The Republican journal., 1912-05-02
The Household Match.

ss1ry OF all the articles OF common
,.s,old use, the household match; and
- fhere are many industries in the
,,.,ts5 States that involve cruel and I'M
ossssry suffering on the part of the
tiers. there is none that exacts so aw-
nrice as the match trade.
.,nroach the ordinary man or woman
in the question, "What kind of match
IA YOU use?" and in nine cases out of
~, they will reply, "Oh, the kind that
ill light anywhere!" Suggest "phossy
..v TO them and they stare at you with
..,s,gnzd establishment. Follow up the
..sIysls and the interested brain will be
-... aware that the matchmaking in
,o.,ev. as at present conducted, carries
n,,r /. an incurable disease so revolving
cha. rctures of the sufferers are not
.sI. That we can all help to stamp
.. nh. abuse, and that Americans are
.r. last to do their duty in the matter,
...a.s either Grass ignorance or callous
,r-e~aee.
r- irction match came to us from
s.-e-a.il IN 1886; it had been made in
,--sn three years before. The head
.- uarlor match which twill light
srlaury, vs. is made of paste contain
ing -.ae. white phosphorus, chlorate of
.oasf. powered glass and vermillion,
s-. .lpasure to the fumes of this most
.-,.. and dangerous of all industrial
ras affects the system through the
0.n- f effective teeth, and attacking
rs..garag of the jaw-bone induces a
.-r.-, at slow destruction in the bone,
rs.f causing either its removal or a
5st..oue and agonizing form of death.
H-r.e the term, "phossy jaw" and
rfg-pnurus necrosis, its result.
There are fifteen match factories in
IN. Tailed States, where four thousand
employees, men, women and children,
ag directly exposed to the danger of
.5rtrsc-ng ''phossy jaw" from the con-
srar menace of white phosphorus. 1t
tsaut alone in the air breathei that the
danger les the deadly substance may
p-eols dissolved in the saliva by inhal-
Hc IT. fumes, thus exercising solvent
sl.iua OF defective teeth); particles of
PHOSPHORUS ling to the hands of the
uara people, luncheon left exposed in
rr- wa.k-room and eaten with unwashed
-ag-r the drinking of glass of phos-
illuminated water; the wiping
s7g of sweat from cheek or lips with
age-sranrd hands, all these trivial and
ordinary movements among low-waged
AlorES, may mean death, or a fate
worse than death, to men, women and
callren.
The United States has remained in
different to this matter, when all the
ether great nations have responded to
The pressure of outraged public senti-
o=r. In an investigation of the homes
Of workers in three of our factories, a
tota.ot -ightytwo cases were found and
GrSo factories eight serious cases are
known TO have occurred, and it is no less
uue that since 1886 the presence of
'phossy-jaw' has been persistent.
Eyerybody's Magazine for April has
an exhaustive article on Matches or
Men, from which | quote: SIN certain
sections Of Maine, New York, New Jer-
seq Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Hi
nos Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota,
nay be- found men and women mutilated
mie4tlre and broken in health. In all
eases here lies behind them a record of
physical suffering which stuns the imagi-
nation n its effort to realize the living
nall through which they have been drag
g41 suffering lasting sometimes dur
ns oae. three, five, eight, even twelve
Years If lrremediable horror Often,
Trr freed from fear lest their testi-
ai'r .e used to injure them, they en-
-7a 10 tell of their experiences; some
T. ramatic bitterness that startles
al 9pPas; many with the apathy of
1s5 VINO no longer have hope in the
crescent or the future; yet others by an
-4fieulate mumble-their only means
III 's'munication. There is no need
however. to question such as are still in
"H1Ni Ioothless, with rotted, purple
guns from which protrude fragments
Oh leeayng bone; with discolored pus
VzHE IRON swollen lips or assesses in
"a" an throat, whose stehch makes the
NIeftrs lntolerable to themselves and
d "la whom they come in contact, the
victims Of phosphorus necrosis seem to
nave passed beyond the recognized pale
9lauman misery"
What, then, is the remedy? Pres. Taft
islO made an appeal to Congress con-
Vsio'ng the protection of our four thou
Sane matchworkers. II invite atten-
"'o' he wrote, ''to the very serious in
Jury caused to all those who are engaged
' ''7 manufacture of phosphorus match
w. Inc diseases incident to this are
sitiai and as matches can be made
4ohI other materials entirely innocuous,
'eleVe that the injurious manufacture
|'l'a be discouraged, by the imposition
VI heavy Federal tax. l recommend
adoption Of this method of stamping
va % very serious abuse