Arizona republican., 1918-10-30
Where the People
 May Have Hearing
The Workmen's Compensat;on Act

The Workmen's Compensation Act To the Editor of The Republican, sir:
 Responding to the requests that have come 10 me in view of my position as chairman of legislation of the Ari- zona Federation of Womens clubs, rom many club women, to know what 1 think of Amendment 100-101, so- called 'Workmen's Compensation Acc { 10 be voted upon at the coming cleo tion on Tuesday, November 5th, venture to state that l am not in favor of this amendment, giving my reasons therefor, even at the risk of being classed with the opponents of the bill !. whom it's leading advocates state are labor agitatOrs and personal injury ] lawyers, known as ambulance | chasers.' A word as to those who are | supporting the bill: l find among 1 those most advocating it no working | men, but the employers and those con nected with them in more or less ha- zardoAs occupations, whose object is safety first that is, safety to thelr | own interests; corporation lawyers who make their living from fees paid ! by employers whose interests they 1 protect. out of the thousands of dol . lars saved to the employer in flair" 1 settlements with injured employees | c'tair'? yes, fair-to the employer women whose interests are with the two classes just mentioned; women , who have been caught by the siren argument of protection to the home in immediate payment for injuries, ! thinking, no doubt in some vague way that the maximum allowance, meagre though it is. from the Accident Fund hi 1ls roneously called it, state insuranceD will take unto itself wings and fly tinstanter into the bosom of the unfor- tunate family, without any endeavOr on the part of the employer and his purse-string healing lawyer to secure an entirely fair settlement; and the gullible taxpayers grasping at the mas ter siren argument that the great bug a-boO court costs will be saved not understanding that court costs are ultimately borne by the litigants themselves and not comprehending that the creation and operation of the Accident Board will add many thous- ands of dollars to the overburdened taxpayers as it's salaries and expenses are to be paid out of the state general fund.
 No the WOrkingman, whom the phil anthropic employer and his paid agents and attorneys are endeavoring to pro tect' is not supporting the amend ment; he prefers to stand on the laws he now has. the present "Workmans Compensation Act small though the maximum allowance is retaining the right he now has of rejecting any settlement under it, and suing under the Employers Liability Act, which allows but one defense, that of negli- gence on his own part, and has nc restrictions as to the amount recover able. trusting his case to a jury ot 1 twelve men rather than rest his claims as with the contemplated amendment on the award of an Accident Boarc based on the findings of ONE man.
 The present Workman's COmpensa- | tion Act makes it compulsory upOT the employer to settle under it if tht workman so desires, while on the othei hand, the workman is not compelled tC settle under it unless he affirmatiyel! accepts it. whereas, the propose, amendment, does not compel the em ployer to operate under it. but if tho employer does elect to accept it, thu 1 workman is bound by the employers election unless the workman formally ! files his non election to work under il Should the employer not elect to op
 crate under it, the only remedy left t { the injured employe is to sue at com
 mOn-law since the proposed amend
 ment will take away every othe remedy and will re-establish two vi
 cious defenses now abrogated by ou
 constitution, namely, the fellow ser want doctrines (that is, the acciden
 occurred through the carelessness O
 negligence of some fellow employe, il
 which case the employer is not re
 spdnsible) and that of assumption o
 risk Gin other words. You assume
 the risk when you accepted the em
 ployment'D so that the injured em
 ploye stands very little chance of SC
 curing anything.
 The proposed law not being compul
 sory upon the employer to accept, i it's operation it may be found that no