Social responsibility for the physical condition of labor is a new conception in political science and one of the most modern as well as difficult functions of government. The idea itself has been evolved out of a vast amount of human suffering and social distress resulting from crude methods of industry and ill-defined relations of employers and employees. The common-law doctrine of the complete assumption of industrial risk by the workmen employed in more or less dangerous trades, excepting gross negligence on the part of the employer, is no longer tenable, and gradually a policy of labor protection is being perfected, which, in addition to a more or less clearly defined employers' liability, includes community responsibility for the social consequences of industrial accidents and industrial diseases. The principle of social justice which shifts the trade risk upon the trade itself and makes it a part of the cost of production is fully justified by both ethical and economic considerations. The modern state is chiefly industrial, for even agriculture tends more and more to become an organized and intelligently co-ordinated branch of industry. Under the modern industrial system, labor efficiency is a factor of first importance, and this implies a maxmium of disease resistance, physical strength, and a long trade life free from serious interruptions caused by preventable illness. Labor efficiency is but slowly acquired, and its conservation is as much a matter of national concern as the conservation of natural resources. Industry to-day is recognized as a branch of social conduct, and, in the words of Hobson, "society will insist, in proportion as it comes to realize its own good, that the industrial system shall in its structure and working be brought into conformity with the wider material and moral conditions of social growth." Just as the waste of natural resources will not always continue to be tolerated as a rightful exercise of reckless private enterprise, so the waste of human life, health, strength, and ability in industrial undertakings will be reduced to a minimum by effective social regulation and the strict enforcement of rational statutory requirements. The principle as laid down by Hobson in his "Industrial System," is that "the human worth of any given stock of material or immaterial wealth must evidently vary, and vary indefinitely according to the good or bad conditions of its production, according to the good or bad conditions of its consumption. Where it is made by vigorous workers, on short hours under good hygienic and technical conditions, it will involve a minimum of painful or distasteful effort, human disutility; where it is made by feeble women or children working long hours in some insanitary workshop or home, it will involve a maximum of this disutility." There is, therefore, economic as well as ethical justification for a deliberate state policy of labor protection, and such a policy resolves itself, in its final analysis, into a complete theory of social insurance, conditioned, however, by rational state control of the methods and conditions under which industrial activity shall be permitted to be carried on. It does not follow in practice that the government itself needs to undertake the solution of social and economic problems by perfected methods in insurance, but rather that government insurance is the final alternative of a complete solution of the question of social and labor security unless the end can be achieved by other means. At this time, however, it is rather a question of actual condi tions than of final solutions. The facts which must ultimately govern a constructive policy of reform in the conditions injurious to life and health in industry are but imperfectly known and but imperfectly understood. There is, on the one hand, the unfortunate tendency towards undue exaggeration, and, on the other the equally lamentable attitude of stolid indifference. It is unjust to those who are responsible for the conduct of modern industry to speak of the "carnage of peace," and to draw the unwarranted inference that even a modern war is less disastrous in its consequences as measured by the loss of life and health than the normal conduct of modern industrial enterprise. The striking comparisons which are often made to establish this absurd contention rest upon a deliberate misuse of statistics, which cannot be too severely condemned, as a deliberate attempt to lead the public astray. Thus, one statement is to the effect that "in New York City alone about 3,500 people variously employed come to a violent end every year, or more than nine a day." This statement practically includes all the accidents among adults in the city of New York, but it is evident that a very large proportion of these accidents are not in any manner whatever chargeable to industry or employment. The same writer states that, according to the census report on the mortality in 1906, there occurred "100,000 violent deaths that year," when, as a matter of fact, only 49,552 such deaths were actually recorded, but this number includes all ages and both sexes, and there is no information whatever contained in the report to show what proportion of the deaths were the result of industrial activity. Statements of this kind are very common. They are widely quoted, and lead to totally erroneous inferences, reflected in radical laws and burdensome industrial regulations which are of more hindrance than help to the cause of industrial reform. As a matter of fact, the total yearly number of fatal accidents in the United States among occupied males aged fifteen and over is approximately 30,000, and, if all possible reasonable allowance is made for defects in death registration, the probable number does not exceed 35.000.* At most about one-half, and probably less, represent fatal industrial accidents in the strict sense of the term, or such accidents as occur in connection with occupational activity or in consequence of the employments followed. Of this mortality a considerable proportion is, no doubt, the result of personal negligence and indifference, which the most stringent rules and regulations can only very slowly do away with. Workingmen will often needlessly expose themselves to danger, and they are equally careless and indifferent in exposing their fellow-workmen to serious risk. This is not, however, a condition peculiar to this country, but is common to all countries where the industrial system has been developed to a high degree of efficiency. Of the 15,000 deaths per annum which are the probable result of industrial activity, a considerable proportion results from risks which, in all probability, can never be entirely eliminated. Certain dangers are inherent in trades and occupations and can only be done away with by prohibiting such industrial processes entirely. The mining of coal, the running of trains, the making of explosives, the sailing of ships, all involve natural and inherent dangers which the wisest policy and the most careful precaution can minimize, but not eliminate. The occupation accident mortality in such trades is the price of life itself, for these occupations or employments minister to the absolute needs of the people. The facts as such require no exaggeration to emphasize the seriousness of the situation and the lamentable consequences which fall upon those who are practically helpless under the present state of affairs. Accidents are more common in most of our industries than in the industries abroad, partly because of the higher pressure under which our work is carried on and partly because of the rapid introduction of a new element of labor unfamiliar with our methods of mechanical production, but largely because of our general attitude of indifference toward human life itself. In coal mining alone there are lost * Bulletin No. 78 of the United States Bureau of Labor, September, 1908. annually over three thousand lives, and the rate is not only excessive, but it is increasing. Among railway trainmen the fatal accident rate while at work is nearly eight times the normal degree of accident frequency among males in all occupations, but even this rate is exceeded by deaths from drowning among the fishermen of Gloucester, resulting in a rate nearly twelve times the normal for men in all occupations. The degree of fatal accident liability varies, but it is high in most of the trades which can be considered at all dangerous, and there is evidence, conclusive and incontrovertible, that by rational methods of supervision and control the rates can be very materially diminished. Regarding non-fatal accidents or injuries our information is much more imperfect, and is practically limited to a few of the more important dangerous occupations. In only one state has a real effort been made to arrive at a complete statement of the facts, that is, Wisconsin,-but even there the effort as yet has not been entirely successful. The method of reporting non-fatal accidents varies so much that the returns for one state are seldom comparable with those for another. The same is true of different employments, for the returns may be complete for one industry, while for another they may be decidedly incomplete. There is also, of course, the inherent difficulty of giving a definite meaning to the term "accident," applicable to all conditions and industries alike, but until such a definition is arrived at a valid comparison of the degree of injury frequency in different trades will be extremely difficult. In Wisconsin, during the last year for which the information is available, there were 5,003 industrial accidents of all kinds, and of this number 135, or 2.7 per cent., were fatal; 574, or 11.5 per cent., resulted in permanent incapacity; while 4,141, or 82.8 per cent., caused only temporary incapacity. Three per cent. of the accident returns were undefined.* Similar investigations for other states or countries prove conclusively that the industrial accident factor is of sufficiently *Special Report of the Bureau of Labor of Wisconsin, 1909. |