The Redwood gazette., 1891-10-08
PHYSICAL lNCAPAC!TY.
Practice, the Human Organism Cal
Not Work Every Day in the Year.

Practice, the Human Organism Can
Not Work Every Day in the Year.
A question of large interest to all
persons in any gay concerned in the
business of the Avorld is the discount
that must be allowed from constant
service for disabilities of one kind or
another. In theory the humanrorgan-
ism is a ma chine which should be kept
in condition. to do work for 365 days
out of a year, or with allowance for
vacation, say, 500 days in year. But
in practice it is found that the service
obtained falls considerably below that
which might be theoretically expected.
NJ. Bertillon prepared 4 short time ago
certain statements OF morbidity, based
upon the military tables; that is, the
experience of all of the armies of Eu-
rope, giving as definition for sickness,
incapacity for service. Now, not only
are the statistics carefully kept in
this respect, but they apply to
class of men under peculiarly favor
able conditions. The European armies
are made up Of men between the ages
of eighteen and twenty-five, who,
while in service, are not only carefully
and sufficiently fed, but are also put
through various forms of physical exer.
else in a manner calculated to keep
them in the best Of physical condition,
while not overexerting their powers.
1t might, therefore, be assumed that
the average of sickness would be quite
as small in this class as in any large
o1D hot Il
this, although in France, Germany and
Italy every young man is expected to
serve in the ranks, there is an exclu.
sion made in the cases of those who
are obviously unfit for the service, so
that the included class must stand
above the average on the score of Sc
lection.
But the tables we have referred to
show that each soldier has, on an
average, 1G or II days in the year when
ne is incapable Of doing work, an ex-
perience which apparently holds good
in each of the three great armies If
this is the experience Of loss of time in
consequence of ill health under such
favorable conditions, it may be safe to
assume that the wastage thus occa-
stoned is greater among older men and
those living under more unfavorable
physical conditions. There will of
course, be a great variation found, for
the reason that what one person would
consider an ailment of sufficient sever
ity to cause temporary incapacity for
service would be passed over by an-
other person as matter OF slight i'm
portance, while those who have from
time to time the opportunity afforded
of relaxation, or have comparatively
short hours of daily service or relative
iy light work, may fare better in the
long run, and show on this account a
smaller ratio of sability than those
whose conditions of life are more exact
ing.
Such p statistical examination would
be interesting if it could determine what
would be the result upon the average
health of wage-earners by service Of
eight hours a day when compared with
that of a service of ten hours per diem.
If, under existing conditions from four
to six weeks in u year are on the aver
be made apparent that a considerable
part of this could be saved by change
to eight hours day. In the report of
the commissioner of labor on railroad
labor it is shown tina, laborers in rail-
road service are employed on an aver
age less than 100 days a year: brake.
men and firemen little over $50; tele-
graph operators, 1854; switchmen, 176:
conductors, 207; the engineers on an
average, 237. Col. Wright attributes
part Of this to the migratory charac-
ter of railroad labor, and
part also to the fact that in
some lines of work q considera bic
of days of rest are needed, !
while in some instances train crews
who are kept steadily employed
the year work only four
days in the week, with an occasional
Sunday duty extra 80 - |
From 21o to 24o days are assumed to
mean for a conductor Or engineer steady
and are said to represent
his full annual earning power. But on I!
this assumption either there is consid-
erable waste of time through non-em-
ployment, or discount has to be made /
in consequences of the average inability
to work due to physical disablement-
The subject is cne which, if it should |
be taken up somewhat in the manner
we have suggested above, might lead
to highly important results, particu-
larly it it could be shown that by what |
might seem from a superficial consid.
Grafton, to be a loss of time by reduc-
lion in the daily hours of labor, was
merely provision by means of which !
the average sum of constant labor
could be very materially increased
Boston Herald.