The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-03-09

the hardship of women's work has
been in the direction Of excluding them
from certain kinds of employment, in
improving the sanitary conditions Of
| their work and in reducing the length
| of their working day. At one time
women were employed in mines, but
through the fundamentally Of trades
unions this inhumanity was done away
with. Women workers have also been
excluded from some trades which i'm
pair their health or injuriously affect
their morals
The Helpless Little Ones.
But even more important than the
benefits conferred by trades unionism
upon women workers have been it's ef-
forts in behalf of the toiling children.
Since the birth of the factory system
thousands of children have been mus
tered into the factories and, on account
OF their nimbleness, their docility, their
poWerlessness to resist oppression, and
the low wages which they were obliged
to accept, have been permitted to dis
place men and to ruin themselves by
work unsuited to their age and
strength.
1t is hard to reconcile the Wanted
humanity and intelligence of this era
with the wholesale: employment of
children. 1t is difficult to conceive of
anything more utterly absurd and i'm
moral, and the fearful destructiveness
90 hi 1@;% -
they arrive at strength or maturity
should inspire statesmen to legislate
against this abomination and eliminate
it root and branch.
The Industrial Holocaust.
Another evil of modern Industrial
ism which cries aloud for correction
is the insecurity of the workers hold
upon existence.
There is nothing in this world so
dear as, and nothing less secure, than
human life. The bread Of the laborer
is eaten in the peril Of hislife. Whether
he work on the sea, on the earth or in
the mines underneath the earth, the
laborer constantly faces imminent
death, and his peril increases with the
progress of the age. With each new
invention the number of killed and in
jured rises; each increase in the num-
Der and size Of our great engines; each
new speeding up of the great mechan-
isms of industrial life brings with it
fresh human sacrifices. The victories
of peace have their price in dead and
manned as well as do the victories of
war. AS the intensity oflife increases,
as the hold Of the weaker becomes
more feeble, as the struggle for exist
ence grows ever more sharp, so the
peril to the life and limb Of the worker
is enhanced with every mechanical de-
vice. Each year the locomotive in
creases the number of its Victims; each
year lengthens the roll Of the men who
enter the dark and dampness Of the
mine, never again to return to their
homes and loved ones.
The Death Roll Of Industry.
The death roll of industry is longer
than is evident from official figures
Many are killed without violence;
thousands Of men, women and children
lose their lives in factories, mills and
mines without the inquest of coroner.
working in a vitiated atmosphere from
The slow death which comes from
inhaling constantly the fine, sharp
dust Of metals, from laboring unceas-
ingly in constrained and unnatural
pastures, from constant contact of the
hands or lips with poisoned sub
stances; lastly, the death which comes
from prolonged exposure to inclement
weather, from overexertion and under
nutrition, from lack of sleep, from lack
Of recuperation, swells beyond COM
putation the unnumbered victims of a
restless progress.
Tho Army Of the Manned.
In the United States the number of
persons killed and injured Is not even
counted, and no one can compute the
number annually yielding up their
lives or who are seriously injured and
often compelled to become burden
upon their friends or relatives or de-
pendent upon the charity and munif1-
cence of society. 1t is a strange COM
mentary upon our boosted American
civilization that more men are killed
and injured in industry in the United
States than In any other country in
the world BY this mean that more
persons are killed and injured per one
thousand employed; more persons are
killed per ton OF coal produced than
in any other country. 81 II It, were pos
sible to. call back, from their untimeIy
graves all the men who have been