Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1911-01-05
Workmen's
Compensation
Considered
Compulsory and Voluntary Indemnity
-occupational Diseases
Investigated.
Labor Legislation Demanded-Lead
Poisoning in Illinois.

At the Thursday evening session of
the fourth annual meeting of the Amer
lean Association for Labor Legislation
in st. Louis, December 20, DR.. Alice
Hamilton, of Hull House, Chicago,
spoke on Lead Poisoning in Illinois"
The Illinois Commission on Occupa-
tional Diseases, to which DIR. Hamil-
ton acts as Medical Investigator, has
on record $40 individual cases of lead
poisoning which occurred in % differ
emit trades; and IA suspected cases
should probably be added to these.
"Many men handling lead salts do
not know what they are working with.
and even when they do they are ignor-
ant Of the proper safeguards against
lead-poisoning. ?
"The attitude of the employers is
very like that of the workmen, in that
some of them are ignorant as to the
dangers to which their men are ex-
posed. and others are aware of the
dangers and anxious to guard against
them, but they only partially under
stand how this should be done. In the
course of this investigation very few
employers or managers have been
found who thoroughly understand the
hygiene of the lead trades.
'''It was found that conditions in the
lead trades tend to improve as ma
chinery is introduced, and as the in
creasing value of lead leads to
economy in methods, and efforts to
prevent escape Of fumes and dust.
These improvements in method have
not been paralleled by an improve
ment in the care of the men employed,
which is still for the most part entirely
inadequate"
Americas Industrial Diseases.
Mr.. Frederick L. Hoffman contribut-
ed a paper on Industrial Diseases in
America" dealing with the subject
"The subject of industrial diseases, +"
he said, lis certain to attract more
general attention in the future on &C
count of the countrywide demand for
adequate workmen|s compensation in
the event of industrial accidents. In
dustrial diseases in many cases shade
imperceptibly into industrial accidents,
and the Workmen's Compensation
Legislation of England comprehends a
large number of occupation diseases
within the scope of the workmen's
compensation law. On this ground
alone a national inquiry would be of
great value, and would establish the
actual extent of harmful industrial
processes as they afflict a considerable
proportion of our wage-earners at the
present time.
Industrial processes are often injur-
ious, not only to the health of the peo-
pie employed therein, but occasionally
to the surrounding population, and the
vegetation of the nearby country with
in radius of several miles. The prac-
teal aspects of this point are en-
phasized in the pending litigation
against a number of large shelters,
the fumes of which have been of SER
ious consequence to the surrounding
country. In this respect, as in many
others, the disease producing factors
in industry are of public interest, aside
from their more immediate effect on
the health Of particular class of en-
ployes.
Mr.. HOFFMAN called attention to the
'inadequacy of medical certifcation
of deaths, which often fails to dis
close the true cause of death, or i'm
portant contributory circumstances
which, for purpose sof public health
administration, are required to be
known"
"But what is most urgently needed
is the establishment of national in
stitute of industrial hygiene equipped
for research work, including the treat
ment of the more severe and obscure
forms of trade diseases in special
similar to the far-famed insti-
tuition at Milan, Italy,
Garment Workers Anemia.
DR.. Sidney /. Schwab. of st. Louis
Medical University, presented interest
ing conclusions with reference to
fatigue from over strain, based on his
studies Of "Neurasthenia in Garment
Railroads and Death.
Daniel Z. Cease, editor of the Rail-
way Trainmen's Magazine, and mem
bef of the National Commission on
Liability, submitted pa
per on Compulsory Compensation for
Injured Workmen." He said that the