From industrial police to workmen's compensation: Public policy and industrial accidents in New York, 1880-1910

Labor History

Volumn 39, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 365-380

  Higgens Evenson, R Rudy ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0032286928     PISSN: 0023656X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00236679812331387454     Document Type: Review

References (96)

1. New York, Senate, Seventeenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," Senate Documents 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 558. For the sake of brevity, New York State documents will hereafter be denoted by the abbreviation SD for Senate Documents or AD for Assembly Documents. The titles of annual reports for the Bureau of Labor Statistics will be abbreviated to Labor Statistics; for the Board of Railroad Commissioners, to Railroad Commissioners.
2. In 1901, for example, the United States Industrial Commission recommended New York's laws on the political rights of laborers, mechanics' liens, sweatshops, and factory regulation as models for uniform national legislation. New York, First Commissioner of Labor and Sixteenth Factory Inspectors, AD 1901, Vol. 22, Doc. 61, Part 1, 53.
3. Roy Lubove, "Workmen's Compensation and the Prerogatives of Voluntarism," Labor History, 8 (1967), 264.
4. Lawrence M. Friedman and Jack Ladinsky, "Social Change and the Law of Industrial Accidents," Columbia Law Review, 67 (1967), 66, 69.
5. Richard A. Posner, "A Theory of Negligence," Journal of Legal Studies, 1 (1972), 29-70.
6. Lubove, 273; Robert F. Wesser, "Conflict and Compromise: The Workmen's Compensation Movement in New York, 1890s-1913," Labor History, 12 (1971), 345-372; Robert Asher, "Failure and Fulfillment: Agitation for Employers' Liability Legislation and the Origins of Workmen's Compensation in New York State, 1876-1910," Labor History, 24 (1983), 198-222.
7. Lubove, 273; Robert F. Wesser, "Conflict and Compromise: The Workmen's Compensation Movement in New York, 1890s-1913," Labor History, 12 (1971), 345-372; Robert Asher, "Failure and Fulfillment: Agitation for Employers' Liability Legislation and the Origins of Workmen's Compensation in New York State, 1876-1910," Labor History, 24 (1983), 198-222.
8. Lubove, 273; Robert F. Wesser, "Conflict and Compromise: The Workmen's Compensation Movement in New York, 1890s-1913," Labor History, 12 (1971), 345-372; Robert Asher, "Failure and Fulfillment: Agitation for Employers' Liability Legislation and the Origins of Workmen's Compensation in New York State, 1876-1910," Labor History, 24 (1983), 198-222.
9. Williarn R. Brock, Investigation and Responsibility: Public Responsibility in the United States, 1865-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 190.
10. New York, Assembly, 1st Railroad Commissioners, AD 1884, Vol. 3, Doc. 25, 7.
11. Ibid., 9.
12. William J. Novak, The People's Welfare: Law and Regulation in 19th Century America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 14, 26, 49, 115.
13. Although the commissioners also turned their attention to recommendations regarding safety technology for passengers, such as reinforcing passenger cars to prevent telescoping during accidents, this essay will focus on measures related to employee safety only.
14. New York, Assembly, 1st Railroad Commissioners, AD 1884, Vol. 3, Doc. 25, 36.
15. New York, Assembly, 6th Railroad Commissioners, SD 1889, Vol. 2, Doc. 8, Part 1, xvi.
16. New York, Assembly, 8th Railroad Commissioners, AD 1891, Vol 6, Doc. 28, xiv; also 7th Railroad Commissioners, AD 1890, Vol. 5, Doc. 28, Part 1, xv.
17. New York, Assembly, 8th Railroad Commissioners, AD 1891, Vol 6, Doc. 28, xiv; also 7th Railroad Commissioners, AD 1890, Vol. 5, Doc. 28, Part 1, xv.
18. New York, Senate, 13th Railroad Commissioners, SD 1896, Vol. 2, Doc. 10, Part 1, xxi.
19. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 559.
