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 circumstance 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' Association 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.