The Winslow mail., 1926-07-02
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MODERN LEGISLATION

plOyeeS occurring daily. That
means that eight men out Of every
thousand are being injured every
working day in the industries of
our state. This is below the aver
age in other states. Can this num-
ber of accidents be reduced, is the
first question asked. 1t can and
will be without doubt, for the reas-
on of the cost to the employer, if
for no other reason.
During the campaign in which
the present Compensation Law was
discussed upon the platform in
many cities and by various enc
mics of modern legislation and the
radical element of society, the self
styled protectors Of employees in
industry endeavored to make the
toxpayer of our state believe that
he would be the carrier of this
new tangled legislation. Which
was and is so far from the truth
as possible to get without falling
off the precipice on which they
stood. The cunning reasoning of
be seen by any one who will only
look around them. Any one who
has been injured can tell you how
he Jared. If he believed he was
entitled to additional compensation
to that he received, he has only to
ask for a hearing before the Com
mission. No attorney is necessary
at this hearing, because the hear
ing is not a matter of technical
points, it is a matter of facts, if
the employee has not received his
just compensation or is not able to
return to work, these matters are
decided by the Commission, and in
no case has the employee been re-
fused further compensation when
he was rightfully entitled to more,
nor sent back to work when he
should not have been.
The reason that the taxpayer
will not have to carry the burden
of the insurance thus issued, is
plain to any one who will stop one
moment to reason it out.
There are three ways in which
the workmen's compensation may
be carried on: In the State Com
pensation Fund. In private insur-
ance company, and by the employ
er carrying his own insurance.
This last method being almost pro-
hibitive, due to the bonds and Sc
curities necessary to provide.
iac,
who must pay compensation ac-
cording to the provisions of the
new workmen's compensation law,
charging the rates allowed by and
under the supervision of the In
dustrial commission.
In the State Compensation Fund,
insurance is written the same way
as in private companies, charging
ten per cent less than that rate
charged by the private companies.
With the added feature that at the
end of the fiscal year the insurers
accident experience will be COM
puted and if the accident expert
ence is high he will be obliged to
pay a penalizing premium, and if
the experience is low he will re-
ceive a refund, which is not the
case in private insurance compan-
les. So one can readily under
stand that it is to the employers
interest to put into effect safety
appliances and precaution in order
that his insurance premium will be
as little as possible.
The cost of operating the Com
mission and the setting up of
catastrophe fund, and the refund
ing of the $15O,O00 appropriated by
the legislature for the Commission
to begin business with, is repre-
sented in the premium paid by the
insurer.
The Compensation Department,
which has 95 per cent of the min
ing business and which represents
insurance paid on 10000 men
which represent yearly payroll of
$32,000,000, ond a premium of over
$1.000,000 per year.
These facts alone are sufficient
in themselves to make a convert
of any one not interested in the
law itself, aside from the humane
need of more adequate method of
meeting out justice.
Chief Justice Taft, who is con-
sidered to be very conservative
person in matters of law and pro-
gress, recently advocated the need
of free legal aid, in a very inten-
sive article, in which he covers the
need of obtaining justice in behalf
of poorer people who can i'll af-
ford the cost of hiring attorneys
and meeting other costs incurred
in the average case When the
Chief Justice of our Supreme Court
lends voice to a matter of this
kind, it certainly should meet with
cooperation and support of every
student of economics, for when
conditions grow to be such that
the Chief of our highest judicial
tribunal must call our attention to
matters of this kind, it is high time
we awake to our responsibilities.
Workman's Compensation Acts
are a large factor in the modern
methods of recognizing this need
by giving the greatest possible
compensation to an injured en-
ployee without cost to the injured
person, recognizing the fact that
injuries are an inevitable part of
industry, and doing away with the