The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-01-20
WOrkman's Compensation Bill
Presented to Senate.
MOntee Would Name COmmiS.
sion To Control All.
SPECIAL PROTECTION TO MINES
Miners Would Pay Into Fund
To Make Compensation.
Measure Would Cover Santa
Fe Shop Men Here.

Kansas will have a workmanS COM
pensation commission composed of
three members appointed by the gov
ernor whose salaries will be $4,000 a
year if a bill ready to be introduced
in the senate today. when it convened
at 4 o'clock, by ]. w. Montee of Craw-
ford meets with favorable considera-
ton and enough votes to put it in the
statute books. The purpose of the
bill is principally to protect the coal
miners of the state and contains dras
tic regulations affecting the operation
of every coal mine in Kansas. How
ever, the commission would have su
pervision over other hazardous indus
| tries.
The scope of the Montee bill may
| take in industries in every part of the
state, including railroad shopmen if it
| is held that the industries are hazard
| Gus and if there are enough men en-
| ployed to justify the creation of a
| fund. Should railroad shops be placed
under the proposed commission, the
Santa Fe shops in Topeka alone would
! have a pay roll sufficient to include
| this class of workmen and the COM
mission would be empowered to de-
termine the fund to be established for
| this class of men.
| 1t is provided that every mine oper-
ator shall pay into a fund held by the
lworkman's compensation commission
! every six months an amount equal to
| between 2 " and q cents for every ton
of coal mined during the previous six
months and that all compensations
| handled thru the commission be paid
out of this fund. In the event the
| fund should not be large enough to
| take care of all compensations, inter-
| 1est-bearing certificates will be issued
and these shall be taken up when the
| fund has been replenished.
| Every kind of mine comes under
| the regulations of the bill. In all strip
mines the sum of y cents must be
| paid on every ton of coal mined, SUBJ
| ject to certain reductions; and in all
other mines 4 cents a ton, subject to
similar reductions.
Encourage Up-to-Date Mines.
| The bill provides that companies
! may make reductions in payments
where at least 10 per cent of the en-
ployes are trained in first aid work.
in mines in which safety lamps are
used. mines in which mechanical shot
! firing devices are used which are fired
from outside in underground mines in
which safety methods are taught, in
mines with fire protection, where
there are daily roof inspections, where
liquors and smoking tobaccos and
matches are forbidden and where spe-
cial employees are provided for loading
holes
| L
1911 legislature shall govern in fixing
the amount of compensation to be
paid and the money shall be paid to
the injured party by the commission
erS out of the funds derived from the
levy on the coal produced.
In the event a new mine is opened
| it is provided that the commission
shall estimate the amount of coal that
would have been produced during the
preceding six months, if it has been
worked during that time. and payment
into the general fund shall be made
on the basis of their estimate. Appeals
from the rulings of the commission
into court are provided for.
Fix Injury Payment.
One of the duties of the commission
THAT Montee wants created would be
to collect full data regarding injuries
to employees in all lines of hazardous
employment in the state SO that il
might fix the amount to be paid by
lemployers of all classes into any fund
for the benefit of their workmen.
| In case any number of employers in
any line of business in which the haz-
ard is such that the creation of a
fund as provided would require pay
ments of like amounts from all en-
ployers and in which employers in the
aggregate pay in wages to employees
who would be entitled to the benefit
of such fund not less than one millior
five hundred thousand dollars annual
ly, they shall apply to the commission
for permission to create a compensa-
ton fund under the commission which
shall be administered as provided The
amount other classes of employers be-
sides coal mine operators shall pay fol-
| the creation of a compensation func
shall be fixed by the commission.