14 



The Florists^ Review 



October 29, 1914. 



islation and 



ecision 



The writer is in possession of a com 

 plete copy of the law and its provision -i 

 and penaJties, and would be pleased Vi 

 supply any information in his power 1 1 

 anyone interested at any time. 



William F. Ekas. 



MARYLAND COMPENSATION LAW. 



At the last session of the Maryland 

 legislature a law was passed known as 

 the workmen's compensation act, which 

 becomes effective November 1, 1914, and 

 which makes it compulsory for an em- 

 ployer to insure his or her employees 

 against accidental disablement while in 

 the discharge of their duties. The 

 penalty for disobeying the law is a fine 

 of $250 and if an accident should happen 

 while an employee remains uninsured 

 the penalty is a fine of $500. This law 

 was passed in the interests of workmen 

 engaged in factory work and other 

 hazardous occupations, but none are ex- 

 cluded from its provisions except * ' farm 

 laborers, domestic servants, country 

 blacksmiths, wheelwrights and similar 

 rural employment." It is questionable 

 if employees of florists' and greenhouse 

 establishments are excluded from the 

 provisions of this act; in fact, the 

 opinion a well known florist of Baltimore 

 secured from one of the ablest lawyers 

 of the state is that they are not. Con- 

 sequently, it will be necessary for all 

 florists to insure their employees accord- 

 ing to the provisions of the law, which is 

 a drastic one, to say the least. It is com- 

 posed of parts of a number of similar 

 laws of other states and was pronounced 

 by a lawyer of national reputation to 

 be invulnerable in the courts, as the 

 majority of its provisions have stood 

 throufirb lengthy litigation in other states. 



The law itself, couched in all its legal 

 phrases, is too long to be reprinted here. 

 All life insurance companies have copies 

 of this law for distribution to their 

 customers or persons interested. A brief 

 synopsis of the law is as follows: 



There are three ways in which an em- 

 ployer may insure: By the state mutual 

 fund, which is created by a provision 

 of the same act, by or through an 

 authorized life insurance company, or 

 by depositing with the state sufficient 

 collateral to cover any losses he may be- 

 come liable for. The majority of em- 

 ployers prefer the second way. The 

 object of the law is to provide compen- 

 sation for any employee who is injured 

 during the discharee of his duties and 

 physically or mentally incapacitated for 

 work, and to provide funds for medical 

 attendance and sustenance while an em- 

 ployee is 80 incapacitated, for himself 

 and dependent family. The amount an 

 employee may receive varies from $5 to 

 $12 per week, and other than for medical 

 attendance no funds are advanced for 

 an employee disabled for less than two 

 weeks. No person whose salary is more 

 than $2,000 per year can receive any 

 benefits under this act. Sickness from 

 natural causes allows the employee no 

 participation in the benefits unless such 

 sickness be directly due to duties per- 

 formed. An employer is defined by the 

 law as "a person, partnership, associa- 

 tion or corporation conducting or carry- 

 ing on a business or trade for pecuniary 

 gain or profit." 



No business is exempt except those of 

 an agricultural nature. It is an open 

 question whether greenhouse employees 

 come under this classification. The 



opinion of many of those interested is 

 that they do not, but it is impossible to 

 secure any definite official information 

 on this subject, as the state industrial 

 accident commission, to which the ques- 

 tion was referred for an answer, posi- 

 tively refused to give any information 

 other than that the law was plain and 

 for any positive ruling it would be neces- 

 sary to appeal to the courts.' In the 

 absence of definite information I believe 

 it would be wise for florists and pro- 

 prietors of greenhouse establishments to 

 insure their employees in one of the 

 ways described above. The rate for 

 greenhouse workmen is 79 cents per 

 $100 of their yearly wage; for store help, 

 36 cents; for drivers of horse vehicles, 

 $1.63, and for automobile drivers (com- 

 mercial), $1.79. This is cheaper than 

 laying oneself open to the law and a pos- 

 sible fine of $250 or $506. 



[In this connection attention 8houl<i 

 be called to the article published on pag 

 78 of The Eeview for October 8, unde. 

 the heading, "New Yorkers Need Not 

 Worry," in which an informal expres 

 sion of opinion was given by the secre- 

 tary of the workmen's compensation 

 commission of the state of New York. 

