EMPIRE DAY 



2894 



EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE 



Empire Day. British im- 

 perial celebration held annually on 

 May 24, the anniversary of Queen 

 Victoria's birthday. The first 

 official celebration was held in 

 1904. The movement was started 

 in 1902 and unremittingly carried 

 on by the earl of Meath, whose aim 

 was to introduce into schools a 

 training that would produce patri- 

 otic citizens of the empire, special 

 prominence being given to saluting 

 the flag. The idea was quickly 

 taken up and soon gained wide 

 official recognition. At the earl's 

 request the movement was taken 

 over by the Royal Colonial Insti- 

 tute, 1921. 



Empire Powder. Smokeless 

 sporting propellant manufactured 

 by Nobel's Explosives Company. 

 It is of the type designated 

 33-grain powder, the nomencla- 

 ture signifying that this weight of 

 propellant is the normal charge 

 for a 12-bore gun, and comparable 

 to the standard charge of 82 

 grains of black gunpowder. It 

 consists essentially of nitrocellu- 

 lose, containing about 12 '5 p.c. of 

 nitrogen, with small quantities of 

 barium and potassium nitrate. 

 Powders of this type, which are 

 also known as condensed powders, 

 are greatly valued on account of 

 the low recoil imparted to the gun, 

 owing to the fact that the products 

 of explosion are ejected from the 

 muzzle with a higher velocity than 

 the shot. See Ammunition ; Ex- 

 plosives ; Nitrocellulose ; Smoke- 

 less Powder. 



Empire Style. In decoration 

 and furniture, a development of 

 the Directoire style, an outcome 

 of the admiration felt by the 

 leaders of the French Revolution 

 for Greek and Roman culture. 

 The style was, therefore, severely 

 classical in outline and decoration. 

 As regards outline, the rectilinear 

 was adopted, legs of tables and 

 chairs were straight or tapered, 

 round and fluted or reeded. Classic 

 mouldings, capitals and pediments, 

 with a few republican symbols 

 and animal masks, were the prin'u- 

 pal decorative commonplaces. 



With the Empire some of the 

 solidity and simplicity of the 

 Directoire disappeared. The fur- 

 niture was rather light in con- 

 struction, and while the straight 

 line was the rule in contour, curved 

 lines were introduced in the deco- 

 rative designs, such as wreaths of 

 laurels, olive and palm, dainty 

 ribbon bows and lyres. Imperial 

 symbols, such as the eagle, bee, 

 and crowned N, replaced the re- 

 publican designs, while the sphinx 

 was also used. Medallion portraits 

 and figures (painted, enamelled, 

 or porcelain plaques) were used, 



together with heavy gilded mount- 

 nigs of classic design. Much of 

 the furniture was painted white, or 

 gilded. White, gold, crimson, and 

 dark blue were adopted for uphol- 

 stery and hangings. The tripod and 

 X legs are often seen. See Furniture. 



Empiricism (Gr. empeiria, ex- 

 perience). In philosophy, the 

 theory that regards experience as 

 the only source of knowledge. It 

 is closely akin to sensualism, the 

 theory that all knowledge is only 

 transformed sensation. The Stoics 

 occupied a position midway be- 

 tween empiricism and idealism 

 (q.v.), in that they considered the 

 impressions made upon the soul 

 through the sensations to be alone 

 certain, but held that the truth or 

 falsehood of these impressions de- 

 pended upon their being character- 

 ised by an arresting power of con- 

 viction. 



The founders of empiricism in 

 modern philosophy are Hobbes, 

 who maintained that all knowledge 

 comes from the senses and that 

 the activity of the mind merely 

 consists in combinations of words, 

 and Locke, according to whom 

 the mind is a blank slate indebted 

 for all its knowledge to the senses, 

 which give it sensation and the 

 perception of external objects, and 

 to reflection which is exercised 

 upon the operations of the mind. 

 In more recent times its chief up- 

 holder is John Stuart Mill. See 

 Philosophy. 



Employers' Liability. Legal 

 term for the liability of an em- 

 ployer for injuries to his employees. 

 By the common law of England, 

 when a servant was injured in the 

 course of his employment through 

 the fault of a fellow-servant acting 

 in the scope of the same employ- 

 ment, the employer was not liable. 

 This was held in Priestly . Fowler, 

 1837, where a butcher's man was 

 hurt through a fellow-servant over- 

 loading the van, and in Hutchin- 

 son v. York Railway, 1850, where 

 a railway servant was killed in an 

 accident caused by a fellow-ser- 

 vants negligence. 



Neither the Employers' Liability 

 Act of 1880 nor the Workmen's 

 Compensation Acts abolishes this 

 doctrine. The former Act gives 

 right of action for damages to per- 

 sons engaged in manual labour 

 other than domestic servants on 

 account of (1) defect in machinery 

 through master's or fellow-ser- 

 vant's negligence ; (2) negligence 

 of responsible official ; (3) wrong- 

 ful act done in obedience to bye- 

 laws of firm or its authority ; (4) 

 negligence on the railway. A 

 master's negligence rendering him 

 liable may consist in employing a 

 person knowing him to be incom- 



petent or retaining in kis service 

 an habitually negligent person, or 

 allowing premises to be in a dan- 

 gerous condition. 



The doctrine of common em- 

 ployment is a good defence, ex- 

 cept in the above category. It has 

 been held that miners and surface- 

 men, and a chorus girl and a scene- 

 shifter are fellow-servants for this 

 purpose. But the rule does not 

 apply where A, the injured man, 

 is employed by a contractor, and 

 B, who caused the accident, is the 

 servant or contractor's employer. 

 It has been held that the Em- 

 ployers' Liability Act does not 

 apply to a tram-driver, a 'bus con- 

 ductor, or a grocer's assistant, nor 

 in the case of accidents not coming 

 within the above categories. 



Except in the case of death 

 notice of claim must be given 

 within six weeks of the accident ; 

 action at law must be begun within 

 six months in case of injury, and 

 within a year in case of death. Pro- 

 cess must be taken in the county 

 court, damages being limited to 

 three years' earnings. Good de- 

 fences include (a) the workman has 

 contracted himself out of the Act ; 

 (6) contributory negligence ; (c) 

 Volenti non fit injuria (consent 

 does away with injury). 



The Workmen's Compensation 

 Acts give nearly every class of 

 servant the right of compensation 

 for all accidents arising out of their 

 employment. Where a sufferer can 

 proceed either for damages at 

 common law or under the Em- 

 ployers' Liability Act, or for com- 

 pensation under the Workmen' s 

 Compensation Acts, he must make 

 his choice. 



In addition to the Acts above 

 cited, Lord Campbell's (Fatal 

 Accidents) Act, 1846, also con- 

 cerns the liability of employers. It 

 enables the wife, or husband, or 

 parent, or child of a workman, or 

 any other person whose death is 

 caused by the wrongful act or 

 neglect of another, to claim dama- 

 ges, provided that the claimant 

 has suffered some loss, e.g. of edu- 

 cation or support, which can be ap- 

 praised in money. Process must be 

 begun within a year of the death. 

 The jury apportions the damages 

 among those entitled where there 

 are more than one. The Act does 

 not apply to Scotland. See Work- 

 men's Compensation. 



Employment Exchange. Brit- 

 ish organization for bringing em- 

 ployer and employee into touch. 

 Previously known as labour ex- 

 change (q.v. ), the name was altered 

 in 1916 to employment exchange. 

 Labour exchanges are found in 

 the principal countries of Europe, 

 but their existence in the United 



