“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.