The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-04
OCCUPATIONS THAT KILL.
Various Trades That XIII or Work.
ers Within n Few Years.

/ Various Trades That XIII on Work.
Within n Few Years.
Men risk their lives day after day at
occupations in which most people
imagine there is not the slightest
danger. Every day, too. there are men
entering employment with the absolute
knowledge that their work will lead TO
death, and for such positions there is
even keen competition
1t has been estimated that no man
constantly employed in the manufac-
ture OF ice can live more than ten wears
under The conditions in which, he works
| In these places men work in a polar
! region temperature. In the sweltering
dog days, when the average individual
IS objecting to the thermometer being
at ~ degrees, these men are closely
muffted in overcoats and ear muffs, and
wear heavily padded gloves. Even then
IT IS most difficult TO keep the eXtrenli-
ties warm, and the constant working
in such an atmosphere brings on pneu-
monia and consumption.
| Men take their lives in their hands
when they work at paint making. Here
arsenic and lead are much used and
by slight and imperceptible degrees the
palntmaker draws particles of these
poisons into his system, bringing on dis
ease OF the throat and lungs, and caus-
ing him to fade away as though some
hand at his throat were choking out
his life. Those who are engaged in the
apparently harmless business of house
painting also come under the deadly in
fiuence of the poisons, and in the mix
ing of their paints inhale the fumes.
PAINTERS collie and lead paralysis are
but two of the diseases to which the
painter is liable.
Few poisons are more deadly than
mercury. 1t has its effect on all work
men employed in the silvering of mir
rors, 1ngilding, bronzing, the making
OF bronzes and similar work. The ac-
ton of this. poison is easily seen. When
the workman's hand begins to tremble
and his mouth and gums become sore
MS fellow workmen understand that
the poison has entered his system. and
that he must give up his work or die.
But it is seldom that a man gives up
his work; he goes on, waiting for
death.
Nine years is the limit of a workman's
life after he begins to assist In the
manufacture of chlorine gas The gas,
which is extensively used for bleaching
and dyeing, generally e1nits a greenish.
heavy vapor. This poison. entering the
lungs Of the workman, brings on a
flames the lung cells, and gradually
eats away the tissues, making a wreck
OF the man and producing death In
some factories the use Of ventilating
mask is insisted on, but even this is Of
little use, and, strangely enough. is OBJ
Jected to by the workmen as incon-
venient Medical men have labored for
years to find some way of keeping work.
men from inhaling dangerous and
hide T11y,
lot been successful.
Hat factories are also ON the lookout !
for this preventive. One would think |
that hat makers would be free from un-
seen dangers to life. But in the making
OF headgear a fine lint is thrown off |
which is disastrous to the lungs of the |
Workmen.
An energetic statistician has Just |
figured out that there are fewer deaths I
among the men who work in the MAX
ing of dynamite than in the seemingly I
harmless pursuit of the curing of hides. /
The peril to the worker is particularly /
great in the latter trade, for an I'M
wholesome odor is given off by the /
hides that affects the nervous system, |
and is as certain in its effects as a
pistol shot.
The manufacture Of matches is an
other business fraught with the great
~ It1l4SC4. 4hoIlJllIIldhSTS, alV2r a lew
years Of labor, contract a loathsome
disease from the poison given off, which
obtains a firm hold on the bones of the
body, especially those of the Jaw and
face. These bones crumbIe away. There
are few matchmakers who escape from
the disease in greater or less degree.
Occupations which in any way deal
with the grinding of metals bring on
innumerable ailments, owing to the fine
dust which is given off This causes
different forms of asthma, and especi-
ally affects the air passages from the
nose to the lungs. Under this head
come the making and grinding Of
knives, scissors and razors, and, worst
of all, needle grinding, which is said TO
kill those who engage in 1t before they
reach middle age.
For the most part these diseases Of
workmen come on by such impercepti-
Bile degrees that there is little relief for
the sufferers, except for them to
give up their work and leave it for
ever. AS this, in the majority of cases,
is a financial impossibility, the work
men toll at these dangerous occupa-
lions, continue to die off and others take
their places, to follow in their turn to
the graye.-London Mail