The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1919-08-01

''Te bureau should go slow in try
ing to put the act into operation or to
make any expenses under it until the
supreme court has passed on the con-,
stitutioinal validity of the act and the
big unpublished, cumbersome and dras
tic rate schedule says Associate
Justice James E. Robinson in con
Guiding a lengthy discussion of the
workmens compensation act in his,
Saturday Evening Letter.
The judges letter follows:
July. Is, 1919-The Workmen's Com
pensation Acts it constitutional?
The purpose of the act is to give
to a large class Of wage earners
moderate insurance against the ac-4
cidents and hazards of his employ
nent To obtain the insurance fund
the act provides for levying an assess
rnent on a large class of city employ
ers, to be rated according to hazard!
of their business and the amount of.
ly copied from the workmen's CON-
pensati3n act Of the state Of Wash3
ington The latter is a truly benefi!
cient act and it is we'll sustained by
reason of authority, State Clausen,
SIS Washington 156, 2l5; Montana
Timber Company Y. Washington, l4S
White, l43 U S 1870. i
In New York the Workmens COM
pensatior act establishes forty two
groups of hazardous employment and
requires every employer subject to its
provisions to pay or provide compeH-
sation according to a prescrlpea
l.seilad disa bill sy. gathsess n
his employees resulting from &C
cidental personal injury in the course
of his employment In Washington
the statute establishes forty groups OF
hazardous employment and prescribes
for each man premium rate. In the
North Dakota act the grade of hazard
and the rate of compensation is left
to be determined by bureau COM
posed of three persons, and it has
supplemented the act by fixing
schedule of about fourteen hundl ed
different rates and grades of hazard.
The schedule has not been published,
and of course, it is not generally &C
cessible to the employers and the
public. The rates vary from two mills
to fifteen per cent on the employers
payroll.
Now: it is justly held, that where
person is employed in a hazardous
business it is not arbitrary or unWar-
ranted for the state to impose on the
employer the duty Of making a def
mite and just compensation to every
disabled employee. The Washington
act clasifies in this manner the hazard
and the rate to be allowed on the
payroll.
Tunnel, bridge and trussel; sew
ers, house moving and house
Iron and steel frame structures. .0so
Shaft sinking. ........... .Voo
carpenter work. .............. .ooo
In that way any hazardous industry
is charged with specific and moder
ate rate, which is not left to the con-
lecture of any expert or bureau The
boss carpenter or contractor whose
yeary payroll amounts to $4,000 must
pay on the same .035, or $21. Every
employer can figure his liability IN
minute At the beginning of the year
the estimate of the payroll is made
on the basis of the last three moths,
an at the end of year an adjustment
is made on the basis Of the actual pay
roll. The accident fund Of each c-ass
may be neither more nor. less than
self supporting, exclusive Of the @cost
Of administration, ;wich is paid BY tne
state. For instance, the class OF car
penters and builders have no con
Germ or relation with powder makers
or any other class. Each class ofian-
ductry must bear It's own loss. The
washington act groups forty classes
Of hazardous employment, and, it does
not like the North Dakota :, act. IN
clude hotels, restaurants and the mer- q
camille houses, Or any business WHARF, :
there is no haizsssifd., 70 make; one pay
premium where there Is NO hazard or
10 10 make, one pay Tor "a hazard which, esl,
does not exist or which "has no con.
|;ccern with, his business IS mere .'cen- n
8Ad4tiop,:atd ll.!. . Is
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