Address, “The Lumberman’s Viewpoint”
Major Griggs—Gentlemen, Members of the Convention: I want to voice the sentiment of the lumbermen of the country particularly in approving the action taken by this Congress in allowing us to have our own conferences in reference to the interests in which we are vitally concerned, together with the general meeting. I think that has been one of the best features of this Congress.
The objects of the National Conservation Congress are so clearly exploited in the Second Article of our Constitution that I believe a repetition of them is clearly in order that we may keep them uppermost in our minds:
“(1) To provide a forum for discussion of the resources of the United States as the foundation for the prosperity of the people, (2) to furnish definite information concerning the resources and their utilization, and (3) to afford an agency through which the people of the country may frame policies and principles affecting the wise and practical development, conservation and utilization of the resources to be put into effect by their representatives in State and Federal government.”
I have attended all of these Congresses and have been wonderfully impressed with the zeal and interest manifested in these proceedings. The vital questions considered are touching the popular chord and its effect is vibrating the length and breadth of the land.
Some are drawn here by one interest and some by another, but all recognize the wisdom and need of arousing our people to a consideration of the resources of our country and their proper utilization. In the cauldron of our national development, mix a little philanthropy, patriotism and politics and you can stir up the most phlegmatic of our citizens.
To my mind, the great results we wish to secure in this Conservation effort can only be realized by directing the attention of the millions who do not attend these annual meetings to the importance in our State and national life of the subject-matter we have under consideration.
The vast majority of the American people wish to see general prosperity and proper utilization of the resources of the country, regardless of the political ambitions of any individual or party. Conservation will only be realized when it takes such a strong hold of the people that any man or set of men will sink to political oblivion if they do not promote its cause.
Three years ago we were somewhat startled by the announcement, I think from the originators of this movement, that the electric companies had combined to control the water powers of the country. Today I come from a State where a stupendous amalgamation of capital has recently combined the hydro-electric plants of the Puget Sound basin. Not that this is detrimental to our development, but that the acquiring of these perpetual rights and control of natural resources should be well considered by the people and subject forever to their supervision.
The cupidity of capital will only be curbed by the assurance to the long-time investor that the Government is behind the investment and the people will not forever back the investment unless they are in on the deal.
Our country is comparatively new and we need to encourage capital and labor in every way to develop the latent resources, but we want to make better trades than we have made in the past if we wish to hold the respect of either.
The old saying that “Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm” sounded siren-like to all, and was necessary to encourage the settler, but there is a limit to even Uncle Sam’s patrimony—and irrigation costs money. No doubt the State of Washington, which I represent, has profited as much as any other by the liberal policy of the Government, but there forest reserves have been declared and in lieu of worthless timber tracts scrip has been issued to bona fide settlers or original grantees, and for this same scrip some of the choice timber lands of the country have been exchanged. I conclude that “David Harum” is discounted in a trade.
The lumber manufacturers of the country have in recent years been in the limelight of trust investigators, and to what purpose? If to foster the political ambitions of some demagogue, I am sure it will fail. There may be organizations back of labor and capital which come under the ban of the law, but when such general conclusions are drawn, as in the Missouri Ouster Case, that the National Lumber Manufacturers’ Association is an unlawful combination in restraint of trade, as President of that association I “deny the allegation and defy the allegator.”
There is too much of loose talk in censuring the efforts of associations generally. The very theories you as Conservationists are advancing are uppermost in the minds of association workers. And the greatest development in forest Conservation and fire protection has its origin and support from these associations. We have something to conserve and are not mere theorists. With rising values of timber and utilization of lower grades of lumber, the product of the entire tree will be saved.
This is where the shoe pinches. It is going to cost more money to conserve. The low grades of lumber, slabs, and waste from a mill must bring enough money when sold to pay for the labor expended in saving them. Then, and then only, will they be saved.
Trees can only be reproduced on soil suitable for that purpose and for no other. The timber crop is the process of years of growth, and annual taxes, perpetual fire risk and the desire to use the land for more frequent crops are the deterrent features of reforestation. We only need to look abroad, where common lumber brings the price of mahogany in this country, to realize that an article to be saved and reproduced must have commercial value.
