2698

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 715

dependents, shall first submit to the Workmen's Compensation
Commission the method he wishes to adopt. The said Commission may
approve or reject the method proposed. If rejected, the employer
may submit another method authorized under this article. The
said Commission may from time to time revise or alter its
decision approving the election of an employer to adopt any of
the methods of assuring payment of the compensation as provided
for in this article, if such action is reasonably necessary to
secure and safeguard such payments to employees or for the
diminishing and prevention of accidents. Any action of the
Commission for the purpose of diminishing or preventing accidents
shall not apply to public service corporations under the
jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission. Any decision of
said Commission under this section or § 15 of this article may be
reviewed in the circuit court for the county in which the
employer may reside.

(d)  Any employer, subject to the provisions of this
article, who fails or refuses to insure voluntarily the payment
of the compensation specified in this article to his employees
and their dependents through one of the methods of assurance of
payment, mentioned in the second paragraph of this section, or
fails to furnish satisfactory proof to the Commission of his
financial ability to pay such compensation himself, or give bond
or deposit securities as aforesaid, shall at any time after
November 1st, nineteen hundred and fourteen, be compelled by the
Commission to insure to his employees and their dependents the
payment of the compensation specified in this article, by paying
to the State Treasurer for the use and benefit of the State
Accident Fund, hereinafter authorized to be established, the
premium or taxes levied and published by the State Accident Fund
for the group of employments, industries or works to which said
employer belongs. And any such employer who fails or refuses to
so insure within ten days, after being ordered by the Commission
to do so, shall be liable to the State in an amount equal to the
premium or taxes required of him for six months' insurance in the
State Accident Fund, as a penalty, which, together with his
premium or tax due the State Accident Fund for the first six
months, may be collected by the Commission in the same manner and
with the same effect as provided in § 77 of this article for the
collection of premiums or taxes in default.

(e)  In exercising the discretion conferred upon it by
this section and § 15 of this article, the Workmen's Compensation
Commission shall consider the reputation of any insurance company
or association, in which any such employer may desire to insure,
for promptness and fairness in the settlement of compensation
claims, without unreasonable resistance on the part of any such
insurance company, or association, and shall also consider the
financial strength of the employer, the number of employees
employed, the degree of hazard to employees engaged in the
employment, the likelihood or danger of several employees being
injured or killed by one and the same accident, the relative
influence, the different methods, by which compensation may be
assured under this article, are likely to exert upon the employer