The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-07-26

The judges letter follows:
July 25, 1919.-The Workmen's 8
Compensation Acts it constitution
al?
The purpose of the act is to give to
q large class OF wage earners mod5
crate insurance against the accidents
and hazards Of his employment. To
obtain the insurance fund the act pro-
vjdes for levying an assessment on a
large class Of city employers, to lbe
rated according to the hazard of their
business and the amount Of their year
ly payroll. The act is largely copied
from the workmen's compensation act
of the state of Washington. The lat
ter is truly beneficient act and it is
we'll sustained by reason and author
jty. State v. Clausen, IS Wash 1856
215; Montana Timber Company ".
Washington, 143 U. S. 219; N. Y.
Cent. Ry Co. v. White, 143 U. S. 1870.
In New York the workmen's COM
pensation act establishes forty-two
groups of hazardous employment and
requires every employer subject to
its provisions to pay or provide COM
pensation according to a prescribed
schedule for the disability or death of
his employees resulting from acci-
dental 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 a bureau COM
posed of three persons, and it has
supplemented the act by fixing a
schedule of about fourteen hundred
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 EN-.
ployers payroll.
Now it is justly held that where a
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 def
mite and just compensation to every
disabled employee. The Washington
act classifies in this manner the haz-
ard and the rate to be allowed on the
payroll.
Tunnel, bridge and trussel; sew
ers house moving and house
wrecklng ..'..... .O65
Iron and steel frame structures. b. .080
Shaft sinking .O60
Carpenter work ............... .035
In that way any hazardous indus
try is charged with a specific and
moderate rate, which is not left to the
conjecture of any expert or bureau.
The boss carpenter or contractor
whose yearly payroll amounts to &c.
900 must pay on the same .035, or,
$21. Every employer can figure his
liability in minute At the begin
ming Of the year the estimate Of the
payroll is made on the basis of the
last three months, and at the end Of
basis of the actual payroll. The acci-
dent fund of each class may be
neither more nor less than self sup
porting, exclusive of the cost of ad-
ministration which is paid by the
state. For instance, the class of car
penters and builders have no concern
or relation with powder makers or
any other class. Each class of indus
try must bear it's own loss. The Wash
ington act groups forty classes of
hazardous employment, and it does
not. like the North Dakota act, in
clude hotels, restaurants and the
mercantile houses, or any business
where there is no hazard To make
anyone pay premium where there is
no hazard, or to make one pay for a
Continued on Page Four.)