Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-08-07
.LABOR'S DEATH ROLL
Nearly Half Of Pittsburg's Nor
tally Due to Accident.
LIFE THE PRICE OF INDUSTRY

Official Records Of the Coroner OF Al.
legheny County Show the Awful Tell
Enacted by Mill, Mine and Furnace.
Railroads Add to the Slaughter.
Only those who study the statistics
of coroners' Offices have any eoncep-
ton Of the terrible price in flesh and
blood this country has been for years
paying and is still paying to gain in
dustrial supremacy" And even such
statistics do not furnish a complete
record for the reason that many casu-
alties in large manufacturing estab-
lishments are flushed up and never
reach the notice Of the civil authorities.
But the information obtainable from
reliable sources is sufficient to stag
ger the sensibilities Of all who hold
human life rs one Of the earths most
valuable SsessiOns,-Writes Joseph r.
Buchanan in the New York Journal.
When the story is heard one is prone
to ask if, after all, progress, which
costs so much, is q good Investment
for the human race
Under the laws Of Pennsylvania the
various coroners in the state are re
quested to compile records of the
deaths occurring from accidents IL
their respective jurisdictions, setting
forth the details in each case. A cor
respondent has just been looking over
the records in the Office of the coroner
Of Allegheny county. which he says
should bear the inscription. Human
lives sacrificed upon the altar of in
dustry." This record is a volume
which mutely procaims what it costs
besides money for Pittsburg and its
district to maintain the title of work
shop of the world"
1t shows that nearly so per cent Of
the deaths in Allegheny county are
violent and are the result, directly
and indirectly, of the rush and grind
of the manufactures of the district.
The deaths resulting from accidents
in the mills, mines and railroads of
Pittsburg in 1906 reported by the cor
Oner were 919.
Some of the victims were burned by
molten metal, blast furnace burst or
a huge Iadle was upset in the steel
mills; others were caught in the rollers
in a plate mill and some crushed in the
machinery of the rail mills.
Many were killed in mines by falling
slate, some by gas explosions and
others by falls from derricks, scaffOlds
and like structures Not a few met
their death while working about the
numerous electric cranes-those huge
mechanical arms that with almost hui
man precision pick up massive pieces
of structural steel about the plants
and place them wherever may be indi-
Gated at the simple moving Of lever.
For the first five months Of the pres
ent year there were 1,095 deaths, 344
of which may be classed as "sacri-
fees" For the same period in the pre-
ceding year there were 1,015 deaths, Of
which $50 may be put in the same
category. = ID
Comparing the loss of life by the ac-
cidents with the tonnage and produc-
ton of the Pittsburg district, one life
has paid for every $4,000 tons of coal
shipped, and the annual shipment is
dDOuJ OU,OOUBOOU JOllo. VI CFCAy O,COO
cars that carry freight out Of or into
Pittsburg a life is lost. This is eXclu-
sive of cars that are carrying freight
through to other points. Every 1900
tons of the 100000 tons annual pro-
duction of iron and steel has been put
out at the cost of the life of one of the
manipulators somewhere in its manu-
facture, and of the 100000 tons annual
output of steel rails every SO tons has
been put upon the market only after
some one Of its producers has been
killed.
If the statistics were obtainable it
might be shown that Pittsburg does
not exact a higher comparative sacri-
fee Of life in the mad rush than many
other industrial centers.
The packing district Of Chicago, the
sugar refneries Of Brooklyn and the
building industry Of New York and
other cities Of skyscraping structures
could furnish a record that would rival
the workshop Of the world in the
race for industrial and commercial su-
| premacy.