The Monett times., 1922-11-03
A SCHEME TO BEAT
COMPENSATION
Editorial Reproduced from St. Louis
Star, Sept. 8, 1922.

damage sult lawyers nave put an
initiative proposition upon the No
vember ballot which should unite
every employer and every working
man in Missouri in a hard and fast
alliance to support the Workingmen's
Compensation Act.
The Workingmen's Compensation
Act will be voted on in referendum
in November, unless, as Is likely, the
state supreme court rules the petitions
insufficient.
The initiative proposition, also to be
voted on in November, is called a
estate Compensation and Personal
Injury Law" That is a misnomer. 1t
should be called a claw to Give Darn
age Suit Lawyers Big Fees"
Every employer in Missouri will
fight this initiative measure. The
people in general will fight it. Every
workingman who understands the
game and wants real compensation
will fight it. The only practical cues
tion is, will it serve the purpose Of
the damage suit lawyers? That pur-
pose is to defeat the Working1nen's
Compensation Act.
There never was a ShreWder move
than this, to protect the ambulance
chasers. 1t is Heads I win, tails
YOU lose" proposition. If both meas
ures carry, the damage suit lawyers
win. If both measures are defeated,
the lawyers win. The only salvation
for the workingmen and the employ
ers is to get together, carry the
Workingmen's Compensation Act, il
the supreme court puts it on the bal
lot. and defeat the initiative measure.
Here is one joker: The last section
of the estate Compensation and Per-
sonal Injury Law repeals the Work
mems Compensation Act. What hap
pens if the voters carry both Of them
They will have ratified the Work
mems Compensation Act AND THEY
ALSO WILL HAVE REPEALED 1T.
There is a second joker: The initi-
ative measure framed by the damage
suit lawyers provides that if any sec
ton of it is declared unconstitutional,
that shall not affect the validity Of
the remaining parts. Some sections
of the law are of doubtful constl-
tutionality. But it never is unconstu-
tional to repeal law. So, under the
second joker, the clause repeating the
Workmen's Compensation Act would
remain valid even though all the rest
of the initiative measure were declar-
ed unconstitutional.
There is third joker: The clause
describing liability for injuries does
not say "every employer" 1t says
"every person." Thus it is general
liability law, not an employers
liability law. 1t is unreasonable to
make every persons liability for in
jury as great as the liability created
by the hazards of industry. The pur-
pose is to multiply lawsuits if the law
is enacted, or to alarm the people Of
the state to such an extent that they
will wipe out both acts at once be-
cause they are not sure which Is
which.
There is a fourth joker The dam
age suit lawyers call their measure q
estate Compensation" law. 1t is not
that at all. There is no provision in
it for compensation. Under it, no
workman in Missouri could collect a
dollar for injuries except by going
through lawsuit.
That is the biggest joker in the bill.
The Workmen's Compensation Act is
giving workmen compensation with
out the need of hiring lawyers and
designed to put an end to lawsuits, by
fighting in the courts. But the Estate
Compensation and Personal Injury.
Law IDS 1OI no SOlC PuIpOSC
creation of business for lawyers. I'm
der it, no workingman is guaranteed
anything. The only reference to
compensation" in the entire law is in
the title, and it is put there to catch
voters and for no other purpose.
The hope of the sponsors of this
bill is that workingmen will be drawn
to it and will vote against the Work
mems Compensation Act, thus possib-
ly carrying the initiative measure,
but in any event stirring up enough
general hostility to defeat the COM
pensation act in the referendum
upon it. Thus the main purpose of
the lawyers bill, the defeat of the
Workmen's Act, would be achieved,
either by direct vote against it in
the referendum, or through the re-
pealing section of the initiative
measure.
To make this bill appeal to labor
the damage suit lawyers have con-