Arizona republican., 1918-11-03

for a compensation act: But scarcely had these old Bugaboos been laid to rest and the modern workman given an honest chance, by an equable sys- tenn of laws when there arises from somewhere like a great ground swell this cry for a new deal: this demand l that We destroy the fruit of the brain and blood and sweat of centuries and solve the whole vexing problem by the simple expedient of making a price list of the human members and ap- pointing a commission. From what source could this great noise proceed but From the weeping friends of these above enumerated Bugaboos now re- posing where the woodbine twineth?
 The advance ground held by the workingman of Arizona today. has been long sought and difficult to at tain. Will he be willing now to evac- nate it through diplomacy and the held-up mirage of promised land?
 I doubt the wisdom of any enact rnent that takes a matter of such vital moment to the great masses of the people and places it outside the realm of time tried jurisprudence and into the hands of a politically constituted coterie of office holders and office seekers. This good old jury system Of ours by which twelve of our peers are allowed to pass upon the respec- tive rights of the injured workman and his employer is a fairly good sys- tenn after all. There has been a lot of blood spilled to preserve the jury l'system as bulwark of the liberties or the people, and there is not a one of US with red blood in his veins that would not fight for the preservation ot the system now. Yet this amend | mi +a1- from large part of it's Jurisdiction and put in it's place a political central committee to decide these vital mat ters. The jury system had as we'll be uprooted in one fell swoop as to dismember it and annihilate it by piece-mea
 One of the many serious objections to the proposed measure is that it does not give to the injured or deceased Worknen that which belongs to him, | Let me illustrate John Jones is a brakeman, has a wife and five babies, and earns an average of $150 per month. He is supporting his children and expects to educate them. By the negligence of the railroad company he loses his leg and with it his earning capacity. AS our law now stands a jury of F men will decide how much
 
 It may be said that he could recover at least $12,000, and could then probably hobble through life with a competence 10 live on, and educate his children. Now, let's see what would happen to Jones and his wife and babies under the proposed kultur price list of legs. and maybe we will uncover the hocus- pocus of this thing. It says that Jones shall be entitled to two-th pay for a period of 1250 days or somewhat more than three years, and it is so entered on the company ledger just like a dead COW on the, track or an or der for new ties for future delivery, and the incident is closed The leg is now paid for like any piece of mer- chandise, the. only difference being that the company does not get the leg. That two-thirds of the $50 would be SloO per month or s12o0 per year for inc three years and over. Now take a pencil and paper, just like the pro- ponents of-this measure have doubtless done before proposing it, and do a lit- tie figuring. It has already been as sumed that Jones and his family would reasonably receive s12,000 cash and be entitled to it as a small com pensatlon under our present laws. Figuring 10 per cent intereston Jones' twelve thousand, you have s1,2o0 per year. which by some sort of coinci-
 dence happens to be s10o per month or his two-thirds pay which is fixed Tor him under the proposed kultur price list system. Then the employer proposes to keep Jones' S12,000 him. lset and pay to Jones 10 per cent in- terest on 1t for something over three years, and then keep and pocket the principal for himself And so if figures on every item on the price list. You can figure it for yourself. Capi- tai proposes to settle with the injured workman by retaining that which nov
 belongs lawfully to him, paying him the interest on it for a short period. : ana then pocketing the principal In other words, capital settles the bill
 without being out a dollar of the principal
 One of the chief arguments made in
 support of this measure is that it en- | courages and makes safer the invest | ment Of capital in the state. But it is
 my opinion that honest and legitimate
 capital neither needs nor desires, be- lore venturing over the border into
 Arizona, to know or figure beforehand | what It Will cost it in dollars and cents | 10 nlutllate or cut off the big toe of
 an Arlzonian. And it is further pro-
 claimed from the house tops, as an
 unanswerable and cogent argument in
 It's favor that the ambulance chasing | lawyer is against it. However. those
 members of the bar who give their at
 tentlon to pleading the cause of the | injured workmen, the so-called ambu- | lance chasers, compare favorably in | honesty, integrity and ability with
 those faWning sycophants who live
 rom the crumbs that fall From the
 tables of the corporations Nof this
 country, and who support the measure SPENCER R PITCH