New-York tribune., 1905-12-17
LABOR AND HEALTH.
Conditions Detrimental to Workers
and Purchasers of York.

Florence Ksuey's latest book. Some Ethical
Gains Through Legislation" which has just been
issued by the Macmillan Company deals with
various phases OF the labor problem from the
standpoint of one who. chief inspector OF
factories OF the state of Illinois for four years;
ss agent In charge of the Chicago division of the
Investigation OF the "slums Of great cities Tor
the Department of Labor, at Washington; as
secretary of the Consumers League since lSss'
and as resident for thirteen years at Hull House.
IN Chicago and at the Nurses Settlement In
New York. is personally familiar with the condt-
tiens about which she writes
In her chapter on ''The Right to Leisure Miss
Kelley says: Assured daily leisure is an essen
tial element of healthy living. Without II child
hood is blighted perverted deformed; MANHOOD
becomes ignoble and unworthy OF citizenship IN
the Republic. Sef-help and sef-educatlon
among wage learners as dependent upon
daily leisure as upon daily work. As machinery
becomes increasingly automatic and the work
Of the machine tender reduces itself more COM
pletely TO watching intently the wholly monot-
onous performance of the part confided to
his care leisure becomes indispensable 10 him
IN order to counteract the deadening effect upon
his mind exercised by his daily work Instead
of educating the worker the bread winning task
of to-day too often stupefies and deforms the
mind and leisure is required to undo the dam
age wrought in the working hours if the worker
is to remain 1T for citizenship in the Republic
Without regular. organized leisure there can be
no sustained intelligence in the voting constitu
ency
In those occupations in which long hours of
work prevail the employees are obliged to live
near their places Of work. and that congestion
which is one of the most unfortunate features
OF life in large manufacturing cities is intensi-
fed Shortening the hours of labor gives TO
working people wider range of selection in the
location OF their homes thus benefiting wives
and children as well as the operatives them
selves"
By way Of reminding the reader that daily
assured leisure is advantageous TO the COM
1nunity from q purely selfish standpoint the
suthor says: in the garment trades men are
old at forty and women superannuated at
thirty largely by reason of the alienation Of
overwork and enforced idleness and the absence
Of that regularly recurring sufficient period Of
rest between the close of one days work and
the beginning of the next which alone permits
body and mind to bear years Of continuous work
without wearing out. Premature old age is in
Guced by overwork effectively as by dissipa-
ton, and old age TO the wage earning class
means dependence II not pauperism.
'"The phiIanthropic world is all astir on be-
half Of the crusade against tuberculosis. Funds
6re readily forthcoming 1or the Iounc&ClCn OF
sanatoriums for the of working people, espe-
cially for young girls and children. But tuber-
culosis is promoted by overwork as much as by
any other single cause. To shorten the hours OF
daily labor, tc afford daily leisure for rest and
recreation TO young employees during the years
Of life In which the susceptibility to infection is
greatest years which coincide with the term Of
employment OF girls and women in largest num-
bers is quite as surely life saving service as
to build and maintain sanatoFia- Moreover, the
loss of time involved in recovery from tuber-
culosis is accompanied by expense to the patient,
her family and the community, which might well
be spared were the young worker permitted TO
escape this enforced idleness by enjoying in due
time rational measure Of daily rest and free
dom" Miss Kelley also speaks Of the baneful
effect upon morals of any system which makes
seIf-sUppoTt for honest working women unusu-
ally difficult
In the chapter on 1.-The Rights Of Purchasers"
speaking Of the aspiration of enlightened pur-
chasers for some trustworthy assurance that
they are free from participation N the employ
uent OF children, in starvation wages and in the
continuance Of the sweating system, the author
says:
The most serious obstacle to the realizing of
this aspiration is the willing ignorance of the
masses, particularly of the masses Of women
who constitute the direct purchasers of the
largest portion OF the articles used for personal
consumption. Even the producers themselves