Your great centers of population in the East and Middle West are today beginning to realize that happiness, health and long life of the people will be your greatest commercial asset. The country is becoming aroused to the needs of forest, lake, stream and fresh air to build up American citizenship. We in the West, like the pioneers who have worked their way across the American continent, do not appreciate our own resources until we realize the vast sums being appropriated in your dense centers of population to reinstate in a measure the surroundings in which we revel.
Population, transportation and ability to pay are all determining factors in our national development. It takes something more than philanthropy to meet a payroll or pay the grocer, and too little heed is given the trials and privations of our pioneer life in some of our theories.
We lumbermen of the West Coast, where transportation charge alone equals more than the original cost of our lumber to you, are sometimes rebuffed in our efforts to conserve, where of necessity the waste is large.
We are not slow in the West and South in developing the use of wooden block paving, in establishing creosote plants to prolong the life of our product, but in our recent attempts to get the consumer to use odd and short lengths to prevent a waste in our mills of 2 per cent. of our planing mill product, we are balked in our efforts and forced to the burners with a lot of trimmings.
I have just read the following from an address delivered by Joseph B. Knapp, assistant district forester in the United States Service, which bears out my contention:
“Coast lumbermen a few years ago unitedly endeavored to introduce the use of flooring, ceiling, finish and other planing mill products in multiples of one foot from three feet upward. At this time the United States Forest Service made an investigation of the waste due to manufacturing planing mill products in multiples of two feet. We found this waste to be over two per cent. of the material run through planing mills in Oregon and Washington, or the equivalent of the yearly growth of wood on approximately 30,000 acres of good timberland. The consuming trade refused to accept odd lengths and after a conscientious attempt on the part of lumber manufacturers, it was found necessary to discontinue the manufacture of odd lengths over ten feet. It is therefore seen that the useless waste in the manufacture of lumber can not always be attributed to the lack of a desire on the part of the lumber manufacturer to introduce economical practices. It remains for the ultimate consumer of our timber products to determine in what form these products shall be supplied to him, and therefore conservative lumbering and close manufacture are dependent as much upon the layman as upon the manufacturer.”
Our British Columbia neighbors are keenly alive to their timber interests and their forest service is alive to the situation. Mr. Benedict, assistant forester of British Columbia, in a recent address stated that in British Columbia, on a very conservative estimate, after eliminating waste land, rocky mountain slopes and peaks, they had 65,000,000 acres capable of producing merchantable timber and valueless for any other purpose.
“The productiveness of this land in timber will vary from 1,000 hard feet per acre per year in particularly favorable localities on the coast to 25 or 50 board feet per acre per year on the mountains of the interior,” he says, “but I am confident that the average yield will amount to 100 board feet at least. This gives an annual production of 6,500,000,000 feet.
“Allowing for a temporary overproduction of lumber brought on by the desire of the holders of timber limits to realize on their investment as quickly as possible, it will be seen that the stand of mature timber will last from fifty to seventy-five years. At the end of seventy-five years, when this mature timber is cut, the present stand of second growth timber will have matured so that the annual production can be maintained perpetually at 6,500,000,000 feet. All this provided the present stand of mature timber is preserved from destruction by fire and likewise that the second growth is able to escape fire and grow to maturity.
“The stake then for which the forest protection force is working is an annual crop of 6,500,000,000 feet of timber, worth to the Government, say, $6,000,000, and to the community $100,000,000. To win the stake fire must be kept out of the area of 100,000,000 acres, or a block of forest 400 miles square. The problem, both on account of the immense area, the variety of causes of fire, the absence of means of transportation and communication, and the present sparseness of population, is a most difficult one to solve. The safe harvesting of the annual yield will require, besides the expenditure of large sums of money, the good will of every citizen in the Province. However, everything favors the satisfactory working out of the problem.”
I quote the above to prove that we are not alone in our efforts to conserve and provide for the future of our country.
