The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1946-02-22
Workmen's Compensation

A month and a half have passed since the.
converting of the 1916 Mississippi Legislature.
The calendars of the house and senate are
gradually being cleared, and before long the
date Of adjournment will be set. Yet as we
% TO press. the very important question of
Workmen's Compensation is slumbering
peacefully in the files of the committee, and
unless the voters and public at large demand
action of their representatives, the issue will
probably be killed in the present session.
That will mean that for another two years
longer, Mississippi will remain the only state
without a Workman's Compensation law.
And for two years longer we win face the
glaring fact that the state lacks political
leadership Of sufficient intelligence and in
tegrity to provide this badly needed law, the
passage of which has been consistently sup
ported by workers, by unions, and by the
management and investors in business.
Every other state in the union and
every civilized industrial nation in the
world has such law. and some of our states
have had 1t for a generation and longer.
The question may arise in the mind Of the
average citizen. what is the catch. what's
holding up Mississippi. what are the ar
guments they use in the Legislature 10
prove sucn a law would be bad for US.
though beneficial for the rest of the South
and the country in general.
The catch is, that there is a powerful group
of damage suit lawyers who don't want Mis-
sissippi to have a Workmen's Compensation
law. And this group has enough representa-
49,, -. tlo IaotrIaf,,ra a1I arn.,ub chill IN
parliamentary maneuvering, to kill these
bills in session after session. AS for their ar
guments, they don't nave to put up much of
an argument. They do their work best by
quiet, undercover maneuvering than by open
debate. They don't like To get up in open
forum and talk the real issues of this ques-
ton SO that the public can hear and become
too interested. When the matter is forced to
the floor, they have a series of oratorical
arguments that the workman will be depriv-
ed and cheated by fixing his compensation
for injury by legal statute. Obviously this is
not true since unions themselves are strong
supporters of the legislation, as much so as
industry.
The actual fact is, that it is not the Work
man, nor the company, which stands to lose
by the compensation law, but this fringe of
lawyers themselves. This is the tribe of am
buIance chasers with which the more prin-
cipled members of the legal profession are
burdened. Such a fringe exists in every pro-
fession and business, and in every trade
the butchers. the bakers, the candle-stick
makers, in law. medicine and journalism.
This type of lawyer finds ii much more prof
table to tie up a damage suit in involved
litigation, to carry it through the courts and
argue IT before a jury. In that way, he can
present a larger bill for legal services to the
workman.
Let us repeat here once more, in brief.
what Workmen's Compensation legislation
provides: 1t sets up a scale of compensation
figures for specifically defined injuries of
the most common type that occur in in
dustry. Thus, the loss of a finger, an arm, an
eye, or a life, calls for a compensation figure
which can be quickly calculated from the