which the compensation commission rejected as not furnishing a basis for awards may still be an injury for which an action at law will lie on the liability principle.

It should be kept in mind that the question of the accidental nature. or otherwise of the injury was not before this division, so that the actual merits of the case yet await decision. However, there is in this case something of a summarization of the situation as it now stands, since it is clear that physical injuries of the nature complained of in this case have been compensated under the compensation laws, and should have been in this instance if the supreme court, special term, was correct in defining the injury as accidental. Under some laws also an award would have been allowed regardless of the accidental nature of the injury. On the other hand, the appellate division holds out the prospect of a recovery under the liability principle, as has been shown feasible under constructions of the duty of the employer as determined by the courts of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (Wagner and Deisenreiter cases), and others. Another aspect that compels notice is the fact that, as yet, compensation legislation lacks an inclusiveness that would give to all workmen injured in the course of and by reason of their employment an adequate, simple, and certain relief, which is the ayowed and proper object of the compensation system.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION LEGISLATION OF 1917-IDAHO AND SOUTH DAKOTA.

IDAHO.

The Legislature of Idaho at its recent session enacted a workmen's compensation law, approved March 16, 1917, to take effect January 1, 1918. This act is one of the most thorough and carefully drawn laws of its class. It includes all public employment, and all private employment carried on for pecuniary gain of the employer, agricultural and domestic service excepted. Casual employees, outworkers, and members of the employer's family living at home are excepted in private employments, while in public employment elective officials and persons receiving salaries in excess of $2,400 are not included. The act is compulsory in form, and may be availed of in the excepted employments by agreement between the employer and employee filed with the State industrial accident board.

Injuries by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, not due to the employee's willful intention to injure himself or another, or to his intoxication, give rise to claims for compensation if they result in death or disability for more than seven days. Injuries occurring outside the State are entitled to compensation if the con

also provides that employees from outside the State may enforce their rights within the State if they can reasonably be determined or dealt with by the board and courts.

In fatal cases, burial expenses are to be paid in an amount not exceeding $100. Reasonable medical, surgical, and hospital service is to be furnished as may be required or requested at the time of the injury, and for a reasonable period thereafter. Service includes crutches and appropriate apparatus. No limit is set either to time or amount, but fees and charges are subject to regulation by the board. Benefits payable are 55 per cent of the employee's average weekly earnings, with a maximum of $12 per week and a minimum of $6 unless the employee's earnings are less, in which case benefits equal the amount of earnings. In case of permanent total disability, however, the benefits shall not be less than $6 per week. Death benefits may not continue beyond 400 weeks, and cease on the death or remarriage of a dependent widow or widower, or on a child reaching the age of 18 years unless incapable of self-support. Benefit payments terminating for the above reasons may be reapportioned among the surviving beneficiaries for the remaining portion of the period of 400 weeks. Disability benefits continue on the 55 per cent basis for 400 weeks, after which a flat rate of $6 per week is fixed. There is a schedule of compensation periods for disabilities caused by maiming. Lump sum settlements may be approved for either all or part of the benefits for either disability or death. If there are no dependents, the law provides that the employer shall pay the sum of $1,000 into the administration fund.

The act is to be administered by an industrial accident board of three members, whose term of service is to be six years. Agreements between employers and employees must be approved by this board, and on failure to agree a committee of arbitration, one member of which shall be a member of the board, may be applied for. The awards of this committee are final, unless within 30 days review by the board is sought. The decisions of the board may be appealed from on questions of law if action is taken within 30 days after they are made.

A State insurance fund is provided for, and an initial appropriation of $20,000 is made therefor. The fund is to be under the control of a State insurance manager appointed for a term of five years; this official classifies industries and fixes the premium rates; payments from the fund, which is in the hands of the State treasurer, are to be made only on warrants or vouchers authorized or signed by this manager and by the State auditor.

All employers must insure in the State insurance fund or deposit satisfactory security to guarantee payments. Surety bonds may be

issued only by companies approved by the board, and such bonds, as well as the policies of insurance in the State fund, must be directly available for the benefit of injured employees. Benefit payments have the same priority as wages due, may not be assigned, and are exempt from attachment and execution.

Nonresident alien beneficiaries receive one-half the amounts payable to residents unless otherwise provided for by treaty. If the laws of the country of residence would debar citizens of the United States from compensation benefits, any sums payable go to the industrial administration fund instead of to the beneficiary.

Persons malingering, refusing or obstructing medical examination, or persisting in practices of such nature as are likely to retard or prevent recovery, are to have their benefits suspended or reduced. The State industrial board has authority to fix standards of safety and to make and enforce rules for the protection of the life, health, and safety of employees.

SOUTH DAKOTA,

The latest law in this field to be received by the bureau, and apparently the final one for the year, is one of South Dakota, approved March 10, 1917. The date when the law shall take effect is not specified, so that the act falls under the provision of the constitution fixing 90 days from the date of the adjournment of the legislature for this event.

