The Express.
London, England, 1864-09-08 00:00:00

"s! WAIT' AT WADON RLTDOL

nug DAY 21714WFoiEit: 52in.7.7.AilonTraZ Mb. 12‘.
To-No=ow llorntm 7C. la.

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8.

OVERWORK may be coinited among the new
diseases that have made their appearance in these
days, when everything is done like feats of strength
or a match against time. The able and willing
are induced by every means to put their energies
on the stretch to meet the demands of the public.
Workmen of every grade, from the man who uses
his brain to the simplest labourer with his bodily
strength, feel this strain, and often break down
under it, wherever, as in crowded cities, in-door
occupations prevail. This is set down by the Medical
Officer of Health as one of the industrial diseases.
In many instances, in the overwork of men who
are their own masters, it is difficult, if not impos-
sible, for the Legislature to find a remedy,
but we cannot help thinking that young
persons and women, who form • class of
the employed liable to much extortionate treat-
ment under merciless taskmasters or parents,
ought to have protection from this destroying in-
fluence. It is not humanity only that suggests
this, for we have only to reflect that these are
the classes that will transmit, more or leis, the
defects of organization which inevitably result
from overtaxing the natural powers, and thus con-
tinue the evil. The principle of protection of this
kind has been recognised by the Legislature, and
acted upon to an important extent by the
Factory Acts, but it is well known that there
are many trades carried on in fami-
lies and in small working establishments
that at present come under no supervision ;
and even the tailors and dressmakers, who
have to a certain extent beenbrought under sanitary
law, are very generally overworked in the absence
of any interference of the law. Printers stand
at the head of the overworked classes ; and as a
necessary consequence we find them in the Rec.'s-
Tass-Gzylest's tables returned under the highest I
figures of an excessive mortality. The London
printer, it appears, is worn out in rather leas than
half the average time of life of the agricultural
labourer, notwithstanding he is • much better fed
man. The printer, it appears also, is liable to
disease from handling the type, and from the dust,
which is found on analysis to contain lead, copper,
and antimony, with a trace of arsenic. No class
of operatives has a higher claim to consideration
from the public than the printer, yet hitherto
he has derived remarkably little benefit from
improvements in sanitary arrangements, and
unfortunately his position is one of the most
difficult to deal with, as his overwork is a volun-
tary imposition.

But, granting the bad effects of overwork,
then this molt important question arises—
How much of the injury to life is due to over
work, and how much to the unhealthy conditions
under which that work is carried on f We are
inclined to think that work does not often kill
when the body is fairly cared for ; it is when the
workman, from his own carelessness or ignorance,
or that of his employer, is deprived of the fresh air,
proper food, and cleanliness necessary to keep the
body in good working order. In the train of these
common causes of industrial disease come all the
pernicious and demoralizing habits of drinking
stimulants "to keep up the steam." The victims
to these causes are probably far more numerous
than those who succumb to the diseases inseparable
from the trade they follow, such as the lead and
mercury workers, and the green arsenical paint
workers. With regard to all these directly hurtful
trades, however, Mr. SIMoN gives hie opinion that the
subject requires " more particular consideration
" than it has yet received," and suggests whether the
processes of manufacture " ought not to be diacou-
" Untied or modified." Great difficulty, we are
told, was experienced in getting at any informa-
tion in these cases either from the principals or the
men employed, and probably the real amount of
injury is not known. This is clearly a matter for
authoritative inquiry, to ascertain that " the first
" sanitary right" of workpeople is enjoyed by
them, no matter what the cost may be to the em-
ployer. They are "practically unable to exact
" sanitary justice for themselves," says Mr. Si mos ;
this has been their condition ever since the system
of sanitary inspection has been adopted by the
State, and remains, notwithstanding that the
official reports have repeated the same facts every
year.

The Medical Officer of Health has been expound-
ing ever since 1858 his scientific law that, " in pro-
" portion as the people of a district are attracted to
" any collective in-door occupation, in such proper-
" tion, other things being equal, the district death-
..

- .
" rate by lung diseases will be increased." The mor-
tuary statistics confirm this law irresistibly ; the re-
turns show that amongst the muses of in-door
workers lung diseases carry off victims in the
youth and prime of life at more than double the
rate found to prevail in agricultural districts. In
Leek, Macclesfield, Bolton, Nottingham, Roch-
dale, and Derby, for every 100 deaths in rural
districts by lung disease there are from 182 to

198 ; while in Ashton-ander-Lyne, Leeds, Preston,
and Manchester there are from 203 to 263.

In other places where specially injurious trades—
metal forgers, cutlers, and potters—are practised
on a large scale, the death-rate mounts up to eight
times that of healthy districts. And this deploc-