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as his member on the Industrial Commission so that he relied on me to keep him informed. The others were not his appointees, so he didn't feel as close to them, nor would they be so likely to tell him what was in their minds.
O'Connor uncovered some very terrible and very shocking things that had been going on in workmen's compensation; for instance, the habit had grown up of permitting cases to be closed without a hearing, where the alleged facts of the injury were admitted by all hands, and there was no contest. The employer admitted that John Jones was injured in the course of his employment and that he had injured his arm, leg, eye or something or other. They reported to the Commission through its clerk that his wages were thus and so and that they were paying two-thirds of his weekly wages through the Aetna Insurance Company. They were being paid while the disability went on. Then they would report on June 5th, let's say, that the disability had ceased and the payments had ceased. The case was closed.
O'Connor, on a tip from one of these examiners that I had gotten to know in the first week or so that I was there, opened up some of these cases that had been closed without a hearing. This man was under the belief that a great many cases were closed without a hearing, without being looked at by the commission, which, if they had been seen
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