Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1919 — NEW LAW THAT MUCH TO THE FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

NEW LAW THAT MUCH TO THE FARMERS.

It is probable that few of the farmers of Jasper county know that the last state legislature passed amendments to the workmen’s compensation act, which make fanners and others liable for compensation to employes of onctractors who do not carry workmen’s compensation insurance on their employes. Great importance attaches to these amendments to the farmers, not only of Jasper county, but of the state as a whole right now, when the threshing season is opening The is a contractor. If he does not carry compensation insurance on his crew and an accident overtakes them, then the farmer who has contracted with the threshermaa and on whose premises the accident occurs, becomes liable for the compensation to the injured persons. This being true, the only way .the farmer can protect himself against possible expenses is to require of the thresherman that the latter carry compensation insurance on This employes, That this is so, is revealed by the following excerpt from one of the amendments, to which allusion has been made: “Any person contracting for the performance of any work without exacting from the contractor a certificate from the industrial board showing that such contractor has complied with section sixty-eight of thd& act, dhall be liable 'to the same extent as the contractor for compensation, physician’s fees, hospital and nurse’s fees, burial expenses on account of the injury or death of any employes of such contractor due to an accident arising out of and in Ithe course of the performance of the work covered by such contract.” ‘ It would seem that the foregoing lamendment makes it absolutely clear that the farmer who engages a thresherman who does not cany compensation insurance on his employes, takes the risK of haying to selbtle for any personal injury m helping thresh that farmer’s gram. That it is the duty of threshermen to carry such insurance, being contractors within the perview of the law, is clearly indicated by the fallowing excerpt from the compensation adt: ... -“Every employer under .this act shall either insure or keep insured ihis liability heretinder in some corporation, association or organization authorized to transact business of workmen’s compensation insurance in this state or shall furnish to the industrial board satisfactory proof of his fiancial ability to pay direct the compensation in the amount and manner and when due as provided for id this act.” A statement has been sent to.tne farmers of Indiana by the Indiana Federation of Farmers’ associations urging them to make sure that the owners of threshing machines who have the contracts for threshing on their farms comply with the terms of the workmen’s compensation act. By this act, unless the farmer exacts from the contractor a certificate from the industrial board showing that he has complied with the act, the farmer will be liable to the same extent as the contractor for compensation, physician’s *®es and hospital fees as a result of injury or death of the employes of the contractor while at work on the land owned by the farmer.