Evening star., 1923-02-08
DISABILITY RULING
| FIGHT |SsTARTED
y. S. Workers Seek Amend
/: ment of Act to NuIIify In
|: depreciation of McCarI.
BENEFITS LOST TO 200
Contention Is Advanced That Com
! pensation Legislation Has Re-
: ceived Severe Setback.
BENEFITS LOST TO 200

The fight OF federal workers against
the recent ruling Of Controller General
NcCarl regarding disability compen-
setion and the efforts of their friends
in Congress to have the compensa-
ton act broadened opened before the
House Judiciary committee yesterday.
Controller General McCarl's ruling
Would operate to discontinue compen-
sation and medical care for some two
hundred government employees now
receiving such benefits because of oc-
cppational disease. If the controller
generals ruling Is allowed to stand,
NO employe of the government may
hereafter benefit under the act unless
he or she suffers damage or mischief
in the narrower sense Of direct In
Jqry to bodily tissue through some
accidental or fortuitous happening
definitely fixed in point of time, in
contradlstinction to the gradual or
Ranic changes or functional disturb
ances brought about by vocational or
other diseases"
Would Change Law.
"A bill proposing amendments to the
act reversing Controller General Nc
CRrl'S ruling was before the committee
of the United States employees oompen-
sation commission and by representa-
tives OF the National Federation Of Fed
eral Employees, the National Federation
OF Post Office Clerks. the Railway Mail
Association. the National Association Of
Letter Carriers and the International
Association of Machinists.
The bill. which WAS introduced by
Chairman Nolstead of the judiciary COM
uiittee. clarifies the language of the com .
DSnSatIOn
to tho term injury" which is defined
as including I'm addition to injury by
accident. any disease proximately caused
by the employment The compensation
under the act Of September Z. 1916. has
construed the term injury" to mean
any result Of accident or disease which
bears direct causal relationship to
employment" In this Interpretation and
practice the commission was sustained
by the previous controller general
According to Controller General Nc
Carl. however. lit is beyond ques-
tion that the term personal injury,
sustained while in the performance
OF his duty as used in this statute,
was not intended to cover diseases
generally. and / think it was not in
tended to cover generally what are
designated as vocational or occupa-
tlonal diseases"
Reverses Previous Ruling.
tController General McCarl not only
reFerses the commission and the pre-
preme court of the state of Massa-
chusetts," said Thomas f. Flaherty,
secretary of the National Federation
of Post Office Clerks. And he goes
back to period twenty years ago in
the history of compensation 1egisla-
tion. Court decisions which had been
rendered at the time this act was
passed made 1t clear that the term
iHjury' was intended to apply to oc-
cupational diseases. In fact. the very
present act said 1T was intended to
be SO construed"
Miss Gertrude McNally, acting presi-
dent Of the National Federation Of Fed
cation was deeply concerned in this
question because of the numerous
groups Of employees in it's membership
who are subject to the very types Of
oSeeupationa tS nal diseases against which
Miss McNally points out. infections
TO which entomolQgists, veterinarians.
psychologists and other scientists are
exposed. either in their laboratories or
IN the field: the pneumonia hazards of
lighthouse keepers and steamboat in
spectors, especially in the northern
waters, where they undergo severest ex-
posure in bad weather; the contact with
infectious diseases which Is the daily
hazard of immigration inspectors and
the dangerous fumes and gases to which
the ordnance and munitions workers
are subjected.
Cites Illustrations.
"A lishtkeeper on the great lakes,
for example, died of pneumonia after
having had to visit two lights once
every three hours in icy weather by
means of a breeches buoy, exposed to
high. piercing winds and flying spray.
An entomologist in the public health
service died OF spotted fever as a re-
suit of handling infected blood and
insects in the course of laboratory ex-
periments.
Estates which did not originally
enact laws allowing compensation or
death benefits for such cases as this
have since amended their laws until
they do at present cover occupational
diseases. The controllers decision,
III, 1t stands, will put the federal stat
utes years behind the prevailing COM
pensation laws for employees in pri-
vate industry"
All three members of the Compen-
sation Commission were heard by
members of the judiciary committee
Yesterday. At the close of the hear
iHgs Chairman Volstead announced
that he would call his committee to-
eether today for the purpose of agree
Ing upon tho language of the bill and
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