The Winslow mail., 1925-09-22
FARMERS HAVE NO
REASON TO OPPOSE
LABOR AMENDM'NT

The provisions Of the workmen's
compensation law, which will be
voted on next Tuesday. stipulate
that non-hazardous occupations are
not assessed equally with hazard
GUS occupations in creating the
funds to comply with the act
Hazardous occupations, such as
the mines, pay the great bulk of
the expense, and non-hazardous oc-
cupations, such as farming, pay a
very small proportion. In this re-
spect the Arizona law is different
from other state insurance meas
ures. The opponents of the com
pensation law are making an, en-
deavor to frighten farmers into
thinking the expense of compensa-
tion for all accidents will be borne
by them. Concerning this the Ari-
zona Republican says:
'The opposition to the Work
mems Compensation Act is de-
pending for the defeat of the
measure upon three elements: the
farmer vote, small part of, the
labor vote, and those who habitual-
ly vote mo" on all measures which
they do not clearly understand or
measures in which they have no
interest.
"In the first place, the vote on
September 29, will not be directly
on the Workmen's Compensation
Act. That has already been passed
by the legislature, to become eff
fective only after an amendment
to the constitution to make it op-
erative. AS the constitution now
stands, it would not be operative.
The question on which the people
will vote is the proposed amend
ment. That will be the only one
on the ballot
"The attack, though, is on the
principle of the Workmen's Com
pensation Act, and a desperate eff
fort is being made to array the
farmers against it by misrepresen-
tation that they will be forced to
bear a considerable part of the bur-
den of insurance which the great
employing corporations would pay
under the act.
GAS a matter of fact, not one
farmer in ten would be brought
under the act. Unless a farmer is
employing as many as three men
working about machinery, he would
not be brought under the act
against his will. The act would
cost him nothing. We suppose,
though, that very large number
of farmers would voluntarily come
under it and avail themselves of
the law rate of insurance it offers
for their protection against dam
age suits growing out of injuries
sustained by their employees.
''It is true, that in farm employ
ment personal injury cases are
rare. The employment on farms
is classed as non-hazardous. But
under the present law every en-
ployer, farmer or other, is liable for
injuries that may be sustained by
an employe in the course of his
employment; at least, he is liable
to be made a defendant in an ac-
tion for damages.
"The rate of insurance in farm
employment would be SO low as to
be almost Ineligible, so that, no
doubt, a very large number of
farmers, though not required to do
so, would voluntarily put them
selves under the act and thus re-
lieve themselves of the danger of
an accident to an employe result
ing in a verdict for damages that
would seriously cripple them finan-
cially
''But the main thing we wish to
emphasize is the law is not obli-
gatory upon farmers, except, as we
have said, those who employ as
many as three persons about ma
chinery such as is used about
farms, electrical machinery, trac-
tors, or who employ men at work
on ladders or scaffolding and in
such other work as brings them
under the present employers liza
bility law.
"It is to the interest of all farm
ers that we should have good laws,
those which promote better under
standing in industry; which tend to
reduce litigation and to promote
cooperation, without which there
cannot be the greatest community
and state advancement.
cit is gratifying to note that the
Salt River Valley Water Users as
sociation, which represents practi-
cally every farmer in this valley,
by resolution on Friday endorsed
the Workmen's Compensation Act,
recognizing the benefits it will
bring to the state at large and, in
directly, to the farmers"
~ IN