The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-04-12

ACT ONLY FOR
EMERGENCIES
Governor and Council Will
Decide When Law To
Be Invoked
The Timrs-News Bureau
Sir Walter Hotel

RALEIGH, April II. - The
question of when and ii North
Carolina is to follow the policy of
several other states and set up a
State-supervised cOmpe n a t i n
fund will be left entirely up TO
the governor and his council of
state if the general assembly en-
acts the pending compensation in
Surance fund bill, which has been
approved by the senate insurance
committee after extended hear
ingS.
The original bill, introduced by
Senator Dunagan Of Rutherford
and others, provided for the I'M
mediate establishment of a state
compensation insurance fund
along the lines OF that now oper-
ated in Ohio, but the senate in
surance committee adopted a sub
Stitute measure which sets forth
that the state shall enter the in
surancc field only when the gov
ernOr and the council Ct state de-
eide that an emergency exists and
the employers arc unable to get
adequate compensation insurance
protection.
Although 4 State-SupervlSed
compensation insurance fund has
been advocated for some time by
representative Of labor on the
glOund that it would not only pro-
vide ample protection for the
workers, but would save the en-
ployerS about half 4 million dol
lars a year in rates, one Of the
principal reasons that the insur-
ance fund proposal was brought
forth at this session Of the legiS-
lature was that il is becoming in
creasingIy difficult for employers
to obtain compensation insurance.
According To those who have
studied the matter closely, it is
now becoming u question not only
OF the state going into the inSur-
ance business, but also Of provid-
ing Insurance under the compen-
Sation law for the employers. Sew
eral companies writing workman'S
compensation insurance have gone
into receiverShip in cent
months. others have withdrawn
Iroln the field or 80 restricting
their policies as to produce the
same effect, and still others have
been refused Il license by the state
insurance department.
The companies that have been
withdrawing from the field, ac-
v0liin% to the proponents of the
state insurance fund bill, have
been the stock insurance compan-
les. and 50 far none Of the mu-
iuaI companies have withdrawn.
However, the insurance compan-
les, particularly the mutual COM
panieS, have StrenuouS!y opposed
the Dunagan bill, even though
they have perSistcrtly maintained
that writing workman's compensa-
ton is not profitable business
and recently applied fOr IN in
crease in rates of II per cent.
Proponents of q state insurance
fund claim that it woulA create Il
revenue for the state OF about
100000 year and At the same
time save the industries Of the
state about 100000 q yea. Th2y
point out that had the Ohio rates
been in effect in North Carolina
for the past four years, the in
dustries of North Can oiina would
have been saved $2,36&,3A9. 1t
is claimed that at the present
time forty cents out Of every dol
lar collected by the stock insur-
ance companies goes to overhead
expenses, leaving only sixty cents
to meet compensation and medical
losses.
The overhead expense Of
state-operated fund, it is claimed,
would be one-fourth Of that of
the stock companies and about
one-half that of the mutual car
riers, since selling costs, the big
expense of the comparative car
riers, would be entirely eliminat-
ed. Still another advantage, pro-
ponentS Of the fund point out, IS
coil tho hpy-ipr was mt all nv