RULE OF DAMAGES.

Reference should here be made to the rule of damages applicable in negligence cases. In general, the amount of damages in a given case is fixed by the jury at an amount which in its opinion will fairly compensate the injured for the injuries sustained. The law of Michigan, however, is unique in one respect. The right of action for damages in case of death is given by two statutes, and does not exist otherwise. One of these statutes is called the Death Act, and was placed upon the statute books of the State in 1848. This statute applies where death is instantaneous. The right of action vests immediately in those who have suffered pecuniary loss by reason of the death, and permits the jury to give such damages as they "deem fair and just with reference to the pecuniary injury resulting from such death to those persons who may be entitled to such damages when recovered."

The second statute is called the Survival Act. It became a part of the law in 1838, but did not cover negligent injuries until 1885. It applies where death is not instantaneous. It given a right of action to representatives of the decedent, irrespective of whether he left dependents or not. If any interval intervenes between the accident and the death of the injured, the right of action vests then in the injured and upon his death descends to his representatives for the benefit of his estate, and a recovery may be had without reference to the dependence of his family or heirs for an amount which may equal what the deceased would probably have earned during the remainder of his lifetime, without any deduction for what it would have cost him to live, or what he might have spent in the course of his lifetime.

THE INVESTIGATION.

Having in mind the legal rules by which the present system of employers' liability is governed, the Commission undertook an investigation to determine whether or not there occurred in the course of industrial operations in the State of Michigan accidents to a number that would demand legislation; whether or not the compensation received by the injured was adequate; what effect the adjustment of this compensation under the present system had upon the employer and the public and, in general, what causes brought about the accidents.

I. NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS.

The first inquiry to which the Commission directed its efforts was as to whether or not there occurred during the course of industry in the State of Michigan industrial accidents to a number that would justify or demand any legislation of the character proposed.

That the number of accidents occurring annually in Michigan to workmen engaged in employments in the industries of the State is sufficiently large to demand remedial legislation is shown by the fact that

during the year 1909 employers reported a total of 1,026 accidents to the Labor Department of the State. During the year 1910, employers reported a total of 1,728 accidents.

These reports do not include the accidents to railroad employees. In 1910 the number of these employees who had suffered fatal and nonfatal injuries were reported to the Railroad Commission as 990.

The Commission, however, conducted an independent investigation of this question and secured reports from 466 employers exclusive of the mines and the railroads as to accidents covering the period from January, 1910, to January, 1911. These employers employed 99,134 workmen and reported a total of 7,116 accidents. Table I will give in detail the results of this investigation.

This table displays the fact that 7,116 injured (fatal and non-fatal) workmen received an average compensation of $10.91. Adding to the compensation paid, the cost of medical, hospital and legal services incident to accidents, we find a total cost per injured man of $15.30.

To the number of fatal injuries reported in the State at large in this table should be added 73 fatal injuries which occurred in the mines and 91 fatal injuries which occurred in the railroads during the same period of time, making a total of 199 fatal injuries so reported for the State at large during the calendar year of 1911.

It is estimated that there are employed in the industries of the State, exclusive of farms, 250,000 workmen. It can therefore, be fairly said, adopting the proportions shown in the foregoing table and considering the risk of the industries not reporting that in the various Michigan industries exclusive of farms, in a single year approximately 220 workmen received fatal injuries, and approximately 13,000 received injuries less than fatal.

The Commission determined, therefore, that the industrial accidents of Michigan were sufficient in number to justify remedial legislation.

AGRICULTURAL ACCIDENTS.

In this connection investigations were made of accidents occurring in the agricultural industry. It was urged on the Commission that any change in the present system should contemplate a scheme which would embrace accidents upon the farm.

That the laborer upon the farm is subject to a considerable risk is undoubted. That his risk has been greatly increased by mechanical appliances is also true. But, nevertheless, it appeared to the Commission that the agricultural accidents should not be classed as an industrial accident; that it had not been affected by what may be generally and properly referred to as modern industrial conditions, and that it was not yet organized on a basis which would make it practicable to include it within any general compensation law. The tables inserted in the appendix, pp. 94-96, compiled from an investigation of accidents upon the farms of Oakland, Ionia and VanBuren counties demonstrate the present impossibility of securing accurate data upon which to base any definite conclusions insofar as agriculture was concerned.

The investigators reported that a considerable number of the agricultural workmen were transient laborers without families, and that it was extremely difficult to determine whether or not the injuries had occurred in the course of the employment.

II. RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCIDENTS.

No independent investigation was made by the Commission as to the responsibility for accidents, other than was developed in the course of the investigation as to the number of accidents and the general facts relating thereto. The Commission was interested to learn what percentage of accidents was due to the hazards of modern industry, and likewise as to how accidents could be distributed as between the workman and the employer, so far as the responsibility of either was concerned. But, it knew of no reason why the same general percentage should not obtain in Michigan as had been found by other commissions to exist in other states, and it, therefore, adopted the results of the inquiries of other like commissions in the place of an independent investigation. The New York commission, investigating 280 fatal accidents in New York during 1907, and 1908, determined that 871⁄2 per cent of them were due to what might be termed modern causes, and in fact had occurred almost entirely in industries which were not known when the present liability rules were made a part of the present common law. Of these accidents, therefore, an increasing proportion should be charged to the hazards of the industry, and not to the negligence of either the employer or the employe.

The Commission appointed in the State of Minnesota analyzed 1,253 reported accidents, and determined that 71.6% of these were due to the hazards of the industry, 15.6% to the wilful negligence of the workmen, 5.2% to the contributory negligence of the workmen, 5% to the