The Green Bag
640
path of hope and progress for the
have lost one means of securing mem
future." Dr. Spedden has written a mono
bers, and the consequences are likely to be beneficial, if the trade-unions thus
graph on the trade-union label that is a
cease to exercise, in the interest of their own members, functions which should
valuable contribution to economic his tory, but a few reflections on the ques tions of economic progress and public
policy presented by this subject would have rounded out his discussion into a more symmetrical form.
Professor
Laughlin's
treatment
be performed by the state in the interest of all workingmen, and come to concen trate their entire attention on the funda
mental conditions necessary to the high est welfare of the laboring classes.
of
As a basis for study of the appalling
social and labor questions, in his essays
economic waste of industrial accidents. the findings of the Pittsburgh Survey already occupy the position of a classic Pittsburgh's yearly loss is shown by its
on "Socialism a Philosophy of Failure,"
"The Abolition of Poverty," "Social Settlements," “Political Economy and
Christianity" and "Large Fortunes," is sound. He lays himself open to the imputation of being neither an indi vidualist not a collectivist. His modera tion is apparent in such statements as this: "Just as soon as the acts of any
person infringe upon the rights of others the state should interfere in the interest of equality and justice. Beyond this limit individual activity should be left untrammeled and encouraged to believe that it will receive all the rewards due "to its own initiative." The function of trade-unions as fac tors in collective bargaining is so familiar that one readily overlooks the fact brought out by Professor Kennedy, that
“American trade-unionism owed its origin as much to the desire to associate for mutual insurance as to the desire to establish trade rules." The activities of the trade-unions in insuring their members against death, disability, sick ness, and superannuation have been
annually sending out from its mills, rail road yards, factories and mines, 45 one legged men; 100 hopeless cripples, walk ing with crutch or cane for the rest of their lives; 45 men with a twisted. use less arm; 30 men with an empty sleeve; 20 men with one hand; 60 with half a
hand gone;
70 one-eyed men — 500
such wrecks in all.
"Such is the trail
of lasting misery," says Miss Eastman. l‘work-accidents leave behind.” The facts impartially presented in this volume as the result of dispassionate study of "the short and simple annals
of the poor" show the necessity of some new system of compensation to take the
place of the law of employers’ liability. The following requirements of legisla tion are postulated:
(1)
every seri
ous accident must be made a certain and considerable expense to the em ployer; (2) a considerable share of the
economic loss must be shifted to the whole body of consumers; (3) the possi
bility of disputes must be reduced to a
extensive. Though such insurance ac tivities, originally of primary importance, have become secondary, they still are a leading factor in building up the mem bership of trade organizations. If the adoption of workmen’s compensation
compensation program, which is impor tant, is ably discussed by Lancelot
laws result in a transfer of these activi ties to the state, the trade-unions will
Packer, secretary of the Employers’ Liability and Workmen's Compensation
minimum. So much should be admitted,
with only slight qualification. The legal aspect of the workmen’s
