In a very large number of cases, therefore, employers are not liable for accidents happening to their employes, because they are injured through the negligence of other employes engaged in the same line or subdivision of the common service. Perhaps employers escape more frequently on this ground than on any other from paying anything for losses.
Yet there is another ground on which they often escape paying anything. An employe is supposed when making his contract with his employer to take on himself all the ordinary risks arising from his employment. These in many cases are very numerous. He does not assume extraordinary risks, but he does assume all ordinary risks that are likely to happen to him. Employes are injured every day and yet can recover nothing, because their injury is simply a common one, the risk of which they have assumed.
Would it not be possible to make an employer liable for them all?
Undoubtedly an employe could make a contract of this kind if he wished and his employer was willing to do so, but if they did the employer would be unwilling to pay as high wages. The greater the risk assumed by the employe the larger is the compensation paid; the one thing is graded by the other. It was stated when considering the rights and duties of common carriers that they have been lessening their liabilities; on the other hand, they are carrying for smaller prices than they once did. Doubtless a carrier would be willing to assume more risks--every kind of risk, in short--if he were paid enough for it, but shippers ordinarily are willing to assume many risks for the sake of the lower rates and insure their risks in insurance companies.
Just so the working-men prefer higher wages and assume many risks of their employment. There is nothing unfair in this. For example, the persons who are engaged in making white lead run an unusual risk in pursuing their employment. It is said nowadays that if they use the utmost care in protecting themselves from inhaling the fumes that arise in some stages of this process, they can live quite as long as other people. But unless they do exercise every precaution their system finally becomes charged with the poison that arises from this process and their lives are shortened. They well understand this before beginning the work; they are told of the risks and are paid high wages. If, therefore, they undertake such employment, well knowing the risks, they have no right to complain if their health after a time suffers. No fraud has been practised on them, and we do not know that they do complain if they suffer any ill effects from their work.
XVII. LIABILITY OF EMPLOYERS TO EMPLOYeS (_Continued_)
In our last lecture we stated some of the principles relating to the liabilities of employers to their employes; in this lesson the subject will be continued. _An employer is bound to use some care or precaution, and if he does not will be responsible for his neglect._ One of these is he must employ persons who are fit for the work they are set to do. If an employer in mining should put a man to work by the side of another to mine coal who he knew was not a skilful workman, and, in consequence of this unskilful workman's unskilfulness, other miners were injured, he would be responsible for hiring such a man. Every one will see the justice of this rule.
_The employer must also give proper instructions to the person employed whenever he does not understand his duties._ If a person is employed to run a laundry machine who does not understand how to work it, and other employes are injured through his ignorance, the employer would be liable. He must, therefore, tell such a person what to do; he has no right to hazard the lives of others by putting any one who has no knowledge of a machine to work without instructing him properly.
Again, if a person pretends to be capable, and the employer, believing him, engages him, and it is soon found out that he is not, then it is the duty of the employer either to dismiss him or to give him proper instructions. The rule, however, on this subject is not the same everywhere. It is sometimes said that if an employe continues to work by the side of another after knowing that this other is incompetent, it is his duty to give notice to the employer, and if the employer continues to employ him, to quit. If he does not he assumes the greater risk arising from his knowledge of the incompetency of the other.
_It is the duty of the employer to furnish proper appliances for his workmen._ He must furnish proper tools and machinery and safe scaffolding, and in every respect must show a reasonable degree of care in all these particulars. But the courts say that he is not obliged to exercise the _utmost_ care, because the employe takes on himself some risk with respect to the tools and machinery he uses. For example, it is said that employers are not obliged to use the latest appliances that are known or appear in the market for the use of their workmen. If an employer has an older one that has been in use for years, and the employes have found out all the dangers attending its use, and a new one appears that is less dangerous to use, the law does not require the employer to throw the older one away and get the other. It is true that in many States within the last few years statutes have been passed by the legislatures requiring employers to be much more careful than they were formerly in protecting their machinery. Many injuries have happened from the use of belting, and the statutes in many cases have stated what must be done in the way of enclosing belts, and of putting screens around machinery, and in various ways of so protecting it that persons will be less liable to suffer. Furthermore, inventors have been very busy in inventing machinery with this end in view. The old-fashioned car-coupler was a very dangerous device, and many a poor fellow has been crushed between cars when trying to couple them. A coupler has been made in which this danger no longer exists; in truth, there has been a great advance in this direction.
_An employer must also select suitable materials on which to work._ This is a well-known principle. If he does not, then he is responsible for the consequences. In one of the cases a person was injured while erecting a scaffolding from the breaking of a knotty timber. The testimony was that the knot was visible on the surface and if the stick had been examined the defect would have been seen. That seemed a slight defect, surely, but the consequence of using the timber was very serious, and the court rightly held that as this defect could have been seen, had the timber been properly examined, the employer was responsible for the injury to a workman who was injured by the breaking of it.
_An employer must also select suitable places for his employes._ In one of the cases a court said a master does not warrant his servant's safety. He does, however, agree to adopt and keep proper means with which to carry on the business in which they are employed. Among these is the providing of a suitable place for doing his work without exposure to dangers that do not come within the reasonable scope of his employment. In one of the cases a company stored a quantity of dynamite so near a place where an employe was working that he was killed by its explosion. The court held that it was negligence on the part of the company in requiring its employe to work so near the place where this explosive material was kept.
It is said that if an employe knows that a machine which he is to operate is defective when accepting employment he can recover nothing for the consequences. He assumes the risk whenever he thus engages to work. If the service be especially perilous and yet he clearly understands the nature of it and is injured when performing it, he can get nothing. Doubtless in many of these cases he is paid a larger sum for working under such conditions. Whatever may be the truth in this regard, the principle of law is well understood that, if he has a full knowledge of the risk of his situation and makes no complaint about the nature of the machinery that he is to operate, he accepts the risks, however great they may be. In one of the cases an employe was injured by the kick of a horse belonging to his employer, but he recovered nothing, because he understood the vicious nature of the animal. The horse had kicked others; in fact, its reputation for kicking was well known, and the employe began work with his eyes wide open.
