Part 4

I was sitting in the front row, and I moved that the matter be referred to the Committee on Jurisprudence and Law Reform, knowing that I was not on that committee and could not be on it under the then circumstances. The motion passed and then the convention became frightened for fear that it had placed too much power in the committee and resolved to have that committee report to a special meeting of the bar association which would be called in St. Paul, in January, so that they might go over the recommendations that were to be made before they would be presented to the Legislature. Up to the 20th of October absolutely nothing had been done on the matter. Then it so happened that I was asked to resign from another committee and take the chairmanship of that committee, its chairman having resigned. The committee was composed of gentlemen whom it was supposed would well balance the sentiment on the question. There was one lawyer that had made a specialty of liability insurance defenses, there was one country senator, the dean of the College of Law of the Minnesota University, an attorney that earned most of his living from the railroads and then I, neither a laborer nor a capitalist.

We took up the question, and found immediately after going over it with different theorists and by correspondence that there was no data in Minnesota or elsewhere that we could get upon which to draw a proper bill. We looked at the experience of Maryland, we looked at the reports, and the experience of New York down to that time, and found that they had not passed a bill which had been recommended for a permissive plan of contract; we looked at conditions in Massachusetts and found they had not accomplished very much there except a lot of work; we looked over the work of the Illinois Commission and corresponded with them, and found that their bill which had recommended a permissive plan of contract had been defeated. We found in New York the constitutionality had been questioned, and in Massachusetts it had been questioned by the Commission.

In Illinois the reports showed that the plan they wanted to adopt could not be adopted constitutionally, and they recommended the permissive plan in lieu thereof. Connecticut, I think, at that time had appointed a Commission, but it had not yet reported. The United States had passed a law known as the Act of June 11, 1906, which affected the comparative negligence rule and also provided certain obligations with respect to offsetting settlements, and the Supreme Court had declared that unconstitutional in January, 1908. Two important measures had been presented to Congress with able arguments to support them, and up to that time they had been practically limited in their discussion to leave to print in the _Congressional Record_.

Our philanthropic and other state institutions in Minnesota had no data from which we could get any intelligent idea, according to the correspondence that we had. The Associated Charities, both state and national, had no sufficient data. The labor unions throughout the United States had no sufficient data. The National Manufacturers' Association had no sufficient data. I say this because I wrote to the President, and the correspondence was referred to Judge Emory, and we never got any information, because, as I understood, they had not then studied the matter sufficiently. I wrote to Mr. Mitchell, and he answered that he had no sufficient data, and referred me to Mr. Gompers.

I wrote to Mr. Gompers concerning it and he answered practically to the same effect, sending back a bill to establish comparative negligence and some other provisions somewhat along the federal lines that had been declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, because covering business within the State as distinguished from interstate business; that is, it related to both, as the court construed it.

From Eugene V. Debs, representing, as I thought, another group of men, I received an excellent letter explaining what had been done in other countries, and referring me to the data, he having evidently studied it considerably.

From James J. Hill, through his counsel, I received the answer that they favored such legislation if it could be properly made.

Andrew Carnegie had his secretary write that he favored an act along the lines of "Britain."

Now, I may confess to you that up to this time, neither the Minnesota employers nor the labor unions were in this, and not because I was a politician, but because I had had some experience, I concluded if I could get some expressions from these various interests that it might be valuable when we came to the Legislature with this bill, if some bill along this line was drafted. I ransacked the libraries at home, and communicated with the largest libraries in Boston and New York and all over the country to secure the books and magazine articles touching on the matter, but nowhere could we find any sufficient argument as to the constitutionality of such a law, nor any sufficient data to make an economic law. A paragraph by Professor Freund, in his work on _Police Power_, and an article by P. Tecumseh Sherman, a former commissioner of the State of New York, were about all I found on the question of constitutionality.

Later we found that the Russell Sage Foundation had been looking into the matter abroad, through two able men, Dr. Frankel and Mr. Dawson. They were abroad that summer to study the matter and we afterward got in touch with them. The result was that our committee, or rather myself and one other gentleman, because we were not able to get any of the others to meet with us, reported to the bar association that we thought we ought to have three kinds of laws passed; one to appoint a Commission to educate itself, another which would require those persons who had accidents, both employers and employes, to report data, and the third, one that would require the insurance companies insuring such risks in Minnesota to make reports in detail to the Commission, in order that they might study out precisely all the results.

