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Show WOOL AND STRIKE! INSURANCE WASHINGTON, May C"Incrcas-Ing C"Incrcas-Ing Interest exhibited by private lnsur aace In writing of strike Insurance has aroused the labor chieftains ot Washington," remarks the. Rcpublt- I can Publicity association in a statement state-ment Issued by the president of that organlatlon, Hon Jonathan Itourne Jr. And It continues: "Their apprehension appre-hension has caused Jhcm to Issue a threat that unless thcro Is legislation to stop the practice of Issuing strike Insurance policies, labor will with-! draw Its patronage from private com panics and urge that tho state assume as-sume rontrol or Insurance. Mr. Matthew Mat-thew Woll, tho vice president of the American Federation of Labor, and Mr. dompers' right hand man un-' derives to give tho reasons for the opposition ot the labon leaders toi the new form of Insurance. j "Strike Insurance will encourage-strikes," encourage-strikes," declares Mr. Woll. 'When 1 an employer is Insured against' strikes he certainly will not be In-, clined to go far In making conces-J slons to his employees however ju3t I their demands may be. It would bej to the Interest of companies selling stitUe insurance to foment labor' J troubles In order to stampede cm- . ploytrs Into taking out strike lnsur- " ance.' I "Strike Insurance Is comparative- J ly n new Ventura In the field of risk consequently there nre few datn upon' up-on' which n Judgment of Its effect I call 'be based but there appears to be little ground for Mr. Woll's apprehension. appre-hension. An employer would have no mofc desire for strikes to his Industry In-dustry If he were Insured than he r would like to see his factory burn down If he carried fire Insurance, nor does a man seek death merely j because his life is insured. Tho real effect of strike Insurance Is to Introduce Intro-duce a new element Into the Industrial Indus-trial world that seeks to promote friendly relations between employer andemployee. "Precisely the same Influence Is nt work In the fire insurance and lite Insurance fields. Fire Insurance com-. panics arb constantly doing everything every-thing In their power to reduce fire: risks. They encourage the Installation Installa-tion of efficient tiro protection devices, devic-es, automatic alarms, sprinkler systems, sys-tems, etc., and maintain salvage corps whose business It is to rush to tho eceno ot ,Ilr and protect property proper-ty from the effects ot tiro and water The big life Insurance companies contribute In every'effectivo way to the Improvement of tho public health-well health-well knowing that a reduction of the sickness and death rates means added ad-ded profits to them. "It is ridiculous to assert that strike insurance companies nro go ing to foment labor troubles In order or-der to stampede uuiployeis into taking tak-ing out 3trlko Insurance. It would bo as reasonable to Suppose that flf Insurance nnd llfo insurance companies com-panies are going to promote conflagrations conflag-rations by advocating lax Inspection laws and in other ways short of ac-tul ac-tul IncendlnrUm, or are going to encourage en-courage accumulations ot filth nnd the pollution of water supplies In order to produce destructive epidemics. epidem-ics. "The wholo history ot Insurance, no matter what form It may take, has been one of prevention of tho thing against which tho insuranco Is directed. Of course the prlmo purpose pur-pose of taking out any form of Insurance In-surance is to provldo compensation In caso of loss but tho holder of the policy knows nlso that the probability probabil-ity ot loss has been diminished by tho encouragement he has given to tho Insuranco business. All Insuranco Insur-anco ciatLtUj prove that his Judgment Judg-ment in thut respect Is sound. "Is It not tho truth of tho matter that Mr. Gompcrs, Mr. Woll, et nl, don't want to see an end to strikes, honco they oppose every Influence that tends to avoid thorn? Should labor disputes cease tho ralson d'etre of these labor autocrats at Washington Washing-ton would nlso ccso." |