Smith exposed amendment sponsors as serving casualty companies, not workers

Evidence

“And for whom are you doing this?” Smith demanded as he stood in the well of the Chamber and faced the Republicans. Those of them who were his friends saw not a hint of friendliness in his eyes now. “Does the working man want it? No! Does the Legislature want it? No! Does the compensation commission want it? Then what other interested party is there? The Casualty Company! That’s who you are working for…. The agent can shake the long green before the widow or suffering laborer and tell them if they sign away their rights they can get so much but if they wait they can take their chance on getting something months hence. That carries us back to the good old days when we had no compensation law. Be honest and repeal the whole law and stop faking.” A Republican legislator rose to protest, but Smith’s voice cracked out like a whip. “You and your Governor have ruined the compensation law,” he said. “You have gone the limit for the casualty companies. The people’s case is lost.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 558

Categorization

• XREF: Pair with the ‘for whom are you doing this?’ interrogative as a prosecution technique in Caro’s later Moses profiles.