We found that New York and Wisconsin had valuable articles, and so had Massachusetts and one or two other States, in their Labor Bureau reports. Our correspondence with every labor department in the United States did not develop very much more, except some valuable work by the Illinois Commission, and some valuable work by some professors in various institutions in the form of articles and a pamphlet, I believe by the Chicago _Record-Herald_, that was put out while the Illinois Commission had this work under consideration.

The bar association approved that report and asked us to send it on to the Legislature with recommendations for those three bills. Just prior to that we had arranged for meetings with the labor unions in our State for political reasons, to find out what their views were. Then with the president of the employers' association, again for political reasons, to find out what their views were. Finally we got the two together, and they had not been working together so well up there as they might have been in some other places. But by the time of the second meeting they passed a resolution which was to the effect that they would join hands in trying to get a compensation movement started in Minnesota, but that neither should undertake to take any advantage of the other in the Legislature, while they were both faithfully performing their part of that agreement, and they stuck loyally by it.

Then we took up the question of how we should present the matter to the Legislature, and the Governor said he would send a special message to the Legislature recommending our plan. That was done, and bills immediately began to appear in the Legislature from various motives, but we all three stood on the position that we were going to have an absolute plan on an intelligent basis if we could get it. Along toward the end of the session the Legislature passed the three bills which we had recommended.

Our Commission at the present time has thousands of reports of accidents in its possession, with the dates of the accidents and all the data concerning them, which we are not at liberty to make public because the bill does not permit us to do so. We wanted a bill that would prevent our doing so until we had our reports made, so that no one could get in and get hold of this information and take advantage of it.

In addition to that, we have the reports coming into the labor department as to the actual injuries that occur. Those we have not yet tabulated.

The Governor appointed George M. Gillette, who was a large manufacturer; William E. McEwen, the State Labor Commissioner, and myself on that committee. One of the first things we did when we met was to take up the question of the foreign laws. We found that they were not translated into English. One of the first things we undertook then was to get the labor department at Washington to translate all that were not translated. It agreed to do so. When we held the Atlantic City convention a resolution was passed at that meeting requesting the same thing. We wanted not only some education, but some uniform action. So we started to correspond with the members of the other commissions, like the New York Commission and some others that had been appointed in the meantime, and asked them to meet us and discuss matters. It was finally suggested that invitations be sent out for a joint meeting. That was done under my own name, representing the Minnesota Commission. We met down at Atlantic City, and after that meeting was held, we held our second meeting down in Washington, and this meeting is the third.

Mr. McEwen and Mr. Gillette have been abroad to study the question and have just returned. I hoped they would be here, but they have not arrived.

We have taken up the matter through correspondence, we have asked special questions through the press, and we expect to get our bills in shape so that they will be intelligible for discussion through this convention and others, and then put them up to the public and ask the manufacturers and the railroads and the labor unions and all of the other representative bodies that will be affected by them, to appoint men who may study the questions sufficiently to come before us and discuss them intelligently, so that we may be educated to the best possible theoretical standpoint.

In the meantime I shall probably go to Europe in July. Our report will not be made until next January. The bill which passed the Legislature requires us to study the conditions in this country and abroad, and to report a bill or bills which we think are consistent with the necessities of the case, and, so far as possible, to make the bill or bills constitutional. The report of the Atlantic City Conference, when it was printed, was sent to the Governor of each State, to the attorney-general of each State, and to the labor department of each State, and that report was quite a large volume. Bar associations throughout the United States have quite generally taken this matter up, and I should think in not less than eight or ten States they have it under consideration now. The labor unions in quite a number of States also have it under consideration. We sent out invitations to the governors, and nineteen of them appointed delegates to the Conference held in Washington, in January. Fifteen States were represented. I do not know how many States are represented here to-day, but all these delegates were accredited to come to this convention.

