HELP FORJOILERS
Minnesota Likely to Pass Em
ployers' Liability Law.
IN HANDS GF COMMISSION.
Constitutionality of Such Legislation
Practically Settled by Decisions of
New York and Federal Courts View
of Judge Brcwn.
Wheu the subject of a workinguien's
compensation act was before the last
legislature It was the prevailing opin
ion any antagonistic view was bo
small as to be negligible that the pro
posed enactment should provide for the
compensation of every injury sustain
ed by an employee, the question of
blame or fault on either side to be
eliminated. It was simply a matter of
providing suitable compensation for
injury where there was no fault on the
part of the employer and no serious or
willful misconduct on the part of the
employee iu occupations where danger
is inherent from the use of power and
machinery. The difficulty of.preparing
anything like a scale and at the same
time of securiug a uniformity that
would uot discriminate against- em
ployers in Minnesota in competition
with other states led to the reference
of the entire subject to a commission
which is expected to report to the next
legislature.
The. possible unconstitutionality of
an act of this character was hinted at
rather than proclaimed. The cotnuiou
law provides no available remedy for
injuries occasioned by industrial acci
dents not attributable to the negligence
of the employer, and it was questioned
whether the legislature had the power,
under our system of constitutional gov
ernment, to write this English provi
sion into a statute. This point has aris
en in a case in New York state, where
such a law is in force, and the supreme
court of that state has sustained Its
constitutionality. It was set up by the
railway defendant that not only had
the legislature exceeded its powers in
the act, but that its terms deprived
the railway company of its liberty and
property without due process of law
and denied it the equal protection of
the law in contravention of the four
teenth amendment to the constitution.
Upon all questions involved the court
ruled against the railway and sus
tained the law. It holds the legisla
ture may amend or repeal the com
uiou law and may provide remedies
where relief under the common law is
impossible. It says the cases relied
upon by the railway merely point Out
the shifting character of the border
line between the statutes which are
upheld by the court as being a legiti
mate exercise of the legislative power
to pass all manner of necessary and
' wholesome acts for the protection and
well being of the public, although such
acts interfere with personal liberty
and the right to do as one will with
his own, and the statutes which are
held by the courts to be unwarranta
ble interference.
Emphasis is laid upon this finding of
Justice Browu of the federal supreme
court: "While the cardinal principles
of Justice are immutable, the methods
by which justice is administered are
subject to constant fluctuation, and
the constitution of the United States,
which is necessarily and to a large ex
tent inflexible and exceedingly difficult
of amendment, should not be so con
strued as to deprive the states of the
power to so amend their laws as to
make them conform to the wishes of
t h ec 1 1 i Ktus. as.Xke mJ,v.-djQmbt.fP1' i
(he public welfare wTthouT "bringing
them into conflict with the supreme
law of the land." ;
' There will be no opportunity for the
flual adjudication of this case before
the Minnesota legislature reaches con-
sideration of the subject. The New
York statute has been used as a model
for parallel laws by other states, and
the decision of the supreme court of
New York will be taken as strength
ening the principle upon which it Is
based. St. Paul Dispatch.
tSMUSSt
Growth of the A. F. of L.
The American Federation of Labor
will convene in St. Louis on Nov. 14.
Two large bodies have cast their lot
with the American Federation of La
bor since the last convention, the
Brotherhood of Railway Carmen and
the Western Federation of Miners.
Two hundred and thirty-three charters
have been issued to new bodies against
111 for the previous year. Ninety
eight were local unions, sixty -six fed
eral labor unions, fifty-seven central
labor bodies, one international union
and one state branch. The amount re
ceived was $288.J44.43: the expendi
tures were $119,290.48, leaving a bal
ance of $168,717.95.
LABOR'S MIGHTY ARMY.
There are affiliated to the
American Federation of Labor
120 international trade unions.
V with their 27.000 local unions;
39 state federations. t32 city
central bodies and GtSS local
trade and federal labor unions
having no internationals.
There are 1.456 volunteer and
special organizers, as well as the
r, a. 1 . ' a c il.
ouiceis oi me uiiiuun aim oi me
T American Federation of Labor
f itself, always willing and anx- 4"
X ious to aid their fellow work- !
men to organize and iu every 4
other way better their condi- i
T tions.
. : .. ft .. .f ! t :
U. S. TO AID OTIS.
Proof that Secretary Knox has put
the entire secret service of the State
department . at the disposal of the Los
Angeles Times, in the attempt to
fasten a charge of dynamiting upon
organized labor, has just been made
public through a leak in the office of
Governor Gillett of California. Knox
had intended to keep his activity a
matter of complete .secrecy and is
reported to have furiously denounced
tho stupidity of Gillett in allowing the
contents of private telegrams to get
into the hands of newspaper ,men.
The exposure of Knox's sleuth work
came with the arrest and demand for
extradition of -three men in a schooner
in the harbor of Acapuleo, Mexico,'
whom the Secretary of State is trying
to connect with the Times explosion.
That these men have no connection
whatsoever with the Los Angeles cat
astrophe and that the wild stories of
the Pinkertons employed on the job
by Otis has caused the man-hunt to
turn in despair to Mexico because noth
ing has been discovered in the United
States, is the opinion of labor leaders
in Washington who are keeping in
close touch with the entireNcase. The
action of the Secretary of State being
without precedent in turning his office
into a private detective agency, and
so plain in its bias tagainst organized
labor, that the matter will oe the sub
ject of deqjand for a Congressioa&J in
vestigation at he mext session,
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