Omaha daily bee., 1896-04-04
ions THAT FArrEN GRAVES.
Wen who Follow occuHations which
Hasten Dcsthl

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That any man who earas- Hth daily bread
by the sweat Of his brow should voluntarily
impose a death sentence on himself does not
seem worthy Of credence. JYetYmany a toiler
knows that the trade he pBraies means GER
tain death to him. The grln specter may
make his victim think he has bafned fate,
but almost before he realizes II the warnings
he neglected come true. 1-se
The fact has often BEEN commented upon
that a greater number of people work at
night time and completely turn night into
day in New York at the present time than
would have constituted the entire population
Of the city fifty years ago. II is still more
remarkable. says the New YORK Journal. that
there are hundreds Of people in the city to-
day who turn summer into winter and vice
versa. This curious community Is made up
of those who are employed about the various
machines which develop zero weather every
day In the year. 1t is not generally known
that these ice-making machines are used IN
hundreds Of manufacturing establishments
about town. The mortality among those who
are obliged to live for at least half of each
day in such a temperature is a~larmingly
great. On the hottest day in summer they
are obliged to wear thick clothing while they
are hard at work to protect themselves
against the biting cold of their shops.
During the rest Of the twenty-four hours they
of course suffer much more from the heat
than others. This contrast OF temperature
plays havoc with the strongest constitution.
These poor fellows suffer from the most gro
tesque complaints. Frost-bitten ears and
noses are common when the thermometer on
the street stands in the nineties.
The most common complaints among these
people are consumption. pneumonia, the grip
and similar ailments. The constant strain
of living at sgch different temperatures
cannot be long withstood. About ten years
- opputont oJhnrnnnp In thiC business us1Dlly
makes a mar a complete wreck.
A class of workmen who are probably even
more unfortunate in their choice of an occu-
patton are the employees in the establish
ments Of many of the large manufacturing
chemists. The most deadly sort of work
in this line is that of manufacturing chlorine
gas. This greenish heavy vapor, which is
used in large quantities for bleaching
throughout the country, produces severe
paroxysms of coughing, which, in many
cases, have proved fatal. 1t is impossible to
insure oneself absolutely against this dan
ger. Then are many more kinds OF work
to be performed in these factories where the
workmen are obliged to inhale deadly potsons.
Many of the employees are obliged to go
about their work with their heads enveloped
in more or less effective ventilating appara-
fuses. The mortality in several of these oc-
curations averages even less than ten years.
This most dangerous of these poisons are
the ones whose poisoning effect works very
slowly. These insidious poisons tend to in
flame the lung cells and to gradually eat
away the tissues. The most distressing
part Of these complaints is that they cannot
be effectively dealt with by medical treat
ment. The only cure is to get the victim
into an entirely new atmosphere. 1t hap
pens, however, in the great majority of
cases that the strain, such as 1t is, is the
only means of livelihood such people have,
so that they are forced to return day after
day to a condition which means almost GER
tain death to them.
Another class of workmen who suffer in
much the same way are the manufacturers
of certain kinds of paint.o The paint, which
includes poisons such as arsenic and lead,
give out certain fumes which act upon the
lungs and throat and soon 7pervade the en-
tire system. The mea who manufacture
this paint have much the worst OF it. The
average longevity among these fellows is as
pitiably small as it is among those who live
among drugs. The painters who use these
colors in large quantities also suffer, although
not to the same degfee..- During the hot
weather last summer a man III the city who
is obliged to use green paint and who hap
pened to be very susceptible, to poison, was
actually poisoned to death ID less than two
minutes from inhaling such" fumes.
A still more deadly occupation, although
in a somewhat different way, is the work of
manufacturing DYNAMITE nitro glycerine and
other high explosives. IN. this case there is
no poison to inhale. There7 is, besides, a |
chance that a man may succeed in living to
a green old age, but life is at best a great
lottery in such places. The mortality in such
an establishment, which is, Of course, based
upon an average of the length of life Of such
workmen is very low A remarkable in
stance of this mortality is the case of a
large powder-making firm not far from New
York, in which every male member Of the
family for several generations back has met
his death sooner or later in his own powder
mill. Life is very uncertain to these people.
1t often happens that for several years at q
time there has been no accident. But when
it happens that a cigar stump or some such
trife reaches the magazines a large number
of the employees are sent skyward and a
single catastrophe of this nature, of course,
sends the rate. of mortality up with a jump.
The manufacture of fireworks entails similar
risks. The large manufacturers who supply
New York, it would be ~membe build
their factories in sections. A single plant is
often made up Of scores of different build
ings. In case of an explosion only one of
these is likely to be demolished.
One of the most singular Of the death
dealing trades is a certain branch OF the hat
industry. The workmen in
this case are obliged to inhale the fine lint
comes from certain kinds of cloth, and
this in time produces a very injurious effect
On the throat and lungs. Many of the work
men employed in the curing of hides also
come to an untimely end from the effects of
breathing unwholesome odors.
The men and women whose lives are short
from the nervous strain their work
entails upon them are, of course, to be found
almost everywhere. There are some occupa-
lions, however, which are certain to break
Town the strongest constitutions. Many
Kinds of work, which, in wholesome guam
titles, would not be injurious, become deadly
carried to excess. Engineers on eX-
press trains, for instance, and even on the
roads, are often obliged to give up work
IN this account. The work OF stoke!s on
excursion steamers and other
liver craft is also exceedingly trying even to
he strongest men.