The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-21
A BUNCH OF INFECTION
A Physician So Characterizes
Ambulances at the Mines.

Scranton Pa, Nov. 21.-The examina-
ton of DIR. r. H. Gibbons of Scranton
was Immediately resumed when the an
thracite strike commission met today.
He said that the occupation of a miner
subjects a man to pleurisy, gout neu-
ralgia. asthma, bronchitis, sciatica and
other diseases. He believed the day
would come when men viii be subjected
to medical examination before they un-
dertake mining. Children, he said, who
have suffered from any form of disease
of the respiratory passages, bronchitis
or pneumonia, should never be permit
ted in the mines under the age of Is
years because they should have a
chance to eliminate the predisposition
factor in the case of so-called miners
asthma
DIR. Gibbons then described the sur
face indications of miners asthma, his
testimony in this respect not differing
essentially from that given by other ex-
pert witnesses.
On further examination DIR. Gibbons
said he did not mean " be understood
as saying that minerS form an un-
healthy class, but thak they are debili-
necessity. for improkNa ambulance ser
vice at the differents c0llieries.
The T5tness garrHI wa1aGgoss examined kan pg
ton, Mr.. Gibbons said he did not believe
there was an ambulance in the entire
coal region that had sterile blankets OF
that the vehicles were sterile.
In fact" said the doctor, they are
a bunch of infection Every ambulance
carries death and disease to every un-
fortunate miner who is placed in it.''
DR.. Gibbons was followed by DR..
Eugene J. Butler, member of the cen
trail poor board of Luzerne county, who
testified that 70 per cent of those in one
of the poor houses of BuZerne county
were miners and that 40 per cent were
.v-ir, Tad Ixr in nd al the.
mines. Many of these, he said, had be-
come insane through worry over then
aff1iction. A man who works a few
years as a miner, he declared, is not fit
for anything else.
A H. McCIintcck, representing the
Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal company.
examined the witness, and asked
if it were not true that a large number
of the professional men and merchants
in Wilkesbarre. were men whose fathers
and grandfathers had been employed in
the mines
IF that is So" the witness replied,
the fathers and grandfathers were the
wise fellows who got out in time. They
were not men who worked for 20 or %
years in the mines"
Dr. Butler was excused and the Rev.
DR.. Roberts was called to the stand, his
examination being conducted by Mr..
Darrow for the mine workers. He re-
iterated his belief expressed in his book.
that an intelligent and persistent combs
tenance of prices and rates of wages
would secure just share of the profit
for the workers.
In answer to Commissioner Clark, DR..
Roberts defined the use of the words
anthracite syndicate" in his book, by
saying he had reached the conclusion
that there was an understanding among
the operators to adjust the prices and
regulate the trade This conclusion he
had reached from personal investiga
ton.
In view of the last strike" Mr. Dar-
row asked ''and the very thing that
has occurred since, have your views as
to the desirability of collective bargain
ing in the anthracite regions been modi-
fed or strengthened have they
changed at all?''
strengthened. decidedly the witness
replied.
in a magazine supposed to have been
written by Dr. Roberts. Mr. Darrow
asked what was the temper of both par
ties during the five months of the
strike. The witness replied that it was
a condition of war and that both sides
were inte.nrerate DR.. Roberts, in reply
+o question as to what wages a man
should receive to maintain the Ameri-
can standard of living. said that he
would place the poverty line at $575
per annum. Under that amount, he said,
the miner and his family would suffer
physically Intellectually and mentally.
The commission adjourned unsil to-
morrow so that the commissioners could
confer regarding suggested adjourn
ment for week or ten days in order to
allow both sides to prepare their doc
umentary evidence