The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox Part 4

The third injustice has been the waste occasioned by the system.

The injured workman or the family deprived of its support by accident is not so circ.u.mstanced that the case can be contested with the corporation to the court of last resort. The need of funds compels compromise on a base that is not always equitable.

Human nature many times drives sharp bargains that can hardly be endorsed by the moral scale. In the final a.n.a.lysis the cost of attorney fees is so heavy that the amount which finally accrues in cases of accident is seriously curtailed before it reaches the beneficiary. These three considerations clearly suggest the lifting of this whole operation out of the courts and the sphere of legal disputation. And then there is a broader principle which must be recognized. There is no characteristic of our civilization so marked as the element of interdependence as between social units. We are all dependent upon our fellows in one way or another. Some occupations, however, are more hazardous than others and the rule of the past in compelling those engaged in dangerous activities to bear unaided the burden of this great risk, is not right. The Workmen's Compensation Law in this state, which, however, lacks the compulsory feature, has made steady growth in popularity. The heavy decrease in rates clearly indicates economy and efficiency in the administration of the state liability board of awards. The compulsory feature, however, should at once be added. I respectfully but very earnestly urge its adoption amendatory of the present law with such other changes as experience might dictate.

"The objective to be sought is the fullest measure of protection to those engaged in dangerous occupations with the least burden of cost to society, because after all the social organization must pay for it. The ultimate result of this law will be the reduction in death and accident because not only the humanitarian but the commercial consideration will suggest the necessity of installing and maintaining with more vigilance modern safety devices.

"Government as a science must make its improvement along the same practical lines which develop system, simplification, cla.s.sification of kindred activities, and better administrative direction in the evolution of business. A private or corporate enterprise is compelled to promote in the highest degree both efficiency and economy because its income is subject to the hazards of business. Government without this spur of necessity because its revenue is both regular and certain, does not effect reorganizations and combine common activities so readily. One reason, of course, is that new legislation is required and that is not easy at all times. Wherever human energies are now being directed toward more efficient public service, we find the consolidation under one administrative unit or bureau of all departments which deal either in direct or different manner with the same general subject. Investigation develops many duplications in both labor and expense in the departments of the state. No business inst.i.tution would continue such a policy and recognizing now the importance of conducting the business of the commonwealth along the same modern and efficient lines of private and corporate operations, there is submitted herewith to your honorable body two recommendations which, in my judgment, are of tremendous importance, namely, the creation of an Industrial Commission and a Department of Agriculture. The first named organization would combine every existing department which deals with the relation between capital and labor. It is certainly a logical observation that the department heads clothed with the responsibility of details will find it extremely difficult to rise to the moral vision necessary to construct and conserve policies dealing with big things. Besides duplication of service is a waste of both human energy and state funds."

In summing up the results of a single year of Workmen's Compensation Law, the Governor at the beginning of 1915 said:

"The humane results of the Workmen's compensation Law have been so widespread and the wisdom of the people in changing the const.i.tution so as to make this plan compulsory has been so completely demonstrated that manufacturer and employee now join in praise of the act. While the liability insurance companies contend that the State could not administer this trust and that the cost would run into millions of dollars per year, the experience of the first twelve months shows the cost of the administration to be approximately $160,000; and the claims, running far in excess of 50,000 in number, have been adjudicated with such promptness as to justify in the fullest measure the soundness of the State plan. The balance in the fund December 15, 1914, was $2,418,414.07. The number of accidents is diminis.h.i.+ng and the cost to the employer is decreasing; so that both lower rates and larger compensation seem a.s.sured. As one who pa.s.sed through the stormy period that led to the pa.s.sage of this law, I urge upon you the extreme importance of the highest manifestations of vigilance, patriotism and humanity in order that the fundamentals of this beneficent legislation may be preserved. Under the pretext of improving the law it can be easily emasculated. Ohio a.s.sumed the lead in this legislation, and if the fundamental principle is maintained here, the plan, by its demonstrated worth, will be adopted elsewhere. This means the ultimate loss of ill-gotten millions by potential interests that have grown rich from the tears, blood and maimed bodies of our working people. They will not give it up without a continued struggle. Your duty to humanity and to your State calls for extreme watchfulness.

Though he suffered defeat for re-election in 1914, neither the Industrial Commission Law nor the Workmen's compensation Law nor any other major piece of social legislation was disturbed by his successor. In reviewing four years of the history of the law at his re-accession to power in 1917, he said:

"Since the adoption of the law there have been 300,000 industrial accidents and only seventeen suits have been brought against employers who paid into the state insurance fund. There was but one single verdict rendered by the court against the employer in the list of seventeen and that was for $2000. Five cases were settled out of court, four were decided in favor of the employer, one was dismissed by the employee, one was dismissed by the court and four are still pending. More than one thousand firms carry their own insurance under state consent, and against these inst.i.tutions but five suits have been brought.

Against the employers who have reinsured with the liability insurance companies, eight suits have been inst.i.tuted, making a total of thirty law suits from all sources. These figures are procured from the official records of the Industrial Commission."