 Under the New York law the greenhousi 

 business as a whole is not regarded as a 

 hazardous occupation. The informal 

 opinion above referred to stated that 

 ' ' nurserymen and florists employ certain 

 men who would have to be insured, al- 

 though their enterprises as a whole are 

 not covered by the act. Men driving 

 teams, operating boilers or electrical ap- 

 pliances should be insured." Without a 

 fuller knowledge of the Maryland law, 

 the foregoing can only be presented as 

 a suggestion; growing and selling flow- 

 ers and plants may be considered a 

 hazardous occupation in Maryland. 

 —Ed.] 



|Mewy from 



Ton 



Bruges, Belgium. — The Germans took 

 possession of the big bay tree sheds, 

 first for dormitories, then as hospitals. 



Boskoop, Holland. — Alarmed at pres- 

 ent conditions in the trade, a number of 

 American houses have canceled or cut 

 their orders for boxwoods both for fall 

 and spring shipment. One of the re- 

 sults has been an increase in the quan- 

 tities consigned to auctions. 



London, England. — Theo. Hessels, one 

 of the leading florists of Antwerp, says: 

 **My wife and I just escaped with our 

 lives. As we were getting on board 

 boat for Flushing, shells were bursting 

 over the boat. From one moment to 

 another we did not know if our last 

 hour had come. I had a fine business, 

 but now, so far as I know, I am penni- 

 less. ' ' 



London, England. — Horticultural trad- 

 ers who have drawn the attention of the 

 Foreign Office to circulars from Den- 

 mark offering German valley pips have 

 received an acknowledgment which 

 concludes: "I am directed by Secre- 

 tary Sir Ed. Grey to inform you that 

 action is in contemplation by His Ma- 

 jesty 's Government to prevent enemies' 

 goods from reaching this country 

 through neutral ports. ' ' 



Ghent, Belgium. — Numerous letters 

 have been received here by exporting 

 houses, shipping both to England and 

 America, complaining because orders for 

 azaleas were not filled with the usual 

 exactness. The fact was that shipments 

 were dispatched with such haste, and 

 conditions were such at the time, that 

 exporters could not run around among 

 the small growers or wait to pick up 

 varieties and sizes as specified, but felt 

 fortunate to be able to dispatch the 

 order filled with the stock on hand at 

 the moment. 



Erfurt, Germany. — Every effort is be- 

 ing put forth to dispatch the seed or- 

 ders for America via Copenhagen. Eng- 

 lish and French orders can not be sent. 



Pinneberg, Germany. — Julius Hansen 

 has a nursery in Denmark and offers to 

 ship his various specialties, including 

 valley pips, from there. The 'English are 

 not likely to accept, but America is con- 

 cerned only with the safe arrival of the 

 stock wanted. 



Rotterdam, HoUand. — While war risk 

 insurance rates are falling for most of 

 the world, from Rotterdam, whence 

 come a large part of the horticultural 

 commodities for America, the rate is 

 held up by presence of mines in the 

 English channel. 



Erfurt, Germany. — ^F. C. Heinemann 

 & Co. have issued their annual novelty 

 list in somewhat abbreviated form. It 

 is expected shipments to America will go 

 out promptly via Rotterdam and that 

 the American orders will constitute the 

 bulk of the foreign business this year. 



Lisse, Holland. — Bulb growing is the 

 main industry of central Holland and 

 the trade is hard hit. There is no scar- 

 city of unskilled labor, many thousands 

 being out of employment, but a number 

 of the experienced hands are with the 

 army. Bulb planting is progressing, but 

 it is too early to tell what the acreage 

 will be; there is stock on hand to plant 

 a large increase in spite of the ap- 

 parent necessity for cutting down. A 

 few shipments still are going out. The 

 salesmen are leaving earlier than usual, 

 many having started for America at the 

 outbreak of the war, but their efforts to 

 book orders for 1915 are not yet produc- 

 ing any result apparent here. It is 

 feared the situation as regards gladioli 

 ,will be similar to that with tulips and 

 hyacinths. 



