The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1932-07-29


should encourage publicity that per-
mits an inference that the system
is failure. Under such circum-
stances one would naturally expect
that they would take advantage of
the opportunity to extol it's merits
because of the excellence it has shown
under such severe tests.
The commissions actuary is quoted
as saying that "In many cases it has
been perverted into unemployment in
surance, instead of compensation for
injury" A moments reflection will
show this to be very indiscreet
statement. The industrial commits
sion is the tribunal that decides
whether or not an applicant is to be
paid compensation. We certainly do
not want to believe that the industrial
commission awards compensation in
some cases where the evidence does
not warrant it. If the actuary knows
of cases where compensation for in
jury has been perverted into unem-
ployment insurance we would suggest
that he bring such cases to the atten-
ton of the industrial commission for
proper action, instead of making such
loose statements to the public
In the actuary's annual statement
for 1882 it is stated that there has
been an increase of 1870 in the num-
ber of cases in which appeals have
been taken to the courts from the de-
cisions of the industrial commission.
1t will interest the public to know
that even with this increase of 1870
the total number of cases appealed
to the courts from the decisions of
the industrial commission is approxi-
mately one-l'fth of one per cent of
the total number of claims filed.
One member of the industrial
commission is quoted as saying that
the recent decision of the supreme
court of Ohio in the case of Araca
VS.. Industrial Commission, will tend
to revive many claims against the
state fund, and that, "there can be no
end to any claim under that ruling"
| disagree entirely with that state
ment. The decision of the supreme
court in the Araca case simply re-
affirms its ruling in the Rowlands
case, which was decided four years
ago, and which the industrial COM
mission sought to have overruled in
the Araca case. The law gives a
claimant the right of appeal to the
common pleas court if the commits
sion denies him the right to continue
to receive compensation on any juris-
dictional ground. Araca, whose injury
was fractured skull, had been
awarded compensation for the period
of temporary total disability. The
proof showed that he had a perma-
nent loss of vision in the left eye.
The commission denied further COM
pensation on the ground that the in
jury had not caused the loss of vision.
Araca filed an application for rehear-
ing. The commission ruled that he
was not entitled to a rehearing The
supreme court decided that he was.
The decision Of the supreme court
is sound Interpretation of the law.
1t is unfortunate that some of those
connected with the administration of
the workmen's compensation law seem
to think that the supreme court is
right only when it decides against
claimants. The decisions of the SUI
preme court, constituting the work
mems compensation law, have inva-
riably been sound and have shown
that the court is just as much con-
cerned about protecting the fund
against abuse as it is in protecting
the rights of claimants.
1t seems to me that it is very ap-
parent that the increase in premium
rates is made necessary because the
actuarial measuring stick has been
reduced in size. What | mean by
that is, the lowered payrolls upon
which premium is being paid. Hereto
fore the premium rates were based
on the high wage rates that prevailed
before the industrial depression. Be-
sides the lowering iof payrolls
through unemployment there is the
further lowering of payrolls through
wage reductions For instance, an
employer who had a payroll of $780,
900 and premium rate of $1.00 at
the beginning of the industrial de-
preston would pay into the fund
$1,000 If this employer has reduced
wages thirty three and a third per
cent, which some have done, it would
reduce the payroll to $66,666.67 for
the same number of employees, even
if they worked full time. A premium
rate of $100 on this amount of pay
roll would bring $666.67 instead of
$1,000. Thus we can see that even
with the increased premium rate
employers will be paying a less
amount of premium into the fund
than they did before the industrial
:.