ciation of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, for the purpose of mutual assistance in solving the problems arising under such acts and the achieving of uniformity of laws and of procedure.

This association had its first annual meeting at Lansing, Michigan, on April 14 and 15, 1915; its second meeting at Seattle, Washington, on September 30 to October 2, 1915, and its third meeting at Columbus, Ohio, in April, 1916. The association has already contributed material assistance in the solution of compensation problems.

One of the subjects to which it has given especial attention has been uniformity of accident statistics. Some years ago the American Association for Labor Legislation appointed a committee of statisticians to devise a uniform accident report law and uniform accident tables, which committee worked for about three years and made several reports with recommendations. When the international association was formed most of the members of this committee were appointed on a similar committee of the international association and the labor legislation association thereupon discontinued its committee.

This committee, which has now done practically five years' work on the subject of uniform accident statistics, recommended to the Columbus meeting, April, 1916, that all of the state accident report laws be amended to require reports of all accidents which disable a workman for more than the balance of the day or shift on which he is working or which require medical attention and that all the states classify their accidents according to a uniform schedule of injuries and a uniform classification of industries prepared by the committee. The report was unanimously adopted, and has been published by the federal government as Bulletin 201 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Eight states, among them Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and Massachusetts, announced their intention to conform to the recommendation during their next statistical year and it is expected that the other states will coincide in this action. The representatives of many of the states at the Columbus conference had not power to speak finally for their states in the matter, but all stated that their states were fully in sympathy with the movement for uniform statistics.

We therefore recommend the amendment of chapter 416, G. L. 1913, to require all accidents which cause any loss of time in excess of the balance of the day or which cause medical expense to be reported to this department.

Private Employment Offices.

This department has pointed out year after year the wrongs perpetrated by the private, profit-seeking employment agencies upon the workmen. The last two years have witnessed little if any abatement of the abuses. We earnestly recommend that a law be enacted at this session of the legislature that will require:

1. That all licenses for employment offices be obtained from, and be revocable by the commissioner of labor.

2. That a license fee of $150 be charged for a license to secure employment for both males and females, a fee of $100 for a license for an agency for males, and a fee of $75 for a license for an agency for females, which license fee shall be paid into the state treasury.

3. That the commissioner of labor be given discretionary power to issue a license or refuse to issue a license to any individual or for any location.

4. That every licensee shall be required to keep a register of all applications for employment, or for help and of all positions filled which shall include such information and be in such form as the commissioner may require.

5. That every licensee shall issue a receipt to each person for whom he obtains employment showing the name and address of the employe and of the employer, the amount of fee charged, the wages to be paid, the cost of board in employer's camp or boarding place (if any), the probable duration of the employment, the place to report for work, any deductions

1

that will be made from the wages of the employe by the employer, the name and address of the agency issuing the receipt, and the date on which issued.

6. Prohibiting any agency from charging a registration fee.

7. Requiring monthly reports to the commissioner of labor of all information required by him and on blanks furnished by him.

8. Limiting the fees which may be charged by such agencies for the services they perform.

9. Providing for recovery by the employe of fees paid or expenses incurred when he fails to get the employment through fault on the part of the agency.

10. Prohibiting any agency from dividing its fee with any employer or any person in the employ of an employer.

11. Regulating the conduct of such agencies during strikes and in making representations to employes relative to employment offered.

12. Requiring employers to fulfill the terms of the contract made with the employer by the agency.

13. Giving the commissioner of labor power to enforce the act by inspection of agencies and by legal prosecutions.

Health and Sanitation in Labor Camps.

The department recommended to the 1915 legislature that the health laws of the state be amended to give the state board of health jurisdiction over work places. The need for the legislation is discussed in detail on pages 188-199 of the 1914-15 biennial report of this department and need not be repeated here. Let it suffice to say that at the present time no state authority has jurisdiction over the sanitary conditions in industrial camps such as lumber camps and railroad contractors' camps, and the conditions that our inspectors have found in some of them are both a disgrace and a menace to the state.

We recommend (1) an amendment to section 4640 of the General Statutes of 1913 to give the board of health power to prescribe rules for the construction and equipment in respect to sanitary conditions, of industrial camps, and power to prescribe rules for the protection of health in any work or process which may produce illness or disease peculiar to the work carried on; (2) a law giving the board of health power to prescribe rules and regulations to protect the health of the employes in any industry, providing for reports of occupational diseases to the board of health, and authorizing the commissioner of labor and his assistants to report violations of the law to the board of health and to assist the board of health in prosecutions for violation of the act.

