16 
BULLETIN 711, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In addition compensation through liability laws tended to create an 
antagonistic feeling between employer and employee. 
About one-half the States have passed workmen's compensation 
acts which provide for the payment by the State of specified sums to 
workmen for injuries received in the course of their employment, 
without the necessity of expense or delay. Both Washington and 
Oregon have workmen's compensation acts. In Washington the pro- 
visions of the act are obligatory on both the employer and the em- 
ployee, the employers being required to pay monthly to the State a 
percentage of their pay rolls, the rate varying according to the hazard 
of the various occupations. In Oregon the act is of the presumptive 
elective type. While employers have the right to elect not to become 
subject to the act, they automatically come under its provisions if 
they do not serve written notice of rejection on the State. Employees 
in Oregon are also required to pay 1 cent for each day or part of day 
employed, the employers being authorized to make the collections. 
In Washington the maximum rates have proved higher than was 
necessary, making it unnecessary for the operators to contribute 
toward the fund each month. The basic and assessed rates for the 
different departments of the logging operation for 1912, 1913, and 
1914 were as follows : 
Table 3. — Rates of the Washington icorkmen' s compensation act. 
Basic 
rate. 
Assessed rate. 
Average 
Class of work. 
1912 
1913 
1914 
net 
equiva- 
lent rate 
- 
Months 
called. 
, Net 
equiva- 
lent rate. 
Months 
called. 
Net 
equiva- 
lent rate. 
Months 
called. 
Net 
equiva- 
lent rate. 
for 1912, 
1913, and 
1914. 
Railroad construction 
Per cent. 
5 
5 
5 
2.5 
6 
6 
6 
8 
Per cent. 
2.5 
2.5 
2.5 
J. 67 
4 
4 
4 
11 
Per cent. 
1.67 
1.67 
1.67 
2.29 
10 
10 
10 
8 
Per cent. 
4.16 
4.16 
4.16 
1.667 
Per cent. 
2.78 
2.78 
Railroad maintenance 
2.78 
1.875 
In Oregon the basic rates for the classes of work performed in log- 
ging are : 
Per cent. 
Railroad construction 5 
Railroad operation 5 
Railroad maintenance ~>. 
Logging proper 3* 
The Oregon act makes provision for the assessment of lower rates. 
Where the accidents in the case of a given employer during the first 
year he is operating under the act do not require the State to pay 
out an amount in excess of 50 per cent of the employer's payments 
during that period, the employer's rate during the second year is 
