The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-30
DUST AS A CAUSE OF
 DISEASE
Prenetion of Street Dust by Using O l Pneumatic Cleaning of Buildings As Health Precaution-Ventila- ton in Factories to Sareguard Workers from Dust.
FREDERICK [. HOFFMAN,

FREDERICK L. HOFFMAN, Statistician of the Prudential Life In- surance Company
 (Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 Tne dust problem underlies all delib- crate efforts to improve the conditions which, more or less, determine human n health. Other things equal, the length of life will be in almost exact propor- tion to the degree and kind of dust exposure. Those who live in a dust laden atmosphere are especially liable to diseases of the respiratory system.
 Outdoor dust, as met with on streets and in travel, is, in a measure more of a public nuisance than direct mem ace to health. The dust of streets and roads is, however, the cause of vast amount of sickness. Automobiles have increased enormously the difficulties of dealing effectively with this nuisance. Street dust is but street destruction and distintegration. The use of water and salt solution, of tar and oil bind CTS, of asphalt emulsions, and similar preparations, are more or less effective efforts to control the dust menace and to preserve the roads. The watering of public streets and highways is en- tirely insufficient.
 Crude methods of sidewalk cleaning are practically universal and even where ordinances exist that require such cleaning to be done early in, the morning, they are seldom enforced It is only on rare occasions that previous sprinkling prevails. Dust, in cases of this kind, may carry infection direct ly by means of dried tuberculosis sputum.
 Vast quantities of health-inj njurious dust are also produced during building operations The workmen themselves are most seriously affected. Still more aggravating is the. nuisance in the ease of building demolition because of the non-use of spraying, sprinkling, or dust-laying material, which rational municipal administration should insist upon. The London County Council has decreed that such work shall be re- stricted. to the hours between six O clock I'm the evening and ten in the morning. The, walls are thoroughly watered during the process.
 More serious than outdoor dust is that met with in houses and in pub lie places. The methods of cleaning in these places are rarely more than The ordinary crude ways of sweeping should be absolutely done away with in public and serni-public buildings and pneumatic methods of dust removal insisted upon. Public lconveyances, Pullman cars, plush cushioned street cars, particularly require to be clean ed and disinfected with great care. It is most serious reflection upon the present state of public intelligence that practically no objection should be raised against the brushing of coats, hats, etc, after a dust-stained travel in Pullman, sleeping or parlor cars.
 The problem of reducing the dust nuisance to a minimum in public school buildings is peculiarly difficult. The most intelligent means of cleaning should be insisted upon in place of the present crude methods. The close CO., incidence of school attendance with epidemics is very largely the result of dust exposure.
 Domestic dust is more serious men, ace to health than is generally assum- ed. Pneumatic/ processes of cleaning should as far as practicable, replace crude methods of sweeping and dust disturbance. Needless carpets, rugs, hangings, etc, should be done away with It is not at all going too far to absolutely prohibit the sale and use of feather dusters, as perhaps one of the most seriously detrimental agen- cies to health in the home. The use of proper dust binding floor covering material reduces the dust to a mini mum. In matters of this kind the useful should precede the ornamental.
 Dust prevention and removal in pub lie places, or the home. must necessar- fly be inter dependent with methods of effective ventilation. In all dusty trades the chief aim is to remove the dust at the point of origin and before there has been any chance for atmos- pheric contamination. By local venti- lation, as it is called. the dust is car ried out by means of exhaust fans Of course, where the object of the man. ufacturing processes is the production of dust itself, as in the case of flour and cement methods of preventing ddsty substances from mixing with the general atmosphere are governed by commercial, desire to eliminate the ele- ment of waste As pointed out in the report of the Departmental Committee on Ventilation "The application of such effective devices can best be ob- served in modern flour mills using the