The act is elective in form, but election is presumed in the absence of notice in writing served on the employer or employee, as the case may be, by the party rejecting; a copy of the notice must also be filed with the industrial commission. Waivers of the rejection must be made in the same manner, and 30 days are to intervene before either rejection or waiver is effective, except in case of an injury occurring within less than 30 days after the date of employment, where notice was given at the time of employment. The act is of general inclusiveness, but does not apply to casual employees or those not employed in the usual course of trade or business of the employer, nor to agricultural or domestic service. Public employees are included, and the remedy is exclusive in all cases where it applies. Insurance is required of all employers coming within the act, though provision is made for a showing of solvency satisfactory to the insurance department and industrial commissioner; approved benefit schemes may also be maintained. Policies must inure directly to the benefit of injured employees, and the insolvency of the employer does not relieve the insurance company from its obligations.

Compensation is payable for injuries causing death or disability for more than two weeks, but if the disability continues for eight

injury. Serious and permanent disfigurements may also be compensated. Injuries due to the employee's willful misconduct, intoxication, or willful failure or refusal to use a safety appliance or comply with a safety law, are not compensable; the burden of proof in the foregoing cases is on the employer. The place of occurrence of the injury is not a vital fact, the right of compensation being a feature of the employment contract.

The amount of a death benefit is four times the average annual earnings of the deceased employee, not less than $1,650 nor more than $3,000. This sum is payable where there is a dependent widow, child or children, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister. If none of these survive, collateral heirs dependent may receive a benefit proportionate to the amount of support furnished. If there are no dependents, burial expenses in an amount not exceeding $150 are to be paid. Payments to any beneficiaries cease on their death or on the remarriage of a widow. No mention is made of widowers, nor of the age at which benefits to children shall terminate.

Payments on account of nonfatal injuries are not to exceed 50 per cent of the average weekly wages, or $12 per week in amount. If disability is total and permanent, a minimum of $6 is also fixed. No sum of benefits for injuries may exceed the amount of a death benefit, nor continue beyond 6 years after the injury, except in cases of total permanent disability. Payments may be commuted to a lump-sum basis. If the injured workman dies before the amount of a death benefit is exhausted, the remaining sums are to be paid to dependents. A schedule for maimings is enacted, payments thereunder to be in addition to the amount paid during the period of total disability resulting from the same injury. In all cases, first aid, medical, surgical, and hospital services are to be furnished, continuing for a period of not more than four weeks and in an amount not exceeding $100.

The act is to be administered by an industrial commissioner, the commissioner of immigration and his successor in office acting as such. Clerical and other assistants are provided for, and the commissioner is authorized to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the act. Agreements between employers and employees must be submitted to the industrial commissioner. If no agreement is reached, a board of arbitration, the industrial commissioner to be chairman, must take the matter under advisement. Each party is entitled to appoint an arbitrator, which failing, the commissioner himself shall make the appointments. Notice of injury must be given within 30 days unless a reasonable excuse is offered, and claims must be prosecuted within one year. Either party may ask for a review of an arbitration award, also for subsequent reviews based on changes of condition. Awards may be filed with the circuit court of a county in which the injury occurred, and a decree issued in accordance there

with. Attorneys' and physicians' fees are subject to the approval of the industrial commissioner.

This completes the account of compensation legislation for the year, so far as the enactment of new legislation is concerned, making a total of 37 States of the Union having such laws. As stated in the May number (p. 745) of the MONTHLY REVIEW, the list for the year is Delaware, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, and South Dakota. With the exception therefore of the State of North Dakota, the States without compensation laws are located in the southeastern part of the United States, bounded on the west by Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and on the north by Tennessee and Virginia. Vigorous efforts were made to secure the enactment of a law in Missouri. The Legislature of Florida also gave the matter earnest consideration. In Missouri the bill passed the house by a vote of 120 to 11, but was unfavorably reported by the senate committee. It was, however, immediately placed on the calendar by a vote of 20 to 13, but the friends of the bill were unable to muster the necessary number of votes to bring the bill to a consideration out of its regular order, and it died on the adjournment of the session. The workmen's compensation conference of the State finds encouragement over the results accomplished in spite of the present failure to secure the enactment of a law. The bill was actively opposed by the damage-suit lawyers, with whom were aligned a few representatives of the building trades councils of St. Louis and Kansas City and a few employers' associations. It had the support of over 90 per cent of the labor unions of the State, of many employers' associations and individual employers, the State Medical Association, the State Insurance Federation, and the State Bar Association, and was actively supported by the principal newspapers of the State.

The Legislature of Virginia, which meets next year, will have before it a bill which is being prepared for submission, and it seems certain that only a few years can elapse before the modern and ap-proved system of compensation shall supplant the doctrine of employers' liability in the entire continental domain of the United States, as it already has in practically all its outlying territory.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION, ADMIRALTY, AND INTERSTATE

COMMERCE.

The Supreme Court of the United States, on the 21st of May, cleared its docket of the series of cases on workmen's compensation noted in the earlier issues of the MONTHLY REVIEW.1 The decisions

1 December, 1916, pp. 27, 28; April, 1917, pp. 549–552.