He had been in the insurance business before he took up law,
and he had friends everywhere. Why should he not go into politics?--as
he had often spoken of doing.
In the intervals of the Smith suit, we had had a case in which a
mother, whose child had been killed by a street car, had been unable to
recover damages from the tramway company, because the company claimed,
under the law, that her child was worthless alive or dead; and there
was need of a statute permitting such as she to recover damages for
distress and anguish of mind. We had had another case in which a young
factory worker had been injured by the bursting of an emery wheel; and
the law held that the boy was guilty of "contributory negligence"
because he had continued to work at the wheel after he had found a flaw
in it--although he had had no choice except to work at it or leave the
factory and find employment elsewhere. There was need of a law giving
workmen better protection in such circumstances. Why should not
Gardener enter the Legislature and introduce these bills?--which I was
eager to draft. Why not, indeed! The state needed them; the people
wanted them; the courts were crippled and justice was balked because of
the lack of them.
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