Senator A. W. Sanborn, Chairman of the Wisconsin Commission, was then introduced and he outlined the preliminary work of that Commission (in a statement similar to the report made at Chicago by Senator Blaine [Page 10]). Senator Sanborn also said:
"As we look at it in Wisconsin, we are surrounded on three sides by very lively competitors in the manufacturing line; there is only a certain amount that we can load on our manufacturers and let them compete until we reach a bill that is uniform in the group of States in the Northwest. As one of our large manufacturers expressed it at one of our hearings, we are willing to pay twenty per cent. or twenty-five per cent. more than we are to-day, however, if you put it on a definite basis so that we know how much....
... Now, I hope we can derive some benefit here by getting down to specific things. I think it is generally conceded by everybody that has paid any attention to the subject, that the time has arrived when something must be done; the present situation is absolutely intolerable, giving rise to great unrest, and people feel there is great injustice under the present system."
Professor Henry W. Farnam, of New Haven, stated upon call, that the Connecticut Commission accomplished practically nothing. He then made an appeal for united action between the states for the purpose of securing greater care and greater uniformity in investigation and legislation. He offered the services of the American Association for Labor Legislation (of which he is president), in any endeavor that would bring about a better understanding between the different groups now interested in this question.
Mr. Magnus W. Alexander, of Lynn, stated upon call, that there was at present no Commission in Massachusetts.
Mr. John Mitchell, of the New York Commission, in discussing a proposal to study costs of industrial insurance in Germany, said:
"I think it is important, that we should understand that neither in purpose nor in action is it contemplated that a movement of this kind shall delay the efforts of the commission to reach conclusions. I quite agree with you that an investigation as to the costs and operation of the laws in Europe would be of advantage to us, but I quite well recognize that that is a slow process, and I think we cannot afford to wait for several years before we do something definite in this country. Now, I should like to say that I recognize very well how important it is to our industries that they be kept on a fairly competitive basis. I am not at all satisfied, however, that the establishment of a system of compensation, even in one of our states, would be a serious handicap to the employers of that state. I think that we ought to take into consideration the experience abroad. Now I do not know whether it is because of the compensation laws in Germany, or in spite of them but I do know that co-incident with the establishment of their insurance system, which is the most comprehensive of any in Europe, prosperity took a rise. The German Empire has forged ahead at an unprecedented rate since the establishment of their comprehensive system of insurance and compensation....
... The relation of the various countries of Europe to each other is not unlike the relation of our own state governments. Competition between some of the continental countries is as keen as is competition between some of our states. I am not willing to agree either that increasing the cost of a product will necessarily put that product out of the running with the same product produced in another state. There are a good many other considerations entering into the matter: If better laws or better wages attract better workmen, then there is a compensation to an employer even though his wage-scale be higher or his cost greater than prevails in a competitive industry in another State. The best workmen are attracted to those industries and to those localities where conditions of employment are most satisfactory, and I dare say that every employer will agree that the best workman is to him the cheapest workman even though his wages be higher.... I feel, that our state would not suffer in the race for trade if we should establish a compensation system, and I believe that Minnesota would not suffer and I believe that Wisconsin would not suffer. We cannot afford in the United States to wait until all States, even though they be only competitive ones, are ready to adopt one system of compensation, any more than we ought to wait before we advance wages in one state until all the other states are ready to advance them, and we certainly do not do that. As a matter of fact there is scarcely an industry conducted in the State of Wisconsin, Minnesota, or New York, whose wage schedules are made at the same time, notwithstanding the fact that they have competitive industries. There are very few industries in this country whose wage rates and conditions of employment are regulated nationally; there are very few industries where organized workmen are employed that attempt to make wage scales on a national basis; true, there are some, such as coal mines and the railways, but in the machinery trade, in building construction, and in all the miscellaneous industries, the wage schedules are made local and without any special relation to the wage schedules of other states....
I, of course, am anxious that we shall have the very best information obtainable, and of course it is desirable that all the states should act together, but I think it is equally desirable that some of the states act quickly because it is an evil, and a growing evil, and it is more readily recognized now because we have been talking about it. The workingmen of the country are aware now of the conditions that prevail in other countries and we are very much dissatisfied with the conditions we now have. Employers themselves are going outside of the law to try and compensate workmen for injuries. Practically all of the large employers in the United States recognize and concede the inequity of the present law, by trying on their own account to draft some system to pay workmen more money wherever there exists a necessity for speedy relief. Now, I wanted to make those observations because I do not want to agree to a proposition here for an investigation of the conditions in Europe, if that investigation means, either in purpose or in effect, that we are going to wait the returns of that investigation before we get something that is substantial in America." (Applause).
Mr. C. B. Culbertson, of the Wisconsin Commission, said in brief:
"The conditions in the United States are far different from what they are in Europe, and the testimony taken before our Commission shows that two industries standing side by side, being practically the same, having practically the same number of machines, with practically the same number of men employed, would have rates of which one would be half as great as the other, and would be fair in each case, because the accidents in the one concern were twice what they were in the other. Now this is going to be a very hard matter to get at if you wait to get these figures and then attempt to follow them. And a third point; I believe the employers in Wisconsin, as well as the laboring men, are ready for this proposition at this time, and I believe we are going to have it in Wisconsin at the next legislature. I do not think we are going to wait for any instructions from Europe or for any figures from there."