20. New York, Senate, 2nd Railroad Commissioners, SD 1885, Vol. 2, Doc. 8, Part 1, xxvii.
21. New York, Senate, 10th Railroad Commissioners, SD 1893, Vol. 2, Doc. 9, Part 1, 17; see also idem, 13th Railroad Commissioners SD 1896, Vol. 2, Doc. 10, Part 1, xxi.
22. New York, Senate, 10th Railroad Commissioners, SD 1893, Vol. 2, Doc. 9, Part 1, 17; see also idem, 13th Railroad Commissioners SD 1896, Vol. 2, Doc. 10, Part 1, xxi.
23. New York, Assembly, 1st Railroad Commissioners, AD 1884, Vol. 3, Doc. 25, 59-62
24. Ibid.
25. New York, Senate, 2nd Railroad Commissioners, SD 1885, Vol. 2, Doc. 8, Part 1, xxxi.
26. New York, Senate, Report to the Legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 25, Doc. 38, 15.
27. James Leiby, Carroll Wright and Labor Reform: The Origin of Labor Statistics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960), 54.
28. New York Times, Sept 10, 1892, 8.
29. New York Times, May 21, 1886, 2.
30. New York, Assembly, 4th Labor Statistics, "1st Factory Inspectors," AD 1887, Vol. 5, Doc. 27, 863.
31. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 561.
32. New York, Assembly, 5th Labor Statistics, AD 1888, Vol. 9, No. 74, 719.
33. Ibid., 709, 719.
34. New York, Assembly, 7th Factory Inspectors, AD 1893, Vol. 11, Doc. 63, 38.
35. New York, Senate, 7th Labor Statistics, SD 1890, Vol. 6, No. 57, 796.
36. New York, Assembly, 5th Factory Inspectors, AD 1891, Vol. 3, Doc. 14, 53.
37. New York, Assembly, 7th Commissioner of Labor, AD 1908, Vol. 16, Doc. 30, Part 1, I.35-I.36.
38. William E. Walling, "What Are Factory Inspectors For?" Charities, 13 (Jan. 14, 1903), 376.
39. Ibid.
40. New York, Assembly, 7th Commissioner of Labor, AD 1908, Vol. 16, Doc. 30, Part 1, I.37-38.
41. Walling, 375.
42. New York Times, Dec. 8, 1904, 9.
43. New York Times, May 4, 1905, 5.
44. New York, Assembly, 13th Factory Inspectors, AD 1899, Vol. 7, Doc. 51, 31. The New York Times related a similar anecdote in an editorial on the 1902 employers' liability bill: "In a mill near this city in which gas was used as fuel it was found that men having occasion to run up ladders for any purpose were very apt to become faint and fall. After several had been hurt in this way the manager provided strong webbing belts with stout iron rings to which ropes were attached, and promulgated a rule that no workman should go above the mill floor for any purpose without first putting on one of these belts, throwing the free end of the rope over one of the chords of the roof trusses and calling another workman to hold it... Whether they were used or not depended upon whether the manager was in the mill or in the office ... The men finally undertook to settle the matter themselves by holding a meeting and resolving that the company had made sufficient and thoughtful provision for their safety, but that they preferred to take the chances of injury to bothering with the safety appliances...." New York Times, Jan. 27, 1902, 6.
45. New York, Assembly, 13th Factory Inspectors, AD 1899, Vol. 7, Doc. 51, 31. The New York Times related a similar anecdote in an editorial on the 1902 employers' liability bill: "In a mill near this city in which gas was used as fuel it was found that men having occasion to run up ladders for any purpose were very apt to become faint and fall. After several had been hurt in this way the manager provided strong webbing belts with stout iron rings to which ropes were attached, and promulgated a rule that no workman should go above the mill floor for any purpose without first putting on one of these belts, throwing the free end of the rope over one of the chords of the roof trusses and calling another workman to hold it... Whether they were used or not depended upon whether the manager was in the mill or in the office ... The men finally undertook to settle the matter themselves by holding a meeting and resolving that the company had made sufficient and thoughtful provision for their safety, but that they preferred to take the chances of injury to bothering with the safety appliances...." New York Times, Jan. 27, 1902, 6.
