USA > Ohio > Ohio legislative history, 1913-1917 > Part 2
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PUT FRIENDS IN OFFICE.
"Third-Since positive expression in behalf of a progressive charter of government has recently been made, is it not both important and proper that the state government be placed in charge of the political party which showed an earnest interest in the new order of things by helping to adopt it? A Republican administration would hardly be installed in any relation to carry out a Democratic platform, nor would it seem logical to intrust the new charter of state in the hands of a party that has manifested, if not opposition, then at least the indifference of non-support.
"The regular Republican convention in June gave no indorsement of any of the amendments, but expressed an intent to carry the enabling constitutional rights into law if they were ratified by the people. It was the old story of evading every controverted question. The seceding wing of the Republican party indorsed the amendments after they had been voted on. It was significant that the advocacy of the major amendments was left almost entirely to the Democratic leaders of the state. Neither the regular nor the insurgent nominee of the Republican party for governor raised his voice in their behalf.
"Our Republican brethren have for years contended that 'the tariff should be revised by its friends.' If consistency is a noticeable virtue this year, then they must subscribe to the propriety of having the new state charter set in motion by its friends.
"Of infinitely greater importance, however, than the supremacy of party, is the adoption of a program of progress in our state government-and the courageous adoption of such laws as our best thought and experience suggest regardless of the departure made from the beaten paths of the past. I am not here to urge the election of men because they are Democrats, nor the defeat of any one because he is a Republican. But I contend most earnestly in behalf of the Democratic platform adopted in Toledo. It is sound in reason and humanitarian in spirit and intent. It is the most courageous declaration of principles ever enunciated by any political party in Ohio. At the time of its adoption it was apparent that there would be a division in the opposing party. The political usages of other days, under the circumstances that surrounded the Toledo convention, would have suggested a cautious program, a meaningless
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platform, a positive declaration on no question upon which there was a marked difference of opinion-in short, the plan would have been to slip into power by the oily methods of evasion, profiting by the weakness of the opposition rather than the righteousness of our cause. But a sense of duty, not expediency, moved that body of almost a thousand men. The Democracy has serious business in hand. In national affairs, it is not concerned about a question of veracity between two men, nor in state matters with playing purely for the place, in order that the party organization might be controlled on a more auspicious day.
PLATFORM A CONTRACT.
"The Toledo platform was written and is now submitted as a contract with the people. In a statement made to the state central committee in session in Dayton in July, I stated that our platform was a pledge to carry its provisions into law, if we were elected in November, and that the assistance of the organi- zation, state and local, would be invoked if necessary to accomplish the promised legislation. The binding force of this sacred obligation has been impressed upon every county committee that I have addressed. If by suffrage edict I become governor of Ohio, every influence of that office and every endeavor on my part will be exerted to write our platform into law.
"In our articles of faith our convention declared for a short ballot. To this end the remaining state offices of legislative rather than constitutional origin should be abolished as elective, and the power of appointment lodged in the governor. This should be followed by the change necessary in making every state officer with the exception of members of the supreme court appointive by the executive. With the tendency toward direct legislation there should be the least possible confusion to the voter. The short ballot will be helpful in that respect, and it centers responsibility.
"The plan of separate ballots for state and national tickets is favored. It has worked well in other states. It induces a better order of concentration of interest and insures added vigilance on the part of the voter. Besides, it separates by simple arrangement two distinct issues.
"Home rule for cities, a subject involved in one of the recent constitutional amendments, is a ringing note in our platform and the endorsement thus given to it was doubtless a factor in its overwhelming ratification by the people. Every student of government endorses this proposition. It is the very essence of self-government. To provide arbitrarily the same kind of municipal gov- ernment for cities of all sizes in our state, is as illogical as would be a com- mercial policy to install the same type of machinery for industrial plants regardless of their distinctive characteristics or the magnitude of their operations. Every facility granted by this amendment should be conveyed by the legislature to our municipalities.
REVALUATION OF UTILITIES URGED.
