Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/184

 The men who formed the Wisconsin idea were first confronted in the workmen's compensation act with the problem of taking either the English act or the German system as a basis. At first they were inclined to adopt the English system but they found that if they did so there would be serious complications confronting them. Persons connected with the investigation went to England and Germany and studied the actual conditions in the great insurance departments, in the hospitals and in the factories. They also compared the conditions of England and Germany and transmitted to the committee their findings. It became apparent that in England, the entrance of a third party (the insurance companies) created a condition which was not a wholesome one. The third party did not care about the laborer or the capitalist; its interest was purely financial; its object was to conduct the business with the least cost possible and to derive the greatest dividends therefrom. A great deal of litigation as well as dissatisfaction was found in England. There the insurance companies had many hangers-on, doctors, lawyers, etc., the cost of whom had to be met in some way, while in Germany the direct relation between the manufacturer and his employee led to a mutual basis of respect. In England it was not uncommon to find that if a certain company had old men in its employ, the insurance companies would raise the rate unless the firm disposed of them.