46. William Graebner, Coal-Mining Safety in the Progressive Period: The Political Economy of Reform (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1976), 112.
47. Ibid., 81, 116-17.
48. Ibid., 113.
49. New York, Assembly, 13th Labor Statistics, AD 1896, Vol. 14, Doc. 73, 501.
50. New York, Assembly, 9th Factory Inspectors, AD 1895, Vol. 14, Doc. 84, 47.
51. New York, Assembly, 3rd Commissioner of Labor, "Part III: 18th Report on Factory Inspection," AD 1904, Vol. 24, Doc. 61, xix.
52. H.G. Wood, A Treatise on the Law of Master and Servant, Covering the Relation, Duties and Liabilities of Employers and Employees (Albany, NY: John D. Parsons, Jr., 1877), iii.
53. W.F. Bailey, The Law of the Master's Liability for Injuries to Servant (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1894), iii.
54. Friedman and Ladinsky, 63.
55. New York, Assembly, 4th Labor Statistics, AD 1887, Vol. 5, Doc. 27, 904.
56. Ibid., 905.
57. New York, Senate, Report to the Legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 25, Doc. 38, 14.
58. Wood, 698.
59. Ibid., 720.
60. George W. Alger, "Courts and Factory Legislation," The American Journal of Sociology, 6 (1901), 405.
61. New York, Assembly, 2nd Commissioner of Labor, Part I, AD 1903, Vol. 15, Doc. 65, 35.
62. Asher, 215.
63. New York Assembly, 7th Factory Inspectors, "The Payment of Wages in Dangerous Occupations," AD 1893, Vol. 11, Doc. 63, 663.
64. William M. McKinney, A Treatise on the Law of Fellow-Servant (Northport, Long Island, NY: Edward Thompson Co., 1890), 332.
65. New York, Assembly, 3rd Commissioner of Labor, "Employers' Welfare Institutions," AD 1904, Vol. 22, Doc. 61, 227.
66. Lubove, 254-5, fn. 1.
67. New York, Senate, Report to the legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 35, Doc. 38, 115.
68. New York, Assembly, 7th Factory Inspectors, "The Payment of Wages in Dangerous Occupations," AD 1893, Vol. 11, Doc. 63, 663, 664.
69. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 579.
70. Ibid., 634.
71. New York, Assembly, 5th Factory Inspectors, AD 1891, Vol. 3, Doc. 14, 52.
72. New York, Assembly, 3rd Labor Statistics, AD 1896, Vol. 14, Doc. 73, 492.
73. Ibid., 496.
74. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 584.
75. New York, Assembly, 5th Factory Inspectors, AD 1891, Vol. 3, Doc. 14, 52.
76. New York, Assembly, 7th Factory Inspectors, "The Payment of Wages in Dangerous Occupations," AD 1893, Vol. 11, Doc. 63, 663.
77. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 655.
78. Ibid., 679; New York, Assembly, Governor's Message, AD 1900, Vol. 1, Doc. 2, 26.
79. Ibid., 679; New York, Assembly, Governor's Message, AD 1900, Vol. 1, Doc. 2, 26.
80. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, SD Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 585.
81. Ibid., 586.
82. Ibid., 660.
83. Ibid., 1161.
84. New York, Assembly, 6th Commissioner of Labor, AD 1907, Vol. 8, Doc. 30, I.34-5.
85. New York, Senate, 15th Factory Inspectors, SD 1901, Vol. 5, Doc. 25, 21.
86. New York, Senate, 17th Labor Statistics, Part II, "Industrial Accidents and Employers' Responsibility for their Compensation," SD 1900, Vol. 10, Doc. 39, 584.
87. Lubove, 255-58.
88. New York Times, June 11, 1907, 3.
89. New York Times, June 15, 1909, 3.
90. New York, Senate, Report to the Legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 25, Doc. 38, 29, 31, footnote.
91. Wesser, 358.
92. New York Times, March 22, 1910, 2.
93. New York, Senate, Report to the Legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 35, Doc. 38, 51.
94. Lubove, 264.
95. New York Times, April 11, 1910, 6.
96. New York, Senate, Report to the Legislature of the State of New York by the Commission ... To Inquire into the Question of Employers' Liability and Other Matters, SD 1910, Vol. 25, Doc. 38, 30, footnote.