The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-12

factory entirely safe, although the evils
 can be greatly reduced None of the fac
 tories visited were found to be using all
 possible precautions to protect the men.
 One newly arrived Russian Jew was set
 to work with the red lead paste and
 moistened his fingers in his mouth as he
 worked, because he had never been told
 that the material was dangerous. He was
 seriously leaded at the end of ten days
 The white lead industry in Illinois has
 improved more than any other lead trade
 during very recent times. Three Of our
 four factories are new and are very well
 constructed and in all but one of them
 there is strong effort being made to
 do away with some of the more danger
 ous features.
 Some of our paint and dry color houses
 where dry lead salts are produced and handled, have an inexcusab!y large , amount of lead poisoning That this is
 due solely to neglect is shown by the con- tract between two Illinois paint houses These two factories are both now, well ventilated, admirable externally They employ about an equal number of men, We have not traced a single case of lead poison to one of these; we have found ii which belong to the other. This is an il- lustration of the results of leaving all
 such matters to the good will of the en- ployer, for I can find no other cause for this difference except the care given the men in one place and the neglect in the other.
 The painting trade is another in which
 the American methods are far more dan- gerous than those in use abroad The painter acquires lead poisoning not through chewing lead-smeared tobacco or eating lead-smeared food or breathing dry lead dust. The first risk he can avoid by not using tobacco while at work and by careful washing before eating, provided there Is a place where he can wash. House and sign painters often have the choice between lunch eaten with paint smeared hands and no lunch at all. The second danger to which the painter Is exposed Is the dust-laden atmosphere caused by mixing dry white or yellow lead with paint or putty and by sand papering coats of paint after they are dry. This last is a danger against which a painter cannot protect himself. and It is usually carried on in closed rooms with no system of ventilation to remove the dust.
 It is often said that painters cannot be protected from lead poisoning unless we abolish the use of white lead paint as they are doing In France. But even With it's use it is still possible to protect them
 better than we do now. In Germany the contractor is obliged to provide a warm room in which his painters may wash, change their clothes and eat lunch, even if the work is done in the country. In Germany and Belgium no lead paint may
 be rubbed or sand-papered while dry. Water must be used. In England this wet method is used even on the finest carriages and automobiles. do not know | why it is considered impossible in these industries in America.
 | It is gratifying to note that the evils | in the lead trades tend to grow less be- cause machinery is everywhere displacing hand work. Unfortunately the advance in methods of work has not been par alleled by an Improvement in the care of the men. In consequences perhaps the lead trades are in bad repute with the working class and only the most ignorant and helpless foreigners seek employment | in the white lead and smelting plants. There are indications that some of the
 larger establishments are beginning to
 recognize the economic waste of this | form of labor, and several are planning l reforms which will result in some protec-
 ton for the men against lead poisoning.