as to the con- stitutionality of the workmen's compen- sation law of Ohio, MT. Duffy said that the present Ohio constitution specit1- cally provides for such an act with the insurance feature and, he added, that when the first law was passed in 1910 there was no such constitutional pro-
 
 was tested in the courts and the case was pending when the new constitution was adopted.
 Ut has been said that court decisions sometimes follow majorities in elections, Mr. Duffy laughingly replied to another question along this line.
 REPORT OF COMMISSION
 Reading from the last annual report of the Ohio commission MT. Duffy stated that flor the year ended May l5, 19IS the subscribers of the Ohio state in surance plan paid into the Ohio state insurance fund an earned premium Of $9,442 125.2S. Had these Ohio employers been compelled to pay premiums into the Ohio state insurance fund on the basis of the New York workmens compensa- tion rates, they would have paid into the fund, 171.S3 per cent of $9, AZ l25.2 2S, or $16,224, ,403.S7. Thus on the foregoing basis the Ohio state insurance plan. has saved, for the single year ended May 10, 1918, the very significant sum of the difference between $l6224 ,403.S7 and s9,- 442, ,1252S, which is $6,7S2, ,27S.5A'
 The scale of benefits of the Ohio law and the New York law are substantially the same in point of cost, Mir. Duffy explained, as the reason for comparing the results in the two states.
 LEGISLATORS PRESENT e
 Lieutenant Governor N. L. Miller and number of the state senators and rep- resentatives- elect were present and lis- tened with considerable interest to MT. Duffy's exposition of this law. There were also present large number of laboring people and their official repre- sentatives.
 Further explaining the workings of the Ohio law MT. Duffy stated that investi- gations had established that 80 per cent of employees injured prior to the adop. tion of the compensation act received no compensation whatever and the other 20 per cent in most cases only after long litigation. Fifty per cent of the indus trial accidents are chargeable to the negligence of neither the employer nor the employe; 25 per cent are due to the negligence of the employe and the other 25 per cent to the employer" said MT. Duffy "Under the old liability laws only the 25 per cent could recover anything. Under the compensation act 100 per cent receive compensation.'
 MT. Duffy said that compensation laws to be effective and economical must con stitute monopoly in the state; that where it was left optional with the em- ployer to contribute to the state fund or insure with a private liability company, the law generally was not successful.
 The Ohio law is said to be the best of any in this country and has been fol- lowed in the main by most of the other states, the insurance feature being omitted in most of these, however. It is the next legislature of Ala bama, which meets in January, will be asked to pass a workmen's compensa- tion law modelled after that of Ohio, in so far as possible under the Alabama The Alabama Federation of Labor and other labor bodies are ea record in favor of such law and al large percentage of employers are under stood to be in favor of it.
 rxrxvy NrrANrcV WITT