"The fourth and fifth declarations refer to taxation, and for the purpose of simplification will be treated together. One provides for the immediate valuation of the property, tangible and intangible, of all public utilities in the state, to the end that rates of service to the public shall be based upon actual values and not fictitious capitalization. The other contemplates home rule in taxation. The most vexed question in government is that of taxation. This is
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more than the question of securing the required revenue with the least possible friction. It is a matter of so distributing the burdens of government that each shall pay according to the benefits received and the general prosperity encouraged thereby. The taxation program of Governor Harmon has met with public favor. Our duty is clear to continue the basic principle which forces economy through a reasonable limitation of the tax rate. Certain refinements in the Smith 1 per cent tax law doubtless are suggested by experience, but funda- mentally it is sound and will work a distinct public service. The adoption of the constitutional amendment authorizing franchise, inheritance and income taxes opens the door for still further progress in tax matters. They will be levied upon those ablest to bear them. A portion of this revenue should be left with the counties when collected. The part reserved by the state will enable it, with other regular incomes, to abolish entirely the state levy. The tax commission appointed by Governor Harris recommended among other things the abolition of the state levy. Local tax burdens will by this plan be lessened and the whole system of taxation will be simplified. With the state levy eliminated the home rule recently granted to cities could possibly be extended to embrace the subject of local taxation. With this achieved the taxing power of the state would be left in the hands of the people who pay the taxes and are, therefore, directly interested in the way public funds are collected and expended. In the matter of assessing at full value public utilities, the thing aimed at is the vicious practice of overcapitalization. Under our present utilities law future stock watering operations are impossible, but the excess committed before this statute was enacted, in many instances afford a fictitious base for the making of rates to the public. With all public utilities, the government. state and federal, is insisting upon a reasonable rate being charged to the public. The reasonableness of the rate can not be determined without first ascertaining the value of the property. If the rates charged are commensurate with the real valuation then that valuation should go on the tax duplicate. This law will automatically correct rates, squeeze the water from fictitious issues of stock, and altogether work a wholesome reform to which no reasonable man can object.
FAVORS I. & R.
"The Initiative and Referendum amendment was endorsed, since which time it has been ratified by the people by a big plurality. Some legislation is needed to put it into use, and this should be done without in the least restricting the operation the state has clearly shown it wants. As in other states where direct legislation has been adopted, the opponents of the measure in theory will become its friends in practice. If it is not safe in operation, then a Republican form of government is wrong in theory. There is no escape from that conclusion. A factor in its ratification in Ohio was the legislative exposure. The people, so far as my observation goes, express charity for the unfortunate man who falls from temptation, but they condemn a system where representative govern- ment is not safeguarded. Leaving with the legislature a final and plenary power might have been both practical and safe in other days, but in this age of vast commercialism it requires, it seems to me, a peculiarly unsophisticated mind to endorse the old practice of delegating full and irrevocable authority to our representatives, into whose hands come affairs representing untold millions of dollars every year.
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"Added vigilance in the protection of women and children in workshops and further attention to the hours of labor are urged in our declaration. This is in simple harmony with the best thought of the nation, which has awakened to the importance of conserving the race.
POPULAR ELECTION OF SENATORS.
"There is also carried a reaffirmation of the proposed amendment to our federal constitution providing for the popular election of United States senators. Ohio should ratify this measure with such dispatch and enthusiasm as to correctly represent how our people feel about it.
"Good roads were endorsed in these words: 'We favor legislation looking to the improvement of the roads and highways of the state.' This seems to be in harmony with public thought on the subject. The good roads amendment to the constitution was defeated, not because the people are opposed to an extensive and vigorous program of improvement, but from a very manifest fear that the big bond issues might lead to extravagance. The movement has been helped rather than injured by the recent campaign on the amendment because the sum of our intelligence has been added to. There is a further under- standing of the relation good roads bear to our social and economic life; a keener appreciation of the importance of better roadway transportation facilities for communication between the farm producer and the city consumer, on the one hand, and the rural buyer of merchandise and supplies and the urban merchant on the other. Furthermore, we see as never before the manifold advantages of an increased community life as stimulated by good roads-an added tendency toward public assembly, the facilities which enable country folk to gather together for discussion and entertainment, the bringing to the farm of the amenities of city life, greater and more regular attendance at schools, particularly the township high schools, which compel greater distances of travel. The simple truth is that we know now more about the benefits of good roads than we do about the details of their construction and maintenance. We expend much labor in building them and give too little attention to drainage and replacement. I have observed that in many parts of the state gravel is hauled on the highways, only to be washed away by recurring freshets. We could profit much from the experience in Iowa. In that state a law was passed compelling all road officers to use the split-log drag. The right still inheres in the legislature to make a levy for good roads. The law passed a year or so ago to this end was vetoed by Governor Harmon for the reason that public expense should be kept to the nearest possible minimum until the new tax law was in full and systematic operation. Development has doubtless removed that very valid objection, so that the legislature will be free to aid this genuinely great movement.