This rule also applies if tools, machinery, etc., become defective and the employe continues to work after the defects are found out. Of course, every one knows that tools wear out and machinery becomes weaker, and that is one of the natural consequences of using them. And so it is regarded as one of the risks ordinarily taken by an employe, and therefore he can get nothing whenever he is injured through the operation of a defective machine caused by the natural wear and tear of time.
EXAMINATION PAPER
NOTE.--_The following questions are given as an indication of the sort of knowledge a student ought to possess after a careful study of the course. The student is advised to write out the answers. Only such answers need be attempted as can be framed from the lessons._
1. (_a_) What is a contract? (_b_) What is the difference between a simple and a special contract? (_c_) What contracts can be made by a minor? When and how can he ratify them? (_d_) If a person makes a contract to work for one year and breaks it after working six months can he collect six months' wages? (_e_) Give illustrations of six different kinds of contracts.
2. (_a_) When is it necessary that contracts be in writing? (_b_) In what case is a failure of consideration a good defence to a contract? (_c_) Is a consideration required to make an offer binding? (_d_) Is the delivery of goods essential to make a sale complete?
3. (_a_) What are the different kinds of warranties? (_b_) Suppose A should buy goods and pay for them, but not take them away, and afterward B should buy them and take them away--could A recover the goods from B?
4. (_a_) What is the difference between a public and a private carrier? (_b_) Must a public carrier take everything offered?
(_c_) What rules of liability apply to common carriers, and how can they be modified?
PREPARING COPY FOR THE PRESS AND PROOF-READING
I. PREPARING COPY
Our purpose in these few lessons is to give some explicit directions as to the general make-up of manuscripts intended for printing. Every person who has even a business card or a circular to print should have a knowledge of the common phraseology of a printing house.
As to paper, the size in most common use for manuscripts is what is known as _letter_. The sheets in any case should be of uniform size.
Avoid all eccentricity and affectation in the preparation of your manuscript, or "copy," as printers call it. The more matter-of-fact and businesslike it is the better.
If at all possible have your manuscript type-written, and under no circumstances should you roll the sheets when preparing them for the mails. There are a number of large publishing houses which positively refuse to touch rolled manuscripts. The very first impression created by such a manuscript is one of extreme irritation. A rolled proof is pretty nearly as discouraging, yet many printers still follow the annoying practice of rolling their proofs.
Every printing establishment of any note has its methods and customs as regards orthography, the use of capitals and of punctuation. As a rule it is best to leave doubtful points to the printer. Any little deviation desired may be easily remedied in the proofs.
Paragraphs should be boldly indicated by setting the line well back in the "copy." Extract matter included in the text should be clearly shown, either by marking it down the side with a vertical line from beginning to end or by setting the whole well back within the compass of the text. Such matter is commonly set in slightly smaller type.
With regard to the corrections in the proofs it must be remembered that the more carefully an article is written the smaller the expense for author's corrections. This charge is often a great source of contention between the author and the printer, and, altogether, is an unsatisfactory item. A printer is bound, with certain reservations, to follow the "copy" supplied. If he does that and the author does not make any alterations there is no extra charge and nothing to wrangle about.
A small correction, trivial as it may seem to the inexperienced, may involve much trouble to the printer. A word inserted or deleted may cause a page to be altered throughout, line by line, and a few words may possibly affect several pages. The charges made for corrections are based on the time consumed in making the necessary alterations.
II. ON THE NAMES AND SIZES OF TYPE
The beauty of printed matter depends very largely upon the selection of a suitable style of type. For books and newspaper work there are in use two general classes known as (_a_) _old style_, (_b_) _modern_.
These names refer to the shape of the letter and not to its size. The several sizes of type commonly used in all plain work are as follows:
1. PEARL.
2. AGATE.
3. NONPAREIL.
4. MINION.
5. BREVIER.
6. BOURGEOIS.
7. LONG PRIMER.
8. SMALL PICA.
9. PICA.
10. ENGLISH.
11. GREAT PRIMER.
PICA is universally considered as the standard type, just as the _foot_ is the standard of measurement. The twelfth part of a pica is the unit, called a _point_, by which type bodies are measured. In many printing offices the type is known as _6-point_, _8-point_, _10-point_, _etc._, instead of as _nonpareil_, _brevier_, _long primer_, _etc._ The following specimens show the sizes of the type in common use:
[Illustration: Sample type faces pearl, agate, nonpareil, minion, brevier, bourgeois, primer, small pica, pica, English, primer.]
The student must bear in mind the fact that these names refer to the _size_ of the type. For instance, there may be a dozen different styles of brevier or of pica; a particular specimen of printing may be entirely in long primer, yet some words may be capitals, others italic, others boldface, and so on.
AGATE is the size of type used in measuring advertisements. There are fourteen agate lines in an inch.
A complete series of type of a particular size is called a _font_; as a font of brevier, or of pica. Such a font would include:
CAPITALS SMALL CAPITALS lower-case _ITALIC CAPITALS_ _italic lower-case_.
Also _figures_, _fractions_, _points_, _references_, _braces_, _signs_, _etc._ Printers divide a font of letters into two classes:
1. _The upper-case_ } _sorts._ 2. _The lower-case_ }
The _upper-case sorts_ are _capitals_, _small capitals_, _references_, _dashes_, _braces_, _signs_, etc.
The _lower-case sorts_ consist of _small letters_, _figures_, _points_, _spaces_, etc.