Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-11-10
The Importance Of Health TO the Labor
in- Classes.

The Importance Of Health TO the Labor
ing Glasses.
In an interesting paper on the prac-
teal elements of the labor question,
contained in the International R'rit'c,
Mr.. Carroll ID. Wright indicates the
important place which sanitary science
must hold in the labor question in the
future. He says that statesmen, i'll
their cndeavors to secure political adj
vantageS to their country, too often
fail to discover that the Governments
they administer can secure through
sanitary regulations the highest order
of supporters. Agitatators do not
find in this question SO much matter
for popular demonstration among the
operative masses IS they do in the more
superficial topics which give them oc-
cIlpation. The value of an hour a day
from the working time of men and
women surrounded with bad sanitary
conditions without the added hour of
leisure, bad drainage. bad ventilation,
unclcan streets, constitute topics for
the most earnest discussion, and at
tracing the attention of legislators;
and when the working people them
selves become aroused to the import
ance of demanding purer conditions.
the necessary laws will follow, ii, in
deed, they are needed. No corpora
ton has fairly realized the essentials to
industrial prosperity whose management
cannot or does not appreciate the posi-
tive necessity of the healthiest surround
ines. Social scientists, indeed, are do
inm much to promote reform i'll the di-
rection Indicated but education in
sanitary matters is needed among the
workers themselves; it should become
one of the vital elements of the labor
question, vet the labor reform platforms
are rare, if not absolutely unknown
until recently, that have embodied
plank calling for sanitary regulation.
The state can and should open the door
of every home. whether private resi-
dencc or crowded tenement, and insist
upon the publication OF every poisonous
influence.
There can be no question rs to the
constitutional right of the people to en-
act all requisite sanitary laws, and OF
such character that the object sought
to be reached can be reached elfectu-
ally. 1t is too late, after the
State has said that no man shall eStab-
liSh nuisance to the injury of his
neighbors, that all children shall at
tend school. or that this person may
vote and that one shall not, or has said
the many things in form of law which
regulate private business and protect
public convenience-it is too late, after
fhinn- IN thn tat ~
step in and relieve any portion of its
people, especially its children, or enact
laws to improve them mentally, NOR
ally, socially and physically. and i'm
provement in this direction may be
secured more largely through wise
sanitary education than any other
means. If 1t is not the plain duty of
Il State to see to il most earnestly that
the young have an opportunity to grow
up under such conditions of cleanliness
as to secure better mental and moral
responsibility, there can be no reason
why she should be much concerned for
them after they arrive ut maturity.
Economy demands, and surely the best
interests of the workers of society de-
mand, that the cheapest methods be
adopted, and that means that the early
age is the most favorable in which TO
lay the foundation for strong bodies
AND sound minds. The proper care in
this direction would render unnecessary
the costly edtices we now build "a
homes for the insane, the criminal, and
the defective of all grades. Under
code of efficient sanitary laws, which
can only come as the result of educa-
ton in the element of sanitary science,
incompetence will lose half its terrors
and relieve society OF half its terrible
results. Bad air and the poisons which
come from filth of any kind, as surely
leads to desire for alcohol rs absence
OF food leads man to eat. Society has
no right to place any obstacles in the
way of free beer and free rum, SO long
rs it criminally allows individuals to
breathe in the very ingredients which
stimulate their want. AS well might
the surgeon complain of the flow of
blood from the severed artery while he
persistently held it open. Such n sur
geon is fool, and any Legislature
which attempts TO stop rum-drinking,
and yet allow the rum-drinker to con-
stantly feed himself on the most vo-
racious appetizers for rum. is body of
such surgeons. With the appetite for
rum removed. or to great degree
checked, by wholesome sanitary regula-
tions and practices, the employers Of
labor have it in their hands to kill rum
drinking at short notice by refusing to
employ men given to it,"