The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-05-04
woRKMEN'S COMPENSATION
And Employers Liability Laws Effects
in United States.

anu Employers LlaDlnty Laws EHeCts
in United States.
A comparative study of employers liza.
bility and workmens compensation sys.
TEN and their relative effect in diminish.
ing the necessity of industrial employ
ment of women and children of injured
workmen has just been published by the
United States bureau of labor statistics
as bulletin No. 2l7. The report empha-
sizes the superiority of compensation
over employers liability laws in meeting
the economic loss sustained by the fam
lilies through the death or injury of the
principal breadwinner. On the other
hand, il was found that even existing
compensation laws are -stil far from
adequate to protect the victims of indus
! trial accidents and their dependents
I The states of Connecticut and Ohio
were selected in which to,study the effect
of compensation legislation. These
states were chosen because in both the
laws had been in operation long enough
to provide a considerable bodyIof expe-
rience and because they represented two
distinct types of laws including different
scales of benefits. The investigation of
the employers liability system was
made in the state of Pennsylvania. The
scope of the investigation was limited
to industrial injuries resulting in death
or permanent total disability. In the
two compensation states the period COW
cred was the year ending Sept L. 1915,
while in Pennsylvania only cases occur.
ring during the first eight months of 1915
were included. From the three states
records were obtained of s62 fatalities
and 10 cases of permanent total disabi- |
ity The main emphasis of the report is |
laid upon the effect produced by indus !
trial fatalities upon the families of the
decedents, more especially of the mar
ried decedents The number of families /
considered were as follows: SO in Con- |
necticut, 206 in Ohio and 1877 in Penn. |
sylyania.
Striking differences were found in the
three states. both. in the proportion re.
ceiving compensation and in the amounts
received. In Connecticut 81 per cent and /
in Ohio 97 per cent of the families of
married men studied had received com
pensation; in the liability state of Penn
sylvania only ~ per cent had received
payments of some kind. For families of
married deeedents receiving compensa
tion the average amount awarded was
81 ,269 in Connecticut and S3,O9S in Ohio;
while the average amount paid to fam
lies who received anything at all in
Pennsylvania was 1896 or less than one
third of the average compensation re-
ceived in Connecticut and less than one
fourth of that received in Ohio.
The proportion of the widows who
took up gainful pursuits as a result of
their husbands death was for the three
states as follows: Connecticut, 1879 per
cent; Ohio, 2S.2 per cent; and Pennsyl-
vania, 3l.4 per cent The comparatively !
high percentage in Ohio is explained first
on the ground that as compared with {
Pennsylvania considerably larger pro- /
portion of the widows had no young {
children and, secondly, to much larger !
extent than in Pennsylvania they con 7
fined themselves to taking roomers or {
Doarders. In many cases the Ohio widow d
obtained a partial communication of her
award and had used it to build up j
business by which to support herself !
when the compensation ceased; nothing I
If this Kind was met with in Pennsyl. c
'ania e
For the three states the percentage of l.
antilles receiving aid from public au- t
horities or organized societies was as P
ollows: Connecticut, 10 per cent; Ohio, v
.5 per cent and Pennsylvania, 23.4 per ;
ent a
The important differences between {
vorkmen's compensation and employers e
liability systems may be summed up by a
aging that in the compensation states
he families of victims of industrial fa- j
alities knew with reasonable certainty N
THAT they might expect, received it with W
easonable promptness, and found it, in s.
eneral, sufficient to keep them from ex- Il
RENE hardship. In the liability state Sc
t Pennsylvania the families of decedents "
ad no such assurance; in general the q
ayments received were quite inadequate NJ
D the needs of the families, and not far
rom one fourth of those visited had
'ithin less than year from the fatality
cen obliged to seek charitable aid -
Neither of the compensation systems
tudied is beyond criticism, but their re-
llts are so superior to those of the liza
ility system that the claims of their nj
dvocates may be regarded as wholly IN
istified
As between the two compensation :.
ates the situation was found to be CON -
derably better in Ohio than in Connec-
cut. The amount of compensation re- II
lived was somewhat greater in the for %
er than in the latter state because of =
le higher scale of compensation benefits. r
higher weekly maximum, and higher ::
age level. and the economic distress, ~
leTefore, was not so acute. The meth -
Is and needs of making up the family =.
come were, however, similar in the two =.
ates