Speech #1010078352

In order to fully appreciate the elemental change created by the workers compensation law. one need only examine the situation of the New York worker before its 1914 enactment. When a worker was injured. the only available recourse was a lawsuit. This process was often ineffective. expensive. and timeconsuming. At the same time. accidents were so much more common then than they are today. We have recently noted the 78th anniversary of the "Triangle Fire." in which 146 young immigrant garment workers were killed in a sweatshop. No other tragedy so vividly revealed the vulnerability of our workers in the early 20th century. Many faced lifethreatening situations in the workplace on a daily basis.