We have done a lot of miscellaneous work up there, but we are trying to get all our work in shape, so that when we do draft our bill we shall know as nearly as we possibly can, at least theoretically, what we are doing, and we are glad to see that New York and Wisconsin and all these other States are moving ahead. You have good commissions and we glory in the work you are doing. We only hope that we may be able to profit a little by your experience and by your legislation. We hope that the movement can be made as nearly uniform as possible. Up to the present time we have been discussing very largely in Minnesota the sort of a bill which has been sent out for discussion this afternoon, and I shall not go into that matter at all, but as temporary chairman. I wish to thank both you ladies and you gentlemen for being present at this meeting and for taking part in this discussion.

PROF. SEAGER: At the last meeting of the Conference a committee of three was appointed to choose an Executive Committee of fifteen members. It appears that I am the only member of that committee of three present at this meeting, so I can offer a unanimous report.

[The recommendations of Professor Seager were accepted by the Conference, which accordingly elected ten members of the Executive Committee to serve as executive officials with the five general officers. The complete list as finally elected is printed on the second page of the cover of this volume.]

SECOND SESSION, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1910, 2.00 P. M.

Chairman Mercer called the second session of the Conference to order at 2 P. M., and announced that the Reports of Committees was the first order of business.

As chairman of the Executive Committee, Professor Seager submitted a draft of by-laws, which was, with slight amendment, adopted by the Conference. The final draft is printed in the Introductory Note to this volume.

The report of the Committee on Nominations was then presented by Miles M. Dawson, and upon motion adopted by the secretary casting the unanimous ballot of the Conference for the election of the general officers as printed on the second page of the cover of this volume.

This completed the order of business to come before the Conference, and the discussion of the "Workers' Compensation Code" was taken up as follows:

WORKERS' COMPENSATION CODE.

CHAIRMAN MERCER: There is one further committee, I think, that was appointed to draft a bill for discussion, and we were so far apart that we never got together. One was sent out, however, in printed form, and I think all of you have had copies of it. A thousand copies were distributed.

I will say before we begin the discussion of that bill that it was meant to be drawn as an outline, and to be sufficiently broad in the different sections to raise all the points for discussion and not intended to be either technically correct, or what might be called an artistic measure. It was intended to be broad enough to provoke discussion as to all of the necessary elements of a bill. The formal program, as outlined, involves this one that was distributed, and if that brings out all the points which you want to discuss it might be best to take that up section by section and hear your views on that, or other schemes if you desire. It would seem hardly right, however, since there are a number of other bills here, and they might not all agree, to limit you to this specific bill, but you ought to be permitted to discuss, I suppose, the principle involved in each section as you take it up.

[The bill which was designed and used as an outline for the discussion which follows is here reprinted.]

WORKERS' COMPENSATION CODE.

(OUTLINE FOR DISCUSSION).

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1. _Dangerous employment defined._ That every employer in the State of Minnesota conducting an employment in which there hereafter occurs bodily injuries to any of the employes arising out of, and in the course of, such employment, is for the purposes of this act hereby defined to be conducting a dangerous employment [at the time of such occurrence], and consequently subject to the provisions of this act and entitled to the benefits thereof.

Sec. 2. _Liability of employers._ That every such employer shall be liable to pay to every such employe so injured, or in case of his death, to the legal representatives, as hereinafter defined and apportioned for all bodily injuries received by such employe arising out of, and in the course of, such employment in this State disabling such employe from regular services in such employment for more than ten days and according to the schedule of rates contained in Section 3 of this act, on the condition precedent only, that, in case of dispute as to the amount to be paid for such injuries, or the failure or refusal to agree upon or to pay the same, such employe or the legal representatives thereof shall comply with the provisions of this act.

Sec. 3. _Compensation allowed._ The compensation herein and hereby allowed, if established as herein provided, having arisen out of and in the course of such dangerous employment within this State, shall be on the following basis:

(a) For immediate death or for death accruing within five years as a result of such injuries, or for injuries causing total incapacity for that service for five years or more, 60 per cent. of the amount of wages the injured was receiving at the time of the accident for a period of five years, provided, such payment shall not continue longer than to aggregate $3000.

(b) For total or partial disability for less than five years, 60 per cent. of the wages the injured was receiving at the time of the injury so long as there is complete disability for that service and that proportion of the said percentage which the depleted earning capacity for that service bears to the total disability when the injury is only partial or after it becomes only partial.

