The Connecticut labor news., 1923-01-05


 per cent of manufacturer price Even in building construction the most liberal scale of benefits ever proposed would scarcely equal two 1 per cent of contractors price-cer- | tainly much less than the architects | fees. If adequate compensation would be a burden scarcely felt by con sumers, still less would 1t place em- ! ployers at a competitive disadvantage. l Other items of entrepreneur' costs bulk so much larger and are so ex- ! treme1y variable that 1t may be doubted whether the cost of compen- sating work injuries ever influenced l the location of a business enterprise expand or restrict the scale of his op- erations. The meagre and widely varying benefits provided by Ameri- can compensation laws are traceable to a very different considerations: the relative pull exercised by organized l labor, disinterested reformers, and ! employers associations.
 For the administration of their l Workmen's Compensation Acts most states have created special boards or commissions charged with the super vision of claim settlements, the ad- i judication of disputed claims, and the duty of seeing to it that employers provide insurance or other security | for the payment of future install ments of compensation when and as accrued. In comparison with our law courts these commissions are models | number of disputed claims is small, appeals are few, and the statutes, on the whole, are 1iberally construed Probably no branch of administra ration in this country is better conducted.
 shortcomings The commissioners are political appointees, frequently changed, drawn in large part from the | lower grades of practicing attorneys and imbued with an incurable prede- l fiction for common-law procedure. 1 The technical and clerical staffs are commonly also political and always inadequate. The result is great laxity in the supervision of settlements by agreement, with much needless techni- cality and avoidable delay in adjudica- ton. There are no statistics of claim settlement, but such test studies as have been made serve to show that first payments in fatal cases are un- reasonably delayed and that, in case of temporary disability, the victim commonly receives nothing at all un- til his disability has ceased and the most urgent need has passed. (Some very illuminating test studies have been made; by the Industrial Acci- dent Board of Illinois and by the Compensation Bureau of Pennsy1- vania. See also Carl Hookstadt in U. s. Monthly Labor Review, No vember, 1o2o.) Private insurance companies, state insurance funds, and non-insured employers appear to be equally and all but universally remiss in this respect The point deserves strong emphasis, for to give relief when relief is needed is the very es- sense of the compensation scheme. l Short changing-the settlement of claims for less than the statute pro- vides-is especially prevalent in those states which have retained court ad- ministration Under commission ad- ministration there are few such com plaints except in respect to those cases of permanent disability not cov- cred by specific indemnity schedules. Compensation for indubitable per manent total disability may, in most states, be suspended for weeks or months on the mere allegation of the employer or insurance carrier that the claimant is able to do flight work" :" and the hapless victim is then put to the trouble, delay, and expense of proving that he is still disabled. In missions hold the curious view that the claimant must procure employ ment and establish a difference be- tween his present and former wage rate before compensation can be fixed If employment is slack no loss of earnings can be proved and no compensation is paid. If the han dicapped worker finds employment, it is usually casual and at varying rates of pay. His compensation, conse- quently, varies from job to job and may range in a single year from 50 cents to SIP a week, with frequent suspensions. (Again there is no sta tistical record and the statements in the text are based upon personal ob- servation in several states. See, how ever, the Connor Reports to the gov ernor of New York, IoI9) Such anomalies are due in part to faulty procedure, to over-insistence upon the technicalities of legal ''proof," and to too-restricted definition of Toss of earnings" in the statutes. Still more serious is the lack of adequate facil- ities for impartial, frst-hand investi- gation. The doctrine of self-help still has a strong hold upon legisla lures and administrators. The com ! missions do not go out to find the facts; they wait for the claimant to present a petition and produce evi- denie All of which means that the claimant must hire attorneys and pro- cure medical testimony at his own l charges.
 After the award is rendered, little effort is made to see that it's terms are carried out. Compensation pay ments for death and permanent dis ability run over long terms, even to 1 life pensions Payment during a given wear on account of current injuries