The Topeka state journal., 1921-12-24
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKN, Director,
washington, D. @.
A WoMAN oFFICIAL.

Washington, D. c., Dec. 19.-
| whether a man was murdered or
committed suicide is one of the inter
Testing points on which Mrs. Albert
Brueggeman must express an official
opinion in the course of her work on
| the employees compensation commits
sion. If the man in question, gov
| ernment employe, was murdered, his
| widow and children who are left de-
pendent would receive compensation
If he committed suicide, thereby de-
liberately cutting off their means of
support, the government cannot be re-
sponsible for his dependents.
Comparatively few people outside
of the government service realize that
Uncle Sam makes himself responsible
for injuries contracted by his employees
while in the line of duty. And still
| fewer know that the government COM
pensation commission sets a high
standard for institutions of this sort.
The government compensation act is
| like the workmen's compensation act
| of the states and yet in several ways
! it is quite different. As Mrs. Bruegge-
man, one of the commissioners, points
out:
1.-The government is far more liberal
to its workers than employers in the
| states are required to b e. In the
states, it is the private employer of
/ labor who has to pay when a work
| injury. To pay the compensation and
! at the same time hire a new man in
the injured workman's place may be
a serious financial burden to the en-
| ployer- So the state commissions
must read the law very closely.
But the government can afford to
be more liberal to its employees. 1t
really wants to come to the assistance
of its employees when they are dis
! abled thru their work.
IT.,
ernment machine shop were scuffling
and one fell against a machine and
was hurt, how should the case be de-
cided? Should the men have been
| scuffling? Was it their own lookout
that the accident occurred.
"In a case of this sort, the govern
| ment is apt to be broader in its de-
cision than a state commission could
be. Workmen are human beings, not
machines. And the injury may leave
a family destitute for months.
The Federal Law.
"At the same time, the government
| compensation law states plainly that
no compensation can be awarded for
! an accident due to careleSSneSS on the
| part of the person injured. Nor will
| the government assume responsibility
| for person injured while intoxicated,
| or for one who deliberately kills or
| Injuries himself. So the commission
ers have to consider every detail of
| the evidence and act as a board of
| judges to decide"
Mrs. Brueggeman is the newest COM
missioner-the woman on the board.
| Her fellow commissioners, John Kee-
/ gan and Charles BerrilI, have suggest
| ed her for chairman, and President
| Harding is now considering the matter.
! From a conversation with Mrs.
| Brueggeman. you would say that she
| is a good choice for the business of
| judging. She has a strong sympathy
! for the person who is injured and for
| the family which is more often than
not an equal sufferer. But she is at
| the same time conscientious. One of
| her duties is to see that the govern
ment is not taken advantage of.
81 wish I didn't take it quite so
| seriously she said with a rather visit
| full smile. Il dream for nights after
ward of some of the cases we can't
allow. You see there is no appeal
from the decision of the commission
and that makes each case a great re-
sponsibility'
Mrs. Bruggeman is one of the wo-
men who have been launched into i'm
! portant offices by the recent election.
! Before the war. she was a woman of
! leisure with a home in st. Louis-one
| of the women interested in civics, poll
| tics, and social problems. She was an
ardent worker, and when that re-
/ :
| terested in the approaching presiden-
| tial campaign.
Her Political Work.
| She became a member of the Re
publican national committee from Mis-
souri, and later was on the national
| advisory committee of which Taft
! Root and Beveridge were members.
| Her appointment to office she says
came as a surprise. But President
/ Harding told her that she could do the
work and that she would enjoy it. 1t
seems the president was right
| Mrs. Bruggeman explained that the
government is progressive in it's COM
pensation law in that all of its civil
/ employees benefit by it. In the state
| laws men and women who are engaged
| in industries are practically the only
/ ones who may be compensated by law
and there is d variety of opinion in diff
| ferent states as to what industries are
sufficiently hazardous to entitle work
! ers to compensation if they are in
/ jured.
struck by falling object is entitled
| to file claim whether he is a clerk
| who was struck by a filing cabinet, or
a laborer hit by falling crate.
The government law recognizes that
! there are dangers of office work, not
! so numerous or frequent as those of
a machine shop, but still worthy of
] consideration.
Typical office disabilities are aften
| among the most difficult cases for the
| commission to decide. If tuberculosis
| is contracted and the patient claims
! that the disease developed because OF
! insanitary or otherwise bad conditions
| in his office the commission must in
vestigate both office and home condi-
/ tions before making a decision. It
4; may be that the patient has been care
! less of sanitation and of his health at
| home.
| A number of claims are filed with
the government for influenza cases
| contracted. it is held, in draughty or
/ badly ventilated rooms. In some of
/ these, too, the commission finds that
| there is not sufficient evidence that
| office conditions were responsible.
It is especially hard to fix respon-
| sihility for disease which might have
| been contracted at any time during a
! considerable period. In every case
] hi Of iS oh