Our associated efforts are being extended continually along the lines of economy in manufacture, in the matter of standard grades and sizes, inspection and insurance. Where is the commodity that can be intelligently transported and marketed without a thorough knowledge of both production and consumption? I now claim, and always have claimed, that associated efforts to disseminate this information and collectively endorse projects financially and otherwise to promote the study of forestry and lumbering are the highest types of Conservation of the Nation’s resources.
In the great State of Washington, which is now furnishing more lumber than any other State in the Union, and where the lumber production is the chief industry of the State, we are vitally concerned in our legislative work, and concerning our Workman’s Compensation Act I wish to bring to this particular Congress a special message. I believe this act emphasizes the benefits of co-operative effort in conserving human life and in protecting the breadwinner, upon whom depends the life and happiness of so large a population.
With an industry affecting throughout the United States over 45,000 sawmills and 800,000 employes, regardless of families dependent on them, you will agree with me that we are all vitally interested in workmen’s compensation.
In a recent Bulletin of the National Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, Mr. Bronson wrote as follows:
“Thirteen States have adopted workmen’s compensation acts, and all have become effective since September 1, 1910. All but one of these laws are optional, the exception being the Washington law, which is compulsory, and which, according to the brief experience had, seems to be the most satisfactory both to employers and employes, saving the employer all expense for industrial insurance, and saving both employer and employe all court costs and giving to the employe the full compensation provided by the law without any deduction for lawyers or fees.
“The thirteen States which have adopted compensation acts are California, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. In all of these States the common-law defenses are in whole or part wiped out where the employer does not come under the compensation act.”
The law in the State of Washington has now been in operation one year. To those of us who have operated under it, it has already proved what its advocates claimed the most advanced piece of legislation enacted—and we have woman’s suffrage, too.
It is surprising what an effect it has had in clearing the court docket of damage suits and in paying to the injured at a time when the money is needed all the award without the intervention of a third party. With a carefully selected commission of three, responsible to the Governor, and non-partisan in character, we have launched a statute that, regardless of any improvements which may be determined or defects disclosed, has improved the industrial atmosphere both for employe and employer.
The State appropriates a fund of $150,000 to administer the act for two years. The risks are classified and rates assessed, and quarterly payments called for as required.
The statistical records being made and knowledge gained by the Commission in administering this act will be invaluable and it has already brought to the attention of loggers, lumbermen and all manufacturers the loss of life and limb incidental to the business, the benefits of factory inspection as a further prevention and the fixing of responsibility as to accidents.
I secured from the Commission the attached reports, which I shall not read in detail, but which show detailed comparisons and some interesting figures. (See reports, A, B and C, appended to this paper.)
Our commissioners have been called on many times to address conventions and congresses regarding the law, and I can best state their views by quoting from an address of Commissioner Pratt at our recent Logging Congress, and from a statement issued by Commissioner Wallace. Commissioner Pratt says in part:
“The Workman’s Compensation Act has been in operation now for nine months, and those of you who are actively in business in the State of Washington are more or less familiar with its results.
“In the first place, it is compulsory alike on the employer and employe. The employer has to pay into the accident fund a sum of money based upon a percentage of his payrolls, and the employe must accept the awards of the Commission allowed for work accidents in lieu of his right to sue at common law, subject, of course, to a right of appeal on the amount awarded.
“All the extra hazardous industries of the State are divided into forty-seven classes, each class with a fund of its own, and the accidents arising in that class shall be a drain only upon that fund. As the payments for work accidents deplete the fund in each class it provides for monthly assessments to be made to recoup each class. The payments out of these funds are only for work accidents, all the cost of the administration of the law being paid out of the general taxes of the State. For the first twenty-two months of its operation an appropriation of $150,000 was made.
“It is unlawful for the employer to deduct any portion of the premium paid into the accident fund out of the wages of the employe. It provides for penalizing any establishment which from poor or careless management is unduly hazardous by raising its rate. If an employer, besides employing men in extra hazardous employment, employs men in non-hazardous employment, the premium shall be paid only the payrolls of the extra hazardous work, but the employer and the non-hazardous employe may elect to come under the act and both shall receive the benefits of the act.