(c) In addition to the foregoing payments, if the injured loses both feet or both hands, or one foot and one hand, or both eyes, or one eye and one foot or one hand, he shall receive, during the full period of five years, 40 per cent. of the wages which he was receiving at the time of such accident; or if he loses one foot, one hand, or one eye, the additional compensation therefor shall be 15 per cent. of his said wages; or if he be otherwise maimed or disfigured, then, for such maiming or disfigurement, during the time it shall continue, he shall receive therefor such proportion of 40 per cent. as such maiming or disfigurement bears in depleted ability in the employment to the relative loss of the members specified herein; _Provided_, That in no case shall all of the payments received herein exceed in any month the whole wages earned when the injury occurs, nor shall the said 40 per cent. when all received, or any portion thereof, and the said 60 per cent. when all received, or any portion thereof, continue longer than to make all sums aggregate $5000.

Sec. 4. _Repeal of other liabilities._ The right to compensation and the remedy therefor, as herein specified, shall be in lieu of all other causes of action for such injuries and awards upon which they are based as to all persons covered by this act, whether formerly authorized or allowed by, or as the result of, either state, statute or common law, and no other compensation, right of action, damages or liability, either for such injuries or for any result thereof, either in favor of those covered by this act or against such employer based on state law, shall hereafter be allowed for such injuries to any persons or for any of the injuries covered by this act so long as this law shall remain in force, unless, and then only to the extent, that this law shall be specifically amended.

Sec. 5. _Conditions precedent to right of recovery._ That as a condition precedent to such right to compensation, such employe or the legal representatives thereof, as the case may be, shall within ten days after knowledge of such injury, unless there be valid excuse for delay and then immediately after such excuse is removed, cause a written notice thereof in substantially the form designated in paragraph ---- (form to be provided) of this act, to be served upon the said employer by leaving a copy thereof addressed to the employer with the person in charge of such employe while he was so working, if that person is still in said employ, or with some superior agent, officer or person in charge of said business at any office thereof within this State in the same way that a summons can now be served; and in case of a dispute between the employe and the said employer, or in case of the failure of such employer and employe to agree upon such claim or in case of failure or refusal of such employer to pay, such employe shall submit his claim for compensation hereunder, both as to the nature of the injuries and the amount to compensate therefor under this act, to a board of three arbitrators, as hereinafter specified, in substantial compliance with the form contained in section ---- hereof.

Sec. 6. _Board of arbitration and awards._ There is hereby created a Board of Arbitration and Awards, known as "Board of Awards" with jurisdiction throughout the State of Minnesota to arbitrate the questions arising hereunder and make awards consistent herewith, which is now and shall remain subdivided into districts with the same numbers and co-ordinate with the judicial districts of this State as they now are and may hereafter be changed, which board shall consist of three members from each judicial district, which members shall be non-partisan in politics, appointed by ....................., and hold their offices during a period of ............. years; except for fraud, or want of jurisdiction the findings and awards made herein shall be final and conclusive as to the nature of the injuries and the amount of compensation.

Sec. 7. (The law shall provide for compensation, expenses and secretary, and probably that the Clerk of Courts act as Clerk and make annual report to Commissioner of Labor.)

Sec. 8. _Remedy._

(a) Every person claiming the benefits of compensation under this act, may issue to the employer from whom he claims the same a notice of claim in substantially the following form:

First: You are hereby notified that ...................... has this day filed the original of this notice of claim against you with the Clerk of the Board of Awards in District No. ........ and that you are required to answer the same with a copy served upon the undersigned within ten days.

Second: Said ............................... was in your employ as a ......................... at .................. on or about the ....... day of ........ 19.... and received an injury of the supposed general nature following: .......................................................... by reason of the following incident (describe it) and that such injury arose in and out of the course of said employment and has lasted more than ten days and it is claimed that you are liable to pay compensation for .......... per cent. of the wages which were $....... per ........ at the time of such injury, and for ....... per cent. for maiming and crippling.

(b) Answer. The answer shall

1. Admit or deny the employment.

2. Admit or deny that an injury was received at the time and place.

3. Admit or deny that the injury, if any, was in the course of employment and that it arose out of the course of employment.

4. Set up the injury claimed if different from the injured's claim.

5. Admit or deny or correct the amount of wages.

6. Give notice of any special claim to be urged to defeat compensation.

(c) Reply. The reply shall so far as possible admit or deny the specific statements of the answer which contradict or bar the complaint.