Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-11-25

70 These sad statements are made, through
the London Times, by DIR. John Charles
Hall, senior physicianlto to the Sheffield Pub
lie Hospital:
"Suppose a maker of razors wishes to
have a certain number Of razor-blades
ground, he sends them To grinder. This
man hires the room In whichhe grinds. and
the power-with which his stone is driven.
He becomes the occnpier OF a portion of the
room in which he grinds, and the trough in
which he carries on his trade. He, too,
often hires this room and this power at the
cheapest possible rate, and with reckless
indifference as to the number of dry grind
ers, who may be working in one low, dirty,
badly ventilated hull without the pro-
lection of the fan..The number of cubic
feet Of air requisite to maintain the body in
a healthy condition never for a mornent en-
tiers into his calculation. How should 1t 2
Manylo these men began their trade at the
ace of ten---they are altogethersuneducated
and destitute of that intelligence which ed
tication can alone bestow; the evil has thus
a natural tendency to perpetuate itself, IL
must do so--it will do so, until the children
of our Sheffield grinders are sent into the
school room ipstead of the grinding hull ;.
L therefore, sir, am, decidedly OF opinion,
after giving many years ofcarefulandanx-
ious attention to this question, that the first
step for effecting an improyementin! tbe'r
these men will be for the Legislature to
prevent the employment of children in any
grinding wheel, either In the process, of
grinding, glazing, polishing, wiping, &c.
II have already shown that the. early age
at which children are but too often sent into
the hulls of the grinding wheels prevents
the possibility of anything deserving the
name of general or religious knowledge
being impaired. Consequently these boys
grow up and remain in state Of Ignorance
II might truly write, Of barbarism-that,
did they happen to possess black skips and
to live few thousand miles from our faith
erland, would open a field for missionary
labor the most wonderful, and in course OF
time supply the May meetings with matter
as interesting as exciting. Only fancy
what delightful tracts, In the highest de-
gree sensational, might be written, founded
on the evidence just presented by the
Childrcn's Employment Commission. But
disregarding the people who are always
reauy to do good by some magnificent i'm
possibility l am contented still to pursue
my labors, confident that in the end / shall
not have appealed In vain to the common
sense and philanthropy eitherof myfellow-
townsmen or my fellow-co -countrymen.
"The physical as well as the religious and
moral condition of the Sheffield grinders
demands, therefore, that boys should no
longer be sent into the hulls at an early
age. Boys, first are put to the task of glaz-
ING and polishing the different articles. /
have seen boys under twelve years Of age
whose lungs were affected with the grind
er's disease, and from this age TO twenty 1t
Is not at aliruncommon to see the existence
~ theSdiseasei On demonstrating with
many of the grinders for bringing their
s0nsinto the wheel at SO early an age--and,
bear in mind, the sons of grinders are the
youngest boys to, be found engaged in, this
trade-I have frequently been met by the
reply, I'VE cannot live without making use
of,t6em; there Is SO much underselling, and
the prices are SO low, that we could not find
power and tools and live, did we not bring
our children to this wofR9 There is, no
doubt some truth in the above remark. The