Abstract

Our Mangled Compensation Laws

Despite compensation laws in forty-four States of the U.S. the fate of the industrial workers and their dependents remains largely fortuitous and a definite source of trouble in the national well-being. The wage loss of injured workmen in this country each year totals dollar 1,000,000,000; of this sum, representing the livelihood of a host of families, only dollar 150,000,000 is restored through compensation and medical aid. Besides the pain and the suffering, most of the cost of industry's hazards is borne by the victims. Only five States and the federal government where it has jurisdiction require without reservation compensation for occupational diseases as well as for sudden injuries arising out of employment. Six other States go less than halfway in establishing official lists of certain illnesses caused by specific substances and declaring that these and these alone must be compensated for a compromise resulting in both bizarre and tragic miscarriages of justice.