Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1920-07-07

accidents IN the United States. lie
has found IL no easy task. The fed
erai government does not know how
many Industrial accidents occur In
any state in the Union. IL knows
even less OF the nature. results and 80.
clal cost OF these accidents. Only i've
Maryland. Mime
sofa. Montana and New Jersey-re-
port compensation payments separate
y for fatal aud 'non-fatal cases and
for medical treatment 1nd burial for
the years 1910 60 1918. inclusive. Mich
igan reported these costs for the year
I0I6 and then quit. Nebraska for 1917
and 1918. and the United States EN-
ployees' Compensation commission for
1918 Oklahoma and Wisconsin show
for the three years. 19i6-i9iS. the to-
tai money compensation and the med
ical end burial benefits. Hawaii. New
York and Vermont published this In
/ formation for 1916: Texas for 1910
and 1918: Massachusetts, for 1916 and
1917: Iowa for 1917 and 1918. and
South Dakota for 1918. Ohio and Ne
vada have published the total amounts
paid for compensation and burial for
/ I9i6-19IS: Connecticut for 1919 and
/ 1917; Pennsylvania for 1916; Colo
RADIO for 1917 and 1913; Indiana for
1917: Kentucky and Wyoming for
1918.
Seventeen jurisdictions have thus FAR
published FOR the year 1918 the total
amounts paid FOR all compensation. In
Guiding medical benefits. The years
/ cover different months. Some are cal
endar years. some fiscal years, and
/ some compensation years determined
F. by the date when the compensation
laws became operative. The total
amount Of all compensation as report
Cd by these II Jurisdictions was Sl6.-
! 80. go. The total estimated number
Of workers included therein was near
" 11.GOO 600 and the total estimated
number entitled 20 come under the
/ acts was 100000. II we assume that
| 100000 workers were actually
brought under the acts. the c0mpen-
sation payments would amount to a
yearly charge OF $3.50 per employee.
Average Is Useless.
The utter uselessness of this av-
eraEe OF a whole series of averages Is
shown by bringing Il into contrast
with the average cost OF S4.S5 per
employee for Ohio. $3.50 for Callfor-
MIA. and SLIP for New Jersey. These
widely different costs bear no readily
ascertainable relationship to the actual
costs Of accidents I'm these different
states The rea. cost OF accidents in
Ohio Is not OF course two and One-half
times their cost i'm New Jersey. The
differences are due TO differences in
industries covered. waiting period.
amount OF compensation provided.
maximum and minimum limits. and
other differences i'm the acts and the
administration OF them.
The bureau calls attention TO the
fact that compensation payments are
increasing year by year In all the
states which have published figures
which enable US 20 make comparisons.
However. IL Is not ready TO believe
that the accide'd severity rate has
grown worse since 1912. when the safe
~ movement became fully organized.
It believes Individual plants and great
corporations comprising many plants
have reduced their accident rates. both
frequency and severity rates. II be-
lieves that the growing compensation
bill. the universal experience In all
states Is due 10 extending the cover
age 81 the laws. libcralizing the COM
pcnsatiOn provided. cutting down the
waiting period. better and more en-
ughtened administration methods and
practices. and the growing knowledge
% the workers as TO their rights UNI
der the laws.
Unemployment Most Costly.
or course. the economic cost Of in
dustrial accidents was enormously
greater before compensation laws were
I enacted. As TO unemployment. the
most costly and the only purely In
dnstriai and occunatiOnal accident. the
government has no reliable record
whatever. A man may break his arm
by falling over n cuspidor In his home;
he may De killed by any fool driving
~ automobile. Everything in the way
81 physical injury that can occur to
/ him while working az his regular &C
cupation can happen 60 him In his
/ home. on the street. az church. any
place ne may be-. But the only way he
can become unemployed is 10 lose bis
l Job Nonindustriai physical injury ac-
I cidcnts are probably rs numerous rs
and even more destructive than indus
/ trial physical injury accidents. There
I is no such thing as nonindustrial un-
employment. II is therefore the only
purely industrial hazard.
There are two very distinct kinds
81 uncmployment-wha the govern
ment calls out-Of-work unemployment
and unemployment on the job. Roth
result In material loss TO the individual