“As each class must pay for only such accidents arising in that class, and as assessments are made only as the funds of that class are depleted, there are but two things that govern the cost of this insurance: the amount of the awards and the number and seriousness of the accidents.
“As I have said, the classes that the loggers and lumbermen are most interested in are seven, ten and twenty-nine.
“The rate for class seven is 5 per cent.; for classes ten, 2½ per cent., and twenty-nine is 2½ per cent. All operations in which those present are interested in these last two classes take the same rate. Class ten is by far the largest class we have, and as it covers several distinct operations it has been divided into four different subdivisions or groups.
“10.1 covers logging and logging operations of all kinds.
“10.2 covers sawmills and lumber yards, etc.
“10.3 covers shingle mills and operations connected with a shingle plant.
“10.4 covers mast and spar manufacture, stump pulling, land clearing, etc.
“We have had the following table compiled of comparative risks of wood-working industries:
| Workday | Number of | Dismem- | Deaths | |||||
| Av. Number | Number of | Number of | Lost per | Dismem- | berment | Number | per | |
| Class | of Men | Time | Workdays | 1,000 | berment | Awards per | of | 1,000 |
| Number. | Employed. | Awards. | Lost. | Men. | Awards. | 1,000 Men. | Deaths. | Men. |
| 7 | 4,120 | 172 | 5,862 | 1,402 | 17 | 4.1 | 7 | 1.69 |
| 10.1 | 12,801 | 440 | 14,926 | 1,166 | 35 | 2.7 | 22 | 1.72 |
| 10.2 | 17,770 | 763 | 14,941 | 841 | 51 | 2.9 | 7 | 0.39 |
| 10.3 | 5,565 | 221 | 5,766 | 1,036 | 56 | 10.1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 10.4 | 381 | 50 | 1,144 | 3,003 | 5 | 13.1 | 1 | 2.60 |
| 29 | 3,787 | 156 | 3,368 | 888 | 24 | 6.3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| ———— | ———— | ———— | ———— | ——— | ——— | —— | ——— | |
| 44,424 | 1,802 | 46,007 | 1,035 | 188 | 4.2 | 37 | 0.83 |
“This table is not as nice a one as I should have liked to show this Congress of Loggers. It shows where the great harm is being done in class ten and it shows which is the greater risk and what part of the class should be charged a higher rate than the other part. Furthermore, not only are we keeping a strict account with each class, and division of a class, but we are keeping a strict account with each individual operator and in the end will publish an account of just how many accidents each firm or corporation has had, just how much has been paid out for them in awards or pensions, for injuries to their workingmen.
“Now, what are we going to do to prevent this loss of life and limb? In the first place, there has been a Labor Commission since 1905 and the mills and factories have been subject to inspection and have been forced to put on safeguards. The loggers have steadfastly refused to allow any inspection laws covering logging to be put on the statute book of the State. Logging is a hazardous life at the very best and calls for strong, dare-devil men, and men who are willing to take chances. Danger is always present and men become so used to it that they get careless. This, however, is no excuse for needless loss of life and limb.
“Once more I want to urge upon the lumbermen of all classes the necessity of more rigid inspection; to have some one about the plant whose sole duty is to see to it that every machine is safeguarded the best that possibly can be, and that safeguards are kept in place. It will be money in your pockets if you want to put it on such a mercenary level as that.
“Also I want to urge that a movement be put on foot that our colleges and universities establish chairs of logging and safeguarding engineering, so that our young men, just fresh from school, shall have a better knowledge to start with on these subjects than did their fathers. Many and many a man-killing machine is used just because some one has not invented a better one.
“The report of the expense of the Commission shows that the total amount expended to July 1 out of an appropriation of $150,000 was $87,062.14, and that the proportion of expenses to the amount of business done is 11 per cent., a showing so much below what it costs casualty companies merely to solicit their business as to be notable.
