The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-01-28
OF |PH0SSY JAW HELP
MATCH TRUST PILE UP MILLIONS
La Follette's Magazine.


Mr.. H. (says Bulletin No. Sc, just
published by the Bureau of Labor of
the United States governlnent) was
employed in match factory in Wis
consln. He was married man about
IS years Of age. He began to have
trouble with his teeth. He went to-
doctor, and then to hospital The
hospital record states as follows:
PHOSPHORUS necrosis; DR.. B: of Chi
.cago removed both. upper and lower
maxillae."
It is further reported that while
On the operating table the patient
swallowed his tongue and in order to
relieve him from imminent suffoca-
tlon the surgeon cut an opening
through the throat" Which suggests
something of the condition of man
with his jaws removed. Says the La
Dor Bureau Bulletin, with both up
per and lower jaws entirely removed
and with the poison still continuing g
its deadly work, this man lived month
after month. suffering untold agonies
and taking only occasional nourish-
ment through tube Mr.. H. died
about a year after this operation.
The Case of Anna NJ.
Little Anna M. went to work pack
ing matches in a factory at fourteen
years of age. She was a healthy girl
and had unusually good teeth. Af-
ter she worked in the factory awhile
one of her molars began to be sensi-
tive to cold and heat and to give her
pain. She went to dentist, who ex-
tracted the tooth and found it's roots
so honeycombed that he could insert
a common sewing needle into the
affected parts. "Pus ran from the
socket says the government bulletin.
Anna M was taken to the hospital
to have the bone scraped. The re-
cord of one operation, dater April H..
1908, in the record book of Dr. n. is
as follows: "Abcess of left lower Jaw,
extending down side Of neck; curret-
tage and drainage. Bone involved"
The case grew worse. The govern
ment report states, Several physi-
clans, including the leading surgeons
of were called in consultation and
treated her, but she suffered terrible
agony. She could not eat, and slowly
starved to death as a result of the
poison
HAS 1oCLOlE. dI :" 1llCH XNI. 4.
worked and Anna M. worked and
were poisoned is one of sixteen fac
tories of the same kind in the United
States. Summarizing the investiga-
ton at this factory the report says,
In few days spent in--during
December, 1909, the records Of forty
cases of phosphorous poisoning were
secured. Nm less than twenty-five
were serious cases of PHOSPHORUS ne
crosis, and of this number several
died. Many of the other victims, in
Guiding at least fifteen who lost jaws
by operations, have existed for years
with terrible deformities, and one
woman, after eight years of medical
treatment and regular visits of the
companys dental expert, still lives
under conditions that to, most people
would make the grave appear most
fortunate refuge ....
George K. worked at dipping
matches in a match factory in Maine.
He didn't know the occupation was
dangerous says the government re-
port. He had trouble with his teeth,
had some extracted, was finally ex-
amined by doctor and told that his
jaw was, like "honeycomb." He had
most Of his teeth removed He re-
turned to the hospital and had his
entire lower jaw removed. From
that time until his death in December,
1910, ((twenty-two years) he had no
solid food"
Anna B." says the report, had
phosphorous necrosis which caused
the loss of an eye as we'll as her
upper jaw, and finally after terrible
suffering resulted in her DEATH"
The :Ravages of Necrosis.
The Investigation Of the industrial