CANAL WORKMEN UNPROTECTED
Because Congress failed to appropriate the necessary amount of funds, President Wilson by an executive order has suspended the operation of the workmen’s compensation scheme for federal employes in the Canal Zone. This measure was put into effect on March 1 by President Taft. Pending action by Congress, the employes in the Canal Zone are protected only by the Federal Liability Act.
Many advocates of the workmen’s compensation plan believe that President Wilson before suspending its operation should first have asked Congress for funds. They argue that in this way public attention could have been called to the situation by means of a special message instead of through the medium of an order which received practically no publicity.
The Canal Compensation Law is in the form of an executive order signed by President Taft in the closing days of his administration. It was drafted by officials of the government in co-operation with the Legislative Drafting Fund of New York. Secretary of War Stimson, said of it: “This measure for the first time brings the federal government abreast of the most advanced thought and experience at a time when they and their families are most in need of justice; namely, when they suffer the hardships of injury or death inevitable in the course of modern industrial undertakings.”