“The president of one of the casualty companies, while I was in New York, showed me their experience, which showed that the cost to them for the last year was 51 per cent. of the premium. As you see, our cost is about 11 per cent. Of course, we do not have to solicit, nor do we have so large a force in the field for adjustment.
“The Commission, is keeping well inside of its appropriation, as the allowable average expenses for twenty-two months would be $6,818.18, while the actual average has been $6,620.16.
“Other details of the financial report are as follows:
| Total receipts, | accident | fund | $699,508 72 | |
| Total expense | 86,062 14 | |||
| —————— | ||||
| Total fund | $785,570 86 | |||
| Cash in fund, | 36 | per cent. | $281,993 32 | |
| Reserve fund, | 20.5 | per cent. | 161,154 49 | |
| Claims paid, | 32.5 | per cent. | 256,360 91 | |
| Expense, | 11 | per cent. | 86,062 14 | |
| —— | —————— | |||
| 100 | per cent. | $785,570 86 |
“We are executing the law, backed by the State of Washington, and there is less quibble in settlements made by our Commission than there would be by an adjustment made by a casualty company. Neither do we have to pay any attorney’s fees, as the Attorney-General’s office has to attend to all this part of the work for us.
“Since the first of October, there has not been a case filed in any court in the State for damages done to any workman who came under this act.
“This has been a great relief to our courts, and in time will be felt in reduced taxes. The cheapening of our court costs and the removal of all personal liability suits should work a reduction of costs to the general taxpayer.
“One of the features of the old common-law system was the ambulance-chasing lawyer, whom we all know. This gentleman is practically out of business as a result of the Workman’s Compensation Act, but is undertaking to find some activity in the industry of appeals. Out of over 6,000 claims passed upon, only twelve appeals have been filed, one of them from the Imperial Powder Company, to interpret the law, one to determine the scope of the interstate commerce law, one filed by an insane claimant, and several that are in the process of adjustment and dissolution.
“One appealed case has been tried in court and the court sustained the Commissioner’s finding as far as temporary total disability was concerned, but found the claimant entitled to compensation for permanent partial disability, remanding the case to the Commission for additional compensation, which was promptly awarded. Had the Commissioner been in possession of the facts, the award for permanent partial disability would have been made without appeal.”
Commissioner Wallace makes the following pertinent statement:
“The Washington State insurance system has succeeded beyond the best hopes of its friends and sponsors. In this act, one of the youngest States is giving the older commonwealths another example of a wise and progressive law. The State’s control over public utility corporations, giving the suffrage to women, eight-hour laws for underground miners and women wage-earners, full crew law for railways, and other laws enacted during the past four years in the interest of labor deserve full praise and should not be forgotten in the triumph of our compensation act.
“The compensation act has thus ushered in an era of publicity regarding the appalling maiming, dismembering and killing of workmen in the mines, mills and workshops of our State. The great question just now becomes not what we can give to pay for pain and suffering and even death, but how can we best safeguard those who toil. This will be real progress; compensation must ever be mere apology.
“Concerned as we have been as to how the little home flock could be kept together when the breadwinner was stricken down in his endeavor to make an honest living, and thinking in terms of dollars and cents how much it will take to keep the wolf from the door during these times of industrial disaster, we may have overlooked the fact (or was it because we were not familiar with it?) that, according to the best authorities who have made accident prevention a scientific study for a number of years, 75 to 90 per cent. of the accidents that occur are preventable.
“Our law has been widely commended and is in reality the best compensation law in the United States today. It has been rarely condemned, save by those who profited by the old legal system. It has shown the great waste of human energy, manhood and womanhood—wastes which reflect discredit upon this young and virile commonwealth—and as these things begin to be understood by the people they will insistently ask, what can we do, not only to preserve the mineral, the timber, and the water-power resources of our State, but what can we do to conserve our greatest asset—human life?”
I am confident this Congress will endorse the sentiments expressed and I only wish to add the employer and employe, State official and private citizen, voice the same sentiments and desire to give them widest publicity.
REPORT A.
INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE COMMISSION OF WASHINGTON.
Statement of Condition of Accident Fund, September 1, 1912.
| Estimated | Deaths | ||||||
| Total Amount Claims. | Reserve on | Balance | Requiring. | ||||
| Approved | in Fund. | No | |||||
| Class. | Paid In. | Paid. | Claims. | Pension. | Pension. | Occupation. | |
| 1 | $19,350 71 | $6,400 60 | $12,950 11 | 6 | Sewers. | ||
| 2 | 17,839 53 | 3,860 85 | $3,481 60 | 10,497 08 | 1 | Bridge and tower. | |
| 3 | 6,343 73 | 1,653 90 | 4,689 83 | Pile driving. | |||
| 4 | 1,996 85 | 463 80 | 1,533 05 | House wrecking. | |||
| 5 | 70,194 23 | 18,207 10 | 20,008 25 | 31,978 88 | 6 | 2 | General construction. |
| 6 | 52,990 61 | 9,178 86 | 2,063 95 | 41,747 80 | 3 | 5 | Power line installation. |
| 7 | 84,249 20 | 28,886 99 | 17,863 22 | 37,498 99 | 8 | 4 | Railroads. |
| 8 | 30,745 73 | 7,982 15 | 1,180 07 | 21,583 51 | 1 | 2 | Street grading. |
| 9 | 6,340 35 | 2,173 30 | 4,167 05 | Ship building. | |||
| 10 | 266,461 72 | 167,741 35 | 95,777 56 | 2,942 81 | 33 | 29 | Lumbering, milling, etc. |
| 12 | 6,432 63 | 1,642 25 | 4,790 38 | Dredging. | |||
| 13 | 16,371 87 | 2,775 43 | 7,574 72 | 6,021 72 | 4 | Electric systems. | |
| 14 | 26,817 34 | 8,120 36 | 1,266 00 | 19,430 98 | 1 | 1 | Street railway. |
| 15 | 4,275 45 | 1,284 21 | 754 52 | 2,236 72 | 1 | Telephone and telegraph. | |
| 16 | 82,110 27 | 33,794 11 | 28,020 37 | 20,295 79 | 11 | 6 | Coal mining. |
| 17 | 14,800 60 | 4,786 55 | 2,352 55 | 7,661 50 | 1 | 3 | Quarries. |
| 18 | 6,368 70 | 4,808 75 | 1,559 95 | Smelters. | |||
| 19 | 7,098 59 | 717 36 | 2,903 83 | 3,477 40 | 1 | Gas works. | |
| 20 | 1,202 20 | 405 00 | 797 20 | Steam boats. | |||
| 21 | 8,319 89 | 4,576 43 | 3,743 46 | Grain elevators. | |||
| 22 | 7,656 94 | 2,370 60 | 5,286 34 | Laundries. | |||
| 23 | 4,152 43 | 543 40 | 2,805 92 | 803 11 | 2 | Water works. | |
| 24 | 8,084 75 | 5,826 45 | 2,258 30 | 1 | Paper mills. | ||
| 25 | 1,489 06 | 402 65 | 1,086 41 | Garbage works. | |||
| 29 | 27,134 69 | 16,760 72 | 10,373 97 | Wood working. | |||
| 30 | 789 83 | 789 83 | Asphalt manufacturing. | ||||
| 31 | 7,051 68 | 1,580 73 | 842 08 | 4,628 87 | 1 | 1 | Cement manufacturing. |
| 33 | 11,289 16 | 1,536 30 | 9,752 86 | Fish canneries. | |||
| 34 | 28,349 76 | 15,404 90 | 3,156 32 | 9,788 54 | 1 | Steel manufacturing, foundries. | |
