The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-06-22


sans, II II said, are subject 70 scrofula and
its effects upon the glands, eyes and bones,
curvature Of the spine, and many other
disorders. Their faces are pale, limbs
shrivelled, legs deformed, comtenancea
foolish, and ideas fewer than those of q
savage.
The abject poverty in which they were
kept, combined with physicaldegeneratiou,
produced . moral degradation painful to
speak of. In Lyons, Rosseau said, more
than in any other city in Europe corrHp-
ton reignsd most frightfully.
What . life do miners lead Often bent
for hours in . constrained and unnatural
position, inhaling noxious gases and dust,
and-where engaged in the mining of
misunderstanding into their systens vio-
lent pOisona, ip perpetual dread of axplo-
sions, outbreaks Of water, fires like the
Avondxie, no wonder that their average age
1t death il less than forty years, or that %
large . number Of widows and fathsRlsss
children are to be met with in mining re
gions.
After the metals are obtained at such n
sacrifice, the smelters and those who pre-
pare it for further use must undergo ter
rble ordeal The fumes Of copper, brass
and lead are especially deadly.
Another step, and the workers have new
dangers TO encounter. Here are the needle
pointers, who, very soon after entsrinG
upon this occupation, are affected with pull
monary complaints, cough and bloody ex-
pectorstion, 10 that they gradually waste
In strength and flesh, and hardly ever at-
tain the age Of forty years. wv -ft-
Of z, 500 grinders VI cutlery i'm Sheffield,
there were but So who had reached the Age
Of so, and not double that number who had
reached the age of 45 and out of more
than 90 fork grinders, who work upon o
dry stone, exclusive of boys, it was report
ed that there was not q single individual S6
years old.
The users Of the manufactured articles
again must meet death i'm other shapes.
Painters absorb metallic poison by the akin
and reapirstoFy organs, which subject them
TO frequent disorders OF the lungs, stomach
and nerves. Printers, plumber, and those
OF many other trades, are liable TO diseases
from the same causes.
m Tailors, from the cramped position in
which they work and long confinement in
poorly ventilated rooms, frequently suffer
from pulmonary consumption and com
plants of the digestive osgans- Some are
afflicted with curvature Of the spine
Here in Massachusetts, painters and tailos
live 10 about 10 years Of age.
II It be said that many Of the painters
and tsiloFs may have gone into other
trades after . certain age and lived longer,
it may be replied that those who died did
not. BY statistics collected from May,
1S4S to January, 1870, there died in
Massachusetts over twenty years Of age, Of
those whose occupations were recorded
1,24A painterS whose average age wen
10 64-1O0 years; 1,O66 tailors, whose ave-
rage age at death was 45 10-1O0 years
while I, l6O gentlemen averaged at death
81 95-1O0 years, and for the last of this
period, 1863, the gentlemen attained over
II years. Thus there are privileged classes
of the community who, by force Of the
Laws, hive hong life Of ease upon the pro-
ducts Of the workers, whose lives must be
shortened to extend theirs vampires, who
draw the blood Of labor to gorge their own
veins-ghouls of society, who feast on the
dying What is added TO their days ia
abridged from that of others-an injustice
against which nature 10 all the time re-
belling and urging US to more equally ap-
portion the labor of the world.
Do you deny TO men the right to protect
their life in every way they see fit Deny
it or not, nature will assert her supremacy.
The nearer men are to death the greater
win be their efforts to keep him Of. Your
gentlemen who look forward to long life
with comparative assurance, believing
that their persons are As well pro-
tected against the accidents incident
to humanity an In possible IN this
age, loiter through their 20 years with quiet
dignity.
A soAdler resorts to every violence to
keep from Q youthful grave. A sentinel,
in time Of war, may kill the person who
approaches him without first having an
swered his challenge. Would you stop to
debate with him the propriety of that ar
ticle Of war that requires him to do 30 I
Would you tell him it was horrible, inhu-
man You recognize his natural right to
protect hislife and those Of his companions
The rules are incident to q state Of war,
and, until war is abolished, the more cruel
they are the better.
The loss Of life decreases with organiza-
ton and discipline, and when more traitors
are shot less soldiers viii be killed in
battle. The soldier may hope to escape
the dangers of q campaign and return TO q
life of peace.
No such hope inspires vest numbers uf
the working population. The dry saw
grinders are always living in fear Of death.
Engaged In an occupation dangerous by
reason of accidents constantly occurring,
inhAlinQ particles Of steel and stone, en-