PART I.

THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT.

The workmen's compensation act is now one of the most important branches of the department's work. Nearly a fourth of the department's force and nearly a third of its money are now employed in the administration of this law.

The present report on the compensation act consists of two parts: First, the department's recommendations for the amendment of the act; and, second, the statistics of the law's operation to date.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO LEGISLATURE.

Our first recommendation will be concerned with the administrative features of the act and we deem it advisable, before presenting the recommendation, to state briefly the work at present performed by the department of labor in the administration of the compensation act.

The compensation act (sections 24 and 24a) imposes four distinct duties upon the Department of Labor and Industries: to obtain records of all compensation settlements and compile statistics of the law's operation; to observe in detail the operation of the act and make recommendations to the legislature for its improvement; to assist in adjusting disputes, and to represent compensation claimants in court in disputed cases.

We desire to report the manner in which the department performs these duties. Our description will be brief and will discuss only the outstanding features of our work. If the legislature desires more detailed knowledge we believe it can be best obtained from the courts, the thousands of injured who have come to us for aid, and the employers and insurers with whom we have done business under the act, or by legislative inquiry.

The department receives five reports on each case, which ordinarily arrive in the following order: (1) Report of accident, (2) copy of settlement agreement as approved by the court, (3) copy of final receipt or release taken by the employer upon completion of payments, (4) report on medical costs incurred by the employer, (5) report on period of disability which resulted from the injury. The manner in which these reports are indexed and filed can be understood only by an examination of our office system, but the information and recommendations found in this report are principally drawn from these records.

The disputes and questions that came before the department are of eight principal types. The most common is that of the injured workman to whom the employer or insurer has offered a settlement, but who is afraid that they are not offering him what the law provides. A large number of these workmen come to the department for advice, either on their own initiative or at the suggestion of the employers and insurers, who have found that this is the surest way to assure the workman that the settlement offered is in accordance with the law, or to discover any error that there may be in the settlement offered. The department informs these workmen of their rights, inspects the written offer of settlement to see if it conforms to the law, and advises them of the legal procedure necessary to settle the case.

A second type of case is that in which the department not only acts as adviser but actually consumates the settlement. For instance, note a couple of typical fatal cases.

The case of Clohesy vs. Northwestern Telephone Company is a good illustration both of the need of an effective administrative organization to operate the compensation act and of the fine spirit shown by some employers under the act. E. J. Clohesy was killed while working for the Northwestern Telephone Company under the name of Quinlin. The telephone company notified the department of labor of his death and that his effects indicated that his name was Clohesy. They also furnished his

mother's address and requested the department to look up his dependents. The department finally found Clohesy's two children in an orphan asylum in Salt Lake City, Utah, had a local trust company appointed to look after their interests, and negotiations are now proceeding to provide for the payment and security of their compensation.

Another typical case is that of Joe Earl vs. Cloquet Lumber Company. Mr. Earl's home was in Wisconsin, and a letter was received by the department soon after his death from an uncle who had been appointed guardian of the children. Arrangements were made by the department whereby the guardianship papers and all necessary information required by the insurer should be sent to the department, which thereupon arranged the settlement for the dependents and transmitted their money to them. In about a month after the first inquiry was made of the department by the guardian the whole case had been closed up. Another case, almost identical with this, in which the dependents are in Wisconsin, has just been filed with the department for settlement. The cases are typical of a large number of others that have been adjusted.

Another important service is that performed in connection with permanent partial disabilities. Employers or insurers frequently appear before the department with injured workmen and express a willingness to pay whatever compensation the department considers the man entitled to. These cases are brought to this department instead of to the courts in order to avoid the expense, delays and formalities connected with a court's determination. In some cases the department has little difficulty in determining the degree of injury by observation of the injured part. When there is any uncertainty in our minds we resolve it by taking the injured to some physician who is a specialist in the particular class of injury and obtain medical advice. The department determines a large number of cases of this kind each year.

