The Arizona copper camp., 1918-10-05
EDITORIAL
COMPENSATION TO INJURED woRKMEN


against the suffering and loss resulting from their being
ncapacated in any way for manual labor gener
ally recognized. Compensation to injured worlznen is
based upon the theory that the of economic
goods should bear all the expenses incurred in the poduc
ton of such goods Wages lost, medical attendance and
burial expenses of accidental injury DEATH
all losses which should be considered part of the e
pense of production If these losses be borne by
the wormen he Indirectly carries part of the expense of
production In order avoid this the expense of work
accidents it now generally agreed should be treated like
all other expenses OF production; it should be borne by
the employer in the first instance and be shifted by him.
in the form of increased prices upon the Of those
goods In the production of which the injuries
tanned
Up to the year 1916 hirty-two states and Alaska had
enacted wor<mens compensation laws The relief which
compensation law gives to the injured workman depends
upon the scale OF wages the scope Of the law the method
OF administration and the security for payment La all
essential features the proposed amendment to state
constitution to provide compensation for wormen injured
IN hazardous eOynentS and Tor their benet1ca11eS and
dependents where death results from such injury equal
to the best laws the subject yet enacted Only very
few state compensation laws award to the disabled work
66 23 per cent of wages during the entire period of
disability impairment of earning capacity which is the
percentage provided by Arizona proposed law In
OF the states the law contains provisions far less liberal
the percentages OF wages paid running from so per
to 90 per cent and the majority low so per
While the Arizona measure is made elective its pro
visions so liberal to the workman and fair to the
poyer that there is little doubt of its acceptance by either
party in the event of its adoption Such law would
remove of the chief of friction between the
large mining companies and their employees and the bene
fits which would to the latter obvious to any
Intelligent and uprejudced person who has studied the
provisions OF the bill
The procedure usually followed under existing laws in
this state to damages for injuries sustained by
workman is by suit in a court of record Where udg
ment is obtained that is satisfactory to the defendant
company and an appeal is taken, the injured workman
rather than incur the additional expense of contesting
the appeal take the chance of reversal of the judgments
and wait for indefinite period before final Judgment is
rendered, accepts compromise basis of one-haf
twothlds of the amount awarded him. Costs of the suit
are deduced and then his lawyer claims probably one
ha OF what remains after these deductions are made
the claimant actually receives little than quarter
OF onethlrd OF the amount sued for To illustrate: Suit
is brought for $10O00 Judgment is rendered for the full
amount; the case is compromised for oneha of the 1dg
nent or $4,000; costs to be paid by plaintiff say $780,
lawyers fee, $2,400 amount received by the claimant
S40O Lawyers who engage this kind of practice find
it lucrative and naturally they strongly opposed to
compensation law such as the Arizona initiative
ure that would remove from the jurisdiction of the courts
all cases OF physical injury to persons employed in hazard
0us occupations who elected to under it's provisions