The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-27
WORK THAT KILLS
DEATH r ATE INFLUENCED LARGE
LY BY PURSUITS IN WHICH
MEN ENGAGE
DEDUCTIONS OF AcTUARIEs
Mortality of workers Is Greater
Than That of People Who
Are Regularly EN-
pIOyed.

t'AO'
1t has long been recognized by life in
surance companies that there are certain
occupations which are almost absolutely
certain to bring life to a premature end,
says the New York Times So important
is the settlement of the question of the
effects of various occupations upon the
duration OF life regarded by insurance
concerns that. at the present time. the
actuaries of America are engaged in an
effort of magnitudinous proportions TO
collect exact statistics on the subject
Constant revision of life Insurance es-
Inmates is rendered necessary by the
varying effects of improvements in mod
ern industries, In England, revision of
mortality tables has been in active prog
ress for nearly ten years and the final
results viii soon be announced. In this
country, since the effects of occupation
have not been so definitely established,
insurance companies are attempting to
solve the problem by placing hazardous
risks in class by themselves. Police
men. for example, will be charged the
same rate for their insurance as men en-
gagged in less risky occupations, but the
dividends which will be cleared on this
class will be much less, and the final cost
of the insurance win be greatly increased.
bic experience has been accumulated.
The actuary deals essentially with
averages. He takes the experience of
many Insurance companies and sees what
effect certain causes have upon men of
every age and occupation. The tables
which estimate the effect of occupation
upon The duration of life are made up of
the experiences of companies with regard
to all men regularly engaged in a specific
,t..l,
the companies have had experience are
included. Men with no occupations are
placed in a class by themselves, and an
exclusive average thus obtained. 1t is
found that so many men out of every
thousand with regular occupation die
every year. The average occupied man
Is then said TO die with this average ra-
pidity Specific occupations are then
grouped. and the average death rate in
each of them is computed. The expert
eHce Of American companies has not been
as completely set forth as those of Eng
Ish concerns. so insurance in the United
States must be based in so far as occu-
patton j concerned, largely upon the re-
suit Of English experience. which must
be slight different from what it is here
though not enough to make more than a
fractional difference in the average per-
centages.
wei hLipNn New 1Ork aCCudTV SAID
few days ago that the latest compiIa-
tons which have been made show that
the cutlery manufacturing trade is one of
the most dangerous of all occupations
In every factory where cutlery is made
the air is laden with invisible metal dust
caused by the grinding O.: the steel, and
this being carried into the lungs produces
asthma and eventually consump. ion The
grinders bending over their work inhale
nh
they rarely live above the age of forty
while a needle polisher who begins to
work at his trade at seventeen may feel
that he is unusually fortunate If he is
alive at thirty-seven.
All metal trades, in foot saws this
actUaIy, are very hazardous. Phthisis.
ar tubercular affections and respiratory
diseases are the principal penalties of
these pursuits. Records show that file
makers are dy lag more rapidly year bv
year. Files are now being manufactured
in much greater abundance than former
~ and the mixture of metals from which
they are made is more injurious to the
human system when inhaled than was
formerly the casa. Fiiemakers are be-
ginning to suffer from chronic lead poi
sontng. a disease with which in former
Years they Were not troubled at all. The
lowest mortality for metal workers is
among blacksmiths.
Experience of recent years shows that
the mortality among those connected
with The supply of liquors is enormous.
Brewers, for example, die about so per
cent faster than the average man who
works at regular calling Brewers.
contrary 10 the general impression. die
extensively from alcoholism, while govt
Is an enemy which makes itself sorely
felt in this occupation. Brewers are also
moro than Or6iO r-11l, 70
liver diseases and Bright's disease The
general mortality among saloonkeepers
is 1uSC twice as high as the average
and saloonkeepers die from alcoholism
just seven times as fast as do the aver
age Of other men OF occupations six and
one-half times as fast from disease of
the liver, six times as fast from govt.
aino more than double as fast from dis
cases OF the urinary system, from rheu-
lnat!c fever, from diabetes and from sui
eide
One of the most terrible diseases is
that which attacks wool sorters and all
who handle Unframed skins. for not onlv
90 they breathe the poisonous fumes
Which arise from the skins before thew
nave been preserved, and which invaria-
Oily cause consumption or diphtheria but
they are also subject to anthrax. At the
time Of being killed the animal may not
nave been in a healthy state. and there
fore poison turks in the skin. Then. if
the worker chances to have a cut on his
hand, some Of the moisture touches the
wound, and anthrax follows inevitably.
The worker sickens, goes into delirium
and, after suffering the most terrible
agony for several days. dies
Among butchers The mortality is
usually very high. Strange to relate, the
butchers trade seems to be one which
leads him particularly to alcoholism. The
latest statistics, too, show that there
Were twice as many deaths among butch.
ors from alcoholism as was the case il
the reports of a decade ago. The effects
Of the butchers trade proper seem tt
be most manifest in the disease of geut
rheumatic fever, diabetes and cancer.
BAKERS, too, are more than normally
SUNSET to premature death. In the first
Place, there is great danger from acct
Gent IN the striking of a match or taking
light into a room in which flour dust
AS floating. In case this is DONE there
follows an explosion which is likely to
{ be very dangerous Then in the flour
itself there is very small microbe which
eventually has its effect upon the teeth
causing them to break away at the roots
This little microbe also attacks the drums
: of the ears, and causes deafness. TO say
nothing of tanning the spark of con-
sumption. Bakers, unlike butchers dc
not die much from alcoholism, but they
are peculiarly subject to diseases of the
liver, rheumatic fever diabetes, and
Urinary troubles
All the building trades are very danger.
oUs. The plumber, the painter. and the
glaZier, according to the actuary inter
Z viewed on this subject, show a very nigh
mortality With the development oI
Z these trades of recent years, too. tht
mortality does not seem to decrease
These workers suffer very severely from