A third question or dispute that frequently comes before us is concerned with the termination of the period of disability. The employer or insurer believes that a workman has recovered from his injury and stops compensation. The injured claims that he is not well enough to go to work and appeals to the department to compel them to pay additional compensation. The department investigates the facts, taking the injured to a physician for examination if necessary, and if the injured is really entitled to compensation, is almost always able to have compensation resumed without putting the injured to the expense or trouble of a law suit. In a good many cases the workman makes his claim to the department after he has already signed a final receipt or release, but if the department is able to show the employer or insurer the workman is entitled to more compensation they generally pay it.

But this manner of handling these two types of disputes is at the best but a clumsy makeshift. It is truly an anomalous situation for this department to be determining disputes that in the theory of the law are supposed to go before the courts. The reason for this peculiar situation is simply that the organization and habits of procedure of the courts do not fit them for this work. The courts are supposed to handle these cases and have power to speak with authority on them. But instead of going to the courts the interested parties bring fully nine cases out of every ten to this department for determination, though the department's only authority to enforce its rulings is the voluntary agreement of the parties to accept the department's decision. After the department has settled the dispute the papers are taken to the court for formal approval.

The courts themselves realize the incongruity of attempting to handle these administrative decisions by court methods. On the very day that this section of the biennial was being written one of the judges of the Ramsey county court sent an injured man and his employer to the department to get the department's opinion on the following set of facts: The injured had lost his thumb and the surgeon had to cut away one-half of the metacarpal bone, i. e., the bone reaching from the base of the thumb through the hand

to the wrist. The employer and injured went before the judge in chambers and informed him orally that they were willing to settle for the loss of a thumb or whatever degree of injury he found to exist. Instead of determining the matter the judge sent them to the department of labor to obtain our opinion on the degree of injury. When they had obtained such opinion they returned to the court to get the court's approval of the settlement. This is not an isolated case. The same thing happens every week in one or more of the various jurisdictions. In addition to the cases that are brought directly to the department by the parties there is therefore an additional group of cases that are referred back to the department by the

courts.

Another matter upon which the courts frequently ask the department's advice or assistance is the matter of lump sum settlements. One judge never approves a lump sum settlement until it has received the O. K. of the department, while many of the courts request the department to investigate the facts and make recommendations to them.

A fifth important service is the investigation of cases where the workman or his dependents claim compensation is due them and the employer or insurer refuses to pay. The investigation of these cases frequently requires the expenditure of considerable time and money, but has resulted in winning justice for many injured or their dependents without the expense, delays and anxiety of lawsuits. We will instance a typical case and our manner of handling it.

During the last year a workman was killed who had lived irregularly with his family. He was a heavy drinker and it had become necessary for his wife to ask him to live away from home until he should get over one of his periodical sprees. She kept boarders in the house and was in danger of losing her boarders. He came to St. Paul to work. She lived in Minneapolis. He went home almost every Saturday night and stayed most of Sunday, but lived and worked in St. Paul. He contributed nothing to her support. He was home one Saturday night and killed at his work at eight o'clock the next Monday morning.

The insurer contended that the couple were not living together and told a representative of the department who called at the insurance office that they would carry the case to the supreme court before they would pay. They had received information from certain members and acquaintances of the family which led them to believe the department was wrong in its contention that the widow was entitled to compensation. There is no question in our mind that they really believed the widow's claim unfounded, and at the interview in question they presented evidence sufficient to justify them in the position they took.

But instead of letting the matter go to court the department thereupon suggested that an informal trial of the case be had before representatives of the department. The insurer readily agreed and at an agreed time two attorneys representing the insurer, two representatives of the department, and the widow met for a hearing on the matter. The woman was put under oath and questioned for two hours by the representatives of the department, a stenographer taking all the questions and answers. The attorneys were then given opportunity for cross-examination. At the end of four

hours' questioning the widow's story of her married life and her relations with her husband was complete. On the next morning a representative of the department went over the affidavit with the insurer and pointed out that it clearly established the widow's claim unless they could get other evidence that proved it false, and gave the insurer a few days' time to seek such evidence. In less than a week the insurer notified the department that they had found no evidence that would break the affdavit. "We were sure she had no claim," they said, "but we were dead wrong. are ready to pay the claim." Within two weeks of the departmental hearing the widow had a settlement for $3,150, which did not cost her a cent, and which cost the department but a day's work of two men. In addition, the widow was compelled to bare her married life only in the presence of

We