of miscarriage and shattered hopes in that large majority to which the trade union has brought so little.
In the same spirit of distrust, the trade union itself rebels against the proffered benefactions of capital.
The recent action of some forty thousand brewery workers has an unmistakable meaning. There was no stampeding of minorities; no thought of violence, or even haste. With cool deliberation and by overwhelming majorities, this powerful labor body refused to accept one of the most liberal Compensation Funds ever offered to labor. After its provisions had been published in their own official organ,[1] a month was given to discussion with communications pro and con, like the long discussion of sabotage and the referendum vote in the New York Call. Another month was given to the vote. Nearly twenty-three thousand men voted against the Compensation and Old Age Pension offer, although each beneficiary was still free to choose the common law or statutory remedy. Every old offense of "contributory negligence," "fellow servant defense," and "assumption of risk," had been discarded. The benefits were to begin ten years earlier than under the German State Insurance,—a concession of the utmost importance.
These labor men had learned, too, that not one injury in five secured compensation under present conditions. They knew well the long and uncertain delays, even when they won the case, as they knew the bleeding fees of the private lawyers. Not a feature of all this but had been amply discussed. There
- ↑ See Brauerei-Arbeiter Zeitung, Feb. 3, 1912.
