The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-10-27

cars and trains; some were run down:
some while Jumping on and of cars in
motion and some by collision. While in
the act of coupling and uncoupling cars
BOT were killed and 4,O19 were injured.
The various branches Of the service sui.
fered as follows:
Trainmen-Killed, ala; injured, 1915
Switch Tenders and Watchmen
Killed, 20; injured. 2,070.
All Other Employes-Killed, 1880; in
jured, 95,722.
The number Of passengers killed In the
course OF the year covered by the report
was Al, and the number of injured Gill.
The most picturesque figure in the list
OF the railroad employees Is the locomotive
engineer-the man who, like the general
Of an army, leads regiment of people
safely across stretch Of travel The To-
connective engineer never regards himself
particularly as hero. because he 10 al .
ways hero. He has long ago learned to
look death In the face-to act quickly In
emergencies. He gets his orders from the
train 'dispatchers. He reads his orders
and he obeys them. Like the hero of the
Six Hundred, His not to reason why,
his but to do and die" 1t is an unwrit-
tive, like the pilot of the boat, never
leaves his place. Straight into the thick
of danger he goes, his eyes to the front
and his hand on the throttle. In the same
category may be classed motormen Of the
electric cars of the big cities. drivers OF
ambulances and IRE engines-in fact OF
most any kind Of a vehicle, chauneurs Of
etc., etc.
Unusual Occupations.
And this mention Of airships brings to
mind list Of unusual occupations-occu-
pations that are exceedingly dangerous,
but are participated In by very few peo-
pie. Aeronauts and airship men like SAN
among them; Barney Oldheld, Webb Jay
and several other professional AUTOMOBILES
racers. the men who handle wild animals
at zoos and menagerles and the broncho
busters of tho Western plains. The soldier
In war time takes a good many risks for
his 1880, but he fails to face the almost
certainty Of death that. confronts the cir
Gus performer every time. he loops the
loop on q bicycle Or leaps the gap on an
automobile. The men who repair dan
gerous steeples and the divers who 70
down where Mc9inty il supposed to %
Illuminating ut the bottom of the sea; the
bridge Jumpers who leap for fame aud
cash, and the circus tumblers and ath-
letes who seek to amuse by various phys
ical feats, the trainers Of wild beaxts-ail
as carelessly take their lives IN their
hands aud run HI many risks as does the
man who makes living by blasting rock
or shooting oil wells.
Every shop that has machinery In 1t
presents certain dangers TO the workmen.
but they. having become used to The buzz
and hum OF the grinding wheels and
Wh1rrlnX belts, are totally unconscious Ut
their danger until mangled by their iron
servant. The tight-rope walker at q cir.
Gus thinks no more Of the danger no
runs than did the packer in a powder
mill, who was found calmly smoking hls
cigar In the midst OF enough stun to
send the entire Russian Army to heaven
or wherever 1t deserved to 90. He had
lighted the cigar after lunch and forgot
to put it out when he entered the fac.
tory. Men become familiar with the dam
gers that surround them and forget
about them until 1t ia too late. Doctors
and nurses, for instance, think no more
Of entering a smallpox-lnfested house than
you or 1 do. Of crawling into bed at night.
Though, perhaps, the most dangerous
occupation there is-that of healing and
caring for the sick-those who enter 1t,
thanks to their professional and scientific
training, take almost unconsciously, and
certainly mechanically, precautions that
ten. Particularly dangerous along this
line IL the work Of the men In the bac-
Pathological Offices in the health depart
ments of all big cities, who examine the
spittle of supposed consumptives and the
culture OF diphtheria patients, looking for
germs Of the disease. They usually wear
rubber gloves, An antiseptic coat and q
silk mask. "
Not alone in the waking hours does
danger beset. Somnambulists frequently
arise from their beds and walk from
roofs or plunge down elevator shafts-
Only recently well-known ballplayer got
up from his berth on coast line boat
and installing q direction, walked into
the waters. He was never seen again
and his body was not even recovered.
Even 30 useful and harmless an article 40
a plate of false teeth can, like the worm,
turn and take human life. Several peo.
ple within the past few years have been
choked to death while In bed owing to
the fact their false teeth slipped down
their threats. A woman-a nervous
sleeper, by the way-while dreaming
wound herself up In the bedsheet and
smothered herself. She was found dead
next morning. A little child. trying to
, crawl through the stats in the side of
fts bed, got all its body through but its
head and hanged itself. Fires frs-
auently break out at night, and tho dAn-
ger from this source, except in the most
modern. Of buildings, 10 considerable. No
man knows when he may 60 to bed and
forget to turn the gas completely OH, thus
counting death BY asphyxiatton. In one
week the papers Of the country showed
. that "a individuals were killed BY either
. Illuminating. natural Or coal gas while
they slept. Every day brings to notice
from somewhere or other at least one In
stance where individuals, Or whols families
have narrowly escaped termination Of
existence from this cause. To revert to
a favorite theme of the comic papers, q
boy engaged for the purpose, by watch
Ing the papers from all over the country,
discovered three cases In a month where
d people, killed by - the closing Of
( folding beds, while one man actually
suffered death 40 the result Of thu col.
lapse OF IN ordinary 5vld-fashionsd bed
b stead. s i. ss. 1s s 4, + - A3
but despite 1T III, the last federal CEN
I pu1 shows thar one person In every 100000
population, or *. be exact, 3,6O4 people
were living It the age Of 100 years or
over. sAdUHL WILLIAMS HiPPLER. s.