| 35 | 6,216 34 | 1,395 05 | 4,821 29 | 1 | Brick manufacturing. | ||
| 37 | 9,857 48 | 1,828 73 | 3,295 17 | 4,733 58 | 1 | 1 | Breweries. |
| 38 | 3,812 52 | 1,114 95 | 2,697 57 | Textile manufacturing. | |||
| 39 | 2,627 55 | 415 49 | 2,212 06 | Food stuffs. | |||
| 40 | 2,149 77 | 203 55 | 1,946 22 | Creameries. | |||
| 41 | 6,516 49 | 1,297 80 | 5,218 69 | Printing. | |||
| 42 | 9,885 96 | 5,485 86 | 3,888 34 | 511 76 | 1 | Longshoring. | |
| 43 | 4,584 50 | 2,494 25 | 2,090 25 | Packing houses. | |||
| 44 | 1,412 96 | 680 25 | 732 71 | Ice manufacturing. | |||
| 45 | 445 14 | 445 14 | Theatre stage employes. | ||||
| 46 | 463 27 | 1,908 95 | 1,445 68 | 7 | 1 | Powder works. | |
| 47 | 632.44 | 39 75 | 592 69 | Creosoting works. | |||
| 48 | 1,000 16 | 83 95 | 916 21 | Non-hazardous elective. | |||
| $875,913 08 | $368,833 68 | $197,234 47 | $309,844 93 | 84 | 63 | ||
F. W. HINSDALE, Chief Auditor.
REPORT B.
INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE COMMISSION OF WASHINGTON.
Statement of Expense Account for the Month of August, 1912.
| Mileage— | |
| Commissioners | $50 00 |
| Auditors | 98 23 |
| Railroad Fare— | |
| Commissioners | 20 35 |
| Auditors | 195 88 |
| Hotel— | |
| Commissioners | 97 10 |
| Auditors | 447 90 |
| Incidental Expenses— | |
| Auditors | 9 15 |
| Salaries— | |
| Commissioners | 900 00 |
| Auditors | 2,260 29 |
| Physicians | 406 50 |
| Office | 2,067 06 |
| Miscellaneous— | |
| Stationery | 256 81 |
| Postage | 322 61 |
| Telephone | 66 30 |
| Telegraph | 8 24 |
| Office supplies | 208 97 |
| General expense | 60 20 |
| Rent | 110 00 |
| ————— | |
| Total | $7,585 59 |
F. W. HINSDALE, Chief Auditor.
REPORT C.
Olympia, Washington, August 31, 1912.
Industrial Insurance Commission, Olympia, Washington.
Gentlemen—Herewith statement of claims handled by this Department during the month of August, 1912. Also, the number handled during the period from October 1, 1911 to August 31, 1912.
Claims Received.
| Month of August. | Total to Date. | ||
| Accidents reported | 1,374 | 10,586 | |
| Files incomplete | 1,471 | ||
| ———— | ———— | 9,115 | |
| Files complete | 1,455 | ||
| Monthly payments continued | 262 | 1,972 | |
| Claims reopened | 8 | 129 | |
| ———— | ———— | 2,101 | |
| 1,725 | ———— | ||
| 11,216 |
Claims Disposed of.
| Month of August. | Total to Date. | ||
| Finals | 1,097 | 5,255 | |
| Monthly | 262 | 1,972 | |
| Fatal | 36 | 214 | |
| Total permanent disability | 2 | ||
| Rejections | 78 | 324 | |
| Suspensions | 46 | 281 | |
| No. claims | 198 | 1,420 | |
| Total disposed of | ———— | ———— | 9,468 |
| 1,717 | |||
| Claims in the work | 1,748 | ||
| ———— | |||
| Total | 11,216 |
Respectfully submitted,
J. F. GILLIES (Signed),
Claim Agent.
President White—This is certainly a very important paper. I want to say here that tomorrow, in Kansas City, Mo., a committee from the organized labor interests, and a committee from the manufacturers will meet to discuss a proposition to prepare a bill for presentation to the next Missouri Legislature that shall be fair alike to employer and employe, in regard to compensation for injuries. It has worked well in Washington, it is humane, and it does shut off the dishonest, shyster lawyer who means to get three-fourths or more of the award for the injury, and gives it all to the person who is injured, without any attorney’s fees. (Applause.)
I will take just a moment at this time to appoint the Nominating Committee: