The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-05
MAKING
 ALL MATCHES
 "SAFETIES. "
A Worldwide Fight Against PhOs- phorus Poisoning-How the Gov ernment FOstered Trust
 Esch Bill Proposes to
 Make Industry Safe.

Make Industry
 1 I Safe.
 (James P. Heaton.)
 (Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 Of the 250 billion matches used yearly in this country-mOre than
 seven a day for every man. woman
 that practically every nation of com
 mercial importance prohibits: For
 the head of the ordinary double
 dip" parlor match is made of pois-
 on worse than deadly to the workers
 in match factories. Stealing instd-
 it rots the tooth, .rots the jawbone,
 requires mutilating operations and
 often results in death after lingering
 years of suffering. Phosphorus ne
 crosis in match makers Is so terrible
 that it would be good reason Tor re-
 turning to, the flint and steel Of our forbears if there were not other way
 of making fire.
 But there is harmless substitute for the poisonous white phosphorus States has Jagged behind other lands
 in demanding its use. The indiner- ence of big business. the tariff, inter nal revenue taxes, a trust" smother ing harmless but more e1pensive material, a lack of public informa- ton on the subject and the voiceless obscurity of the match workers have all been factors in our tardy begin ming last year to wipe out this un- necessary industrial disease by the Esch bill in congress.
 Match manufacturers have strug- gled for three-quarters of century to minimize the danger. Frightful epidemics of necrosis ran through the pioneer shops in South Germany and Austria. The first steps were to re- ventilation to do away with the extra dangerous fumes from damp phos- | phorus. Separate rooms were set aside for preparing the match head. | for dipping and drying, and for pack ing. Improved machinery was in vented. Women and children were | excluded from many branches of the l work.
 The laws prevented a recurrence of the epidemics but did not elimi- nate necrosis. It Is impossible for statue law to make every worker ob- ! impulsed, such as picking the teeth which carries the poison into the sys- l tenn. 1 One after another the countries of Europe have prescribed poisonous | took the lead. Switzerland and France followed the example. In 1906 France, Denmark, Luxemburg Italy, Switzerland. the Netherlands and Germany signed treaty bJ has signed the treaty more recently 1 The tardy attitude of the United | States was in part because we did | not at first have quite as serious I trouble as the old world. For long l time our factories made more use of | 1y,l, rt, supposed that phosphorus necrosis | had been successfully combated, agents of the United States Bureau of | Labor in 1909 visited fifteen match l factories and found sixteen cases Of necrosis. Eighty-two cases were dis people of three factories and in one modern factory they secured records of forty cases. The is no way to prevent necrosis so long as white The investigation resulted in the l introduction of bill in congress by Representative John Esch for a pro- 1 hibitive tax on matches made of white phosphorous. This will come up again this month.
 this country is interesting. There were once seventy-five factories but the internal revenue taxes following the Civil War drove many out of bus mess. Large makers were given q special discount for purchasing reve- nue stamps in big lots: Today there are only sixteen factories with the Diamond Match Company as the larg- est chiefly responsible for the pres ent conditions.
 The patent for the most used of the harmless substitutes for white phosphorus, sesquisulphide of phos- phorus, is held in this country by the Diamond Match Company. A few years ago it advertised a non-poison- ous match. but the jobbers, it is said They cost to make about five per cent. more than ordinary matches and their production was discon- tnued. No further step was taken until last year whom owing to the investigation, the president of the if the government prohibited white phosphorus his company was willing to allow the use of sesquisulphide by other manufactures on "equal terms'' , with itself The terms were specified last July. The first requirement. was that manufacturers who, together with the Diamond Company, produc- ed 95 per cent. of the matches in this country should. agree to join in an effort to have the tariff commis- sion investigate the cost of nanufac- ture of matches at home and abroad.
 The Diamond Company values the American patent in sesquisulphide at $100,000. This figure, it is stated, does not include sums spent for ex- perimental work and expert services but represents the purchase cost Esch independent company is to pay that percentage of $10O,OO0 which its annual production bears to the total A royalty of four-tenths of one cent for each 1000 matches is exacted for any excess over the amount that a company's percentage calls for. Man ufacturers are to be permitted to use other substitutes for white phosphor- ous. It was provided that only 500 matches could be packed in a box.
 The smaller companies were slow to agree to the terms In former matches sold below their own price and they charged that the large cor poration bought up the goods to break their market. They even ac- cused their trust rival of storing their goods in damp; basements in order to spoil them and injure their sale. Aft CT years of guerilla warfare, the Diamond Company came to be feared and hated.
 At present the Diamond company makes a special contract with whole sale dealers by which it consigns goods but retains the title to them The merchant must handle its pro- duct exclusively and has a special discount of ten per cent. Technically each wholesaler is made a special selling 4panf nn hut i,,