Two years later, in 1919, a further chapter is given:

"The experience of our state with the Compulsory Workmen's Compensation Law bears so vitally on the industrial life of our people that it is deemed proper to report the outstanding features of the situation. The amount of money in the fund held by the State as trustee for the injured workmen and their dependents, as of date, January 2, 1919, was $15,401,429.74.

So carefully measured has been the cost of human justice that employers pay a smaller premium-rate in Ohio than elsewhere, and the injured workmen and their dependents are given larger compensation. A dramatic circ.u.mstance which bears eloquent testimony in behalf of this law is here recited: Not long since a workman was injured in a factory through which runs the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania. The accident occurred a few feet east of our state, but the poor fellow crawled back onto the soil of Ohio because he knew the difference between our law and the law in Pennsylvania. As a further evidence of the basic soundness of the law and the character of its administration, I have directed the Industrial Commission to have an actuarial audit of the fund in its charge, with the imposed condition that the Ohio Federation of Labor, the Ohio Manufacturers' a.s.sociation and the State Auditor be consulted in the employment of the most competent actuary, obtainable outside the state service, to do the work."

This, then, is the story, but not all of it. Having its genesis in the meetings between labor and capital, there has been worked out by the two an elaborate code of safety rules which have been officially promulgated by the commission and have the binding effect of law. To-day capital and labor will demand of his successor that his heart and mind be in accord with the program carried to fruition in his six years as Governor. There are other points in his service, briefly covered here, in these lists:

Laws Pertaining to Business

A public utilities law providing property re-valuation as a basis for rate making.

Provision for court appear from the utilities commission decision to the court of final jurisdiction, preventing delay and loss.

Prohibition against injunction on rate hearing without court investigation.

A uniform accounting system applied to utilities.

A state banking code with close co-operation with the federal reserve system, bringing all private banks under state supervision.

State expenditure on a budget system to reduce cost of government and lessen taxation.

A blue-sky act to encourage proper investment and protect against fraudulent securities.

Labor Legislation

A State Industrial Commission with powers to handle all questions affecting capital and labor, with a state mediator as the keystone.

Complete survey of occupational diseases with recommendation for health and occupational insurance.

Full switching crew in all railroad yards.

Strengthening the user in the state of railroad safety appliances.

A full crew law.

Twenty-four foot caboose.

Reduction of consecutive hours of employment for electric railroad workers.

Obstruction of fixed signals prohibited.

Safeguarding of accidents in mines by proper illumination.

Extra provision for dependents of men killed in mines.

Increased facilities for mine inspector operation.

Protection of miners working toward abandoned mines.

Elimination of sweatshop labor.

Provision for minimum time pay day.

Prohibition of contract labor in workhouses.

Provision for minimum wage and nine-hour working day for women.

Eight-hour working day on all public contracts.

Codification of child laws with establishment of child welfare department.

Compulsory provision for mothers' pensions.

Verdict by three-fourths jury in civil cases.

CHAPTER VII

THE LEADER OF THE STATE IN WAR--VISION IN GOVERNMENT IN PEACE TIME

Theodore Roosevelt said that Governor c.o.x was among the very foremost of war Governors. The utterance was made after he had a.s.sessed the things done during the fateful period of hostilities. Presenting complicated problems at all time it was no less true that in war there were major, not minor, obstacles to be met and surmounted before Ohio might take her traditional place as one of the very militant states of the Union. That she did achieve such place attests the zeal and ardor of the Governor. Ohio presented to the country a complete division, the Thirty-seventh, recruited under the personal supervision of Governor c.o.x. It led the nation, by long odds, in sale of war saving stamps, an activity stimulated by Governor c.o.x. It preserved good order and set an example in spite of many conflicting racial antagonisms within its borders by cultivation of such a spirit as made open or covert disloyalty dangerous to the disloyal. Withal there was no untoward incident affecting peaceful alien enemies. In the cities, none led those of Ohio in war gardening, and the tractor campaign for Ohio farms was adopted and imitated in other states. The Governor himself was a dynamo of activity, organizing the first State Council of Defense and enlisting volunteer aid at no expense to state and country in quickening all war and related activities. Every situation affecting the State's power found him ready for the emergency. When an early frost and severe winter in 1917-18 destroyed much of the seed corn, the Governor uncovered instances of profiteering and immediately stopped it by vigorous action. Corn in other districts with similar soil and climate was brought in and sold at three dollars a bushel.

Soldiers of no state were better supplied with all the comforts that could be provided than those of Ohio. While the Thirty- seventh was in camp in the far South a Christmas train was sent to it. Special funds were raised for entertainment of both the Ohio camps. In a word, every war activity felt the vigilant care and sympathetic help of the Governor.

During the war time there were few idle men in Ohio. Through proclamation attention of local authorities was directed to an old law making vagrancy an offense and it was applied rigorously.

No less in reconstruction than in was activities his energies were tireless. The Governor took the lead in securing legislation to correct the defects found in educational laws and one of the statutes placed upon the books at his suggestion provided for an oath of allegiance on the part of teachers.

Referring to disclosures in certain cities, he said: "We have had our bitter experiences and love for our children compels us, in common prudence, to protect them."