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held to embrace any case arising prior to its passage. The act of May 30, 1908, reads 

 as follows: 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 

 America in Congress assembled, That when, on or after August first, nineteen 

 hundred and eight, any person employed by the United States as an artisan or 

 laborer in any of its manufacturing establishments, arsenals, or navy yards, or 

 in the construction of river and harbor or fortification work, or in hazardous 

 employment on construction work in the reclamation of arid lands or the man- 

 agement and control of the same, or in hazardous employment under the Isth- 

 mian Canal Commission, is injured in the course of such employment, such 

 employee shall be entitled to receive for one year thereafter, unless such employee, 

 in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be sooner able to resume 

 work, the same pay as if he continued to be employed, such payment to be made 

 under such regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe: 

 I't-ovidcd, That no compensation shalfbe paid under this act where tne injury 

 is due to the negligence or misconduct of the employee injured, nor unless said 

 injury shall continue for more than fifteen days. All questions of negligence or 

 misconduct shall be determined by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 



SEC. 2. That if any artisan or laborer so employed shall die during the said 

 year by reason of such injury received in the course of such employment, leaving 

 a widow, or a child or children under sLxteen years of age, or a dependent parent, 

 s^ich widow and child or children and dependent parent shall be entitled to 

 receive, in such portions and under such regulations as the Secretary of Com- 

 merce and Labor may prescribe, the same amount for the remainder of the said 

 year that said artisan or laborer would be entitled to receive as pay if such 

 employee were alive and continued to be employed: J'rovided, That if the widow 

 shall die at any time during the said year her' portion of said amount shall be 

 added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provi- 

 sions of this section, if there be any. 



SEC. 3. That whenever an accident occurs to any employee embraced within 

 the terms of the first section of this act, and which results in death or a probable 

 incapacity for work, it shall be the duty of the official superior of such employee 

 to at once report such accident and the injury resulting therefrom to the head of 

 his bureau or independent office, and his report shall be immediately communi- 

 cated through regular official channels to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 

 Such report shall state, first, the time, cause, and nature of the accident and 

 injury and the probable duration of the injury resulting therefrom; second, 

 whether the accident arose out of or in the course of the injured person's em- 

 ployment; third, whether the accident was due to negligence or misconduct on 

 the part of the employee injured; fourth, any other matters required by such rules 

 and regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe. The 

 head of each department or independent office shall have power, however, to 

 charge a special official with the duty of making such reports. 



SEC. 4. That in the case of any accident which shall result in death the per- 

 sons entitled to compensation under this act or their legal representatives shall, 

 within ninety days after such death, file with the Secretary of Commerce and Labor 

 an affidavit setting forth their relationship to the deceased and the ground of 

 their claim for compensation under the provisions of this act. This shall be ac- 

 companied by the certificate of the attending physician set ting forth the fact and 

 cause of death, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily ac- 

 counted for. In the case of incapacity for work lasting more than fifteen 

 days, the injured party desiring to take the benefit of this act shall, within a 

 reasonable period after the expiration of such time, file with his oTicial supe- 

 rior, to be forwarded through regular oTicial channels to the Secretary of Com- 

 merce and Labor, an affidavit setting forth the grounds of his claim for compen- 

 sation, to be accompanied by a certificate of the attending physician as to the 

 cause and nature of the injury and probable duration of the incapacity, or the 

 nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. If the 

 Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall find from the report and affidavit or 

 other evidence produced by the claimant or his or her legal representatives, or 