"A most important project is outlined in a plank in our platform which commends the organization and labors of the board of control, urges the aban- donment of the present penitentiary, the building of a new one, and its conduct along the advanced lines of penal reform. This is a subject which I have studied for some years, and which will receive vigorous attention should the executive responsibility be placed on me. From many viewpoints our penitentiary is a disgrace to civilization. The state should at once proceed in the utilization of the large tract it owns in central Ohio, if it is not now used to good purpose. If it is, then the state should buy not less than 1,500 acres of land-the location being determined by fertility of soil, centrality and shipping facilities. The erec-
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tion of buildings could proceed in units, so that the drain on public funds would not be burdensome. The convicts should be employed in such activities as will render labor the chief element of cost in what they produce. For illustration, if they manufacture within the itnstitution goods in which the first cost of material is considerable, then we can not advantageously turn to account the labor involved. The farm activity is suggested for three reasons : First, the demand for foodstuffs from other state institutions; second, the prepondering element of labor cost in production, and third, the sanitary and moral benefits to the convicts. We need an entirely new base of operations. The present policy suggests neither charity for the unfortunate, cast into disgrace either by an environment not of his own making, or a momentary uncontrollable impulse, nor does the present plan carry into the prisoner's routine anything suggestive of a desire on the part of the state to make him better. A man in a moment of rage or intoxication strikes down an individual and is sent to prison for murder. His family is deprived of support and thrown on the world to become possibly public charges or moral outcasts.
FINER ORDER OF JUSTICE.
' Would it not be a finer order of justice to place our penitentiary on a paying basis, turn labor to profit, compensate the prisoner for work performed, subtract the cost of his keep, and send the remaining part to the families deprived of support by the tragedy?
"The prisoners also should be worked on the highways, as part of a merit system. Experiments already made in outdoor employment in this state are pro- nounced successful. They have been eminently so elsewhere. North Carolina rehabilitated her material resources by building good roads on this plan. No state institution in the future should be established without ample land provision. In too many instances in Ohio, fertility of soil was obviously not considered in determining a location. There is no reason, with the arrangement suggested, why these state farms could not become agricultural experiment stations, to insure intensive and profitable tillage of the state soil, and at the same time be of great benefit to farmers in the respective communities.
PROPERLY REGULATED SALOONS.
"With a courage that deserves popular commendation, our platform took a positive stand on the liquor question, and the Democracy in so doing was the first of the great political parties in many years in Ohio to manifest a conviction on a subject that has been perplexing in itself, to say nothing of the influence it has had on purely economic questions before the legislature. We endorsed the license amendment to the constitution, which was subsequently adopted by the people by an overwhelming vote. One striking feature of the election is a valu- able index to the whole situation. The dive keeper believes that there should be no restraint by law upon his operations, regardless of the menace he creates to society. On the other hand, there is the prohibitionist, who is entirely sincere in his belief that the liquor traffic can be successfully stopped. While not in any sense acting in concert, these two elements opposed the license proviso. The common sense view that the resort keeper should be regulated or denied a license altogether, and that prohibition has been found to be impracticable, prevailed,
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and the legislature now has the right to legalize license and provide regulations which must be respected by those who retain the license. This in no sense disturbs the right of option to vote the saloon out. License obtains where the people want the saloon. The legislature should, as one of its very first acts, pass the legislation so directed, and in strict harmony with the wish and will of the people as expressed. Ohio now has the opportunity to take front rank in the solving of this question, and taking it out of politics.
"Reference should be made to another phase of the changes in our consti- tution. The amendments are in three classes. First, those that become opera- tive automatically ; second, those that direct the legislature by the mandate 'shall,' to pass certain described laws, and third, those providing that the legislature 'may' enact certain legislation. The second name must be accepted as a command from the people, and any attempt to embarrass or unnecessarily delay legislative action can not be justified by governmental ethics. The word 'may' in the third class is taken to mean that when conditions arise to warrant the remedial action pre- scribed it shall be taken.
STRENGTHEN COMPENSATION LAW.
"It is my judgment that at least one amendment which is not mandatory should receive early legislative attention. I refer to the proposal in behalf of workmen's compensation. Either ignorance or mendacity has through misrepre- sentation lodged some misgivings in the minds of some perfectly well-meaning people as to the underlying principle and operation of this law. One would think that it was some sort of fantastic project, unknown save in our state. It was inaugurated in Germany over one hundred years ago and has been maintained without interruption. It was adopted by every great civilized power on earth before it was even extensively discussed in our country. It is so fundamentally just that society will accept it as a long delayed act of simple humanity. In our social organization the most striking characteristic is the interdependence as between human units. The carpenter can not get along without the farmer nor can the farmer progress without the merchant, the tradesman and the mechanic. Each performs his function, but is dependent upon the other. Many occupations are more hazardous than others, and yet they can not be eliminated because they form a link in the social and industrial chain. The men who face these hazards are contributing a large, and often a larger share to society than those in safe pursuits, and it seems hardly fair that the unprotected risk should be borne entirely by them.
