Because Congress failed to appropriate the necessary amount of funds,
President Wilson by an executive order has suspended the operation of
the workmen’s compensation scheme for federal employes in the Canal
Zone. This measure was put into effect on March 1 by President Taft.
Pending action by Congress, the employes in the Canal Zone are protected
only by the Federal Liability Act.
Many advocates of the workmen’s compensation plan believe that President
Wilson before suspending its operation should first have asked Congress
for funds. They argue that in this way public attention could have been
called to the situation by means of a special message instead of through
the medium of an order which received practically no publicity.
The Canal Compensation Law is in the form of an executive order signed
by President Taft in the closing days of his administration. It was
drafted by officials of the government in co-operation with the
Legislative Drafting Fund of New York. Secretary of War Stimson, said of
it: “This measure for the first time brings the federal government
abreast of the most advanced thought and experience at a time when they
and their families are most in need of justice; namely, when they suffer
the hardships of injury or death inevitable in the course of modern
industrial undertakings.”