SOCIETY THE BENEFICIARY.
"A finer justice would suggest that society as the direct beneficiary of these dangerous pursuits, bear the financial burdens entailed by accident and accidental death.
"The enlightened thought of today does not endorse the common law principle applicable to the defenses known as 'the fellow servant rule,' 'the assumption of risk' and 'contributory negligence.' Instead our common instincts of justice and fairness dictate that this inevitable situation of tragedy and sadness be lifted from the courts by compelling the payment of certain specified sums for death or accidents in stated occupations for the creation of a protective insurance fund.
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"Many states have now adopted it as a compulsory measure. In Ohio our liability board, efficient in performance and personnel, has faced the disadvan- tageous situation created by the constitutional lack of legislative authority to pass a compulsory act. That limitation has now been removed by amendment. The plans adopted in the several states have been of three classes, a state insurance fund paid by the manufacturers, the organization of mutual insurance companies by the employer and the insurance in regular insurance companies of the employe by the employer. That is a detail to be worked out by the legislature. Regard- less of the plan adopted, however, society pays the burden, because the - cost will be levied, and properly so, upon consumption.
REDUCE HUMAN LIFE WASTE.
"In Illinois the mine operators, after the passage of a compulsory act, formed a mutual insurance company of their own, based upon injury rates established by the state, and then they begun making closer inquiry into safety devices. As a result accidents were reduced between 60 and 70 per cent. The employer was free from constant litigation, the injured or dependent escaped the long delays of the law, and the operators admit that they are now saving money under the law. At the same time they have the conscious thought of contributing a distinct service to humanity by reducing the awful waste of human life and pro- moting industrial contentment. Let me submit the following from Chief Justice Winslow of the supreme court of Wisconsin, as it touches the very heart of the whole subject :
LAW RESPONDS TO POPULAR WILL.
"'It is matter of common knowledge that this law forms the legis- lative response to an emphatic, if not peremptory, public demand. It was admitted by lawyers as well as laymen that the personal injury action brought by the employe against his employer to recover damages for injuries sustained by reason of the negligence of the employer had wholly failed to meet or remedy a great economic and social problem which modern industrialism has forced upon us, namely, the problem of who shall make pecuniary recompense for the toll of suffering and death which that industrialism levies and must continue to levy upon the civilized world. The problem is distinctly a modern problem. In the days of manual labor, the small shop with few employes and the stage coach, there was no such problem, or if there was, it was almost negligible. Accidents there were in those days, and distressing ones, but they were relatively few, and the employe who exercised any reasonable degree of care was comparatively secure from injury. There was no army of injured and dying with constantly swelling ranks marching with halting step and dimming eyes to the great hereafter. This is what we have with us now, thanks to the great material progress of our age, and this is what we shall have with us for many a day to come. Legislate as we may in the line of stringent requirements for safety devices or the abolition of the employers' common law defenses, the army of the injured will still increase, the price of our manufactur- ing greatness will still have to be paid in human blood and tears. To speak of the common law personal injury action as a remedy for this
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problem is to jest with serious subjects, to give a stone to one who asks for bread. The terrible economic waste, the overwhelming temptation to the commission of perjury and the relatively small proportion of the sums recovered which comes to the injured parties in such actions, condemn them as wholly inadequate to meet the difficulty.'
A PROGRESSIVE DEFINED.
"There are those profiting by unfair preference and advantage over their fellows who with purse and voice always resist the regulation of business, and the progressive program, certain to be adopted in Ohio, in time, will inspire their propaganda of alarm.
"They represent one extreme type in our political and industrial life and believe that property is entitled to the same exemption from legal control that it previously enjoyed before human rights became involved by a vast industrialism with property rights. Then there is the other extreme type that looks upon property, even though honestly attained, with prejudice and unfairness. These two classes are as far apart as the poles, and, left to their own devices, always will be. Between them there would be an interminable dispute, disquieting to our society and creative of class hatred. Between these extreme types now comes the true progressive with the common sense idea of moderation, humanity and compromise. Instead of him being the radical he is the real conservative. By surrounding society with wholesome conditions you build human character. If you surround business with wholesome conditions you build a more enduring prosperity.
"When the railway rate bill was passed by congress the railroads classified it as an insolent intrusion by government into the domain of property rights. If you were to suggest going back to the old order of things and abolishing the interstate commerce commission, the first objectors would be the railroads, whose whole standard of business ethics has been raised, with a resulting prosperity more stable than before. The public utilities bill in Ohio, which prevents stock watering and insures a more permanent success for honest enterprise, is now endorsed by business men.
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