The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-08-09
INDUSTRIAL DISEASES IN
THE UNITED STATES.

The failure of the national and state
governments to protect workmen from
preventable diseases of industry is strik-
Iingly brought out in a report just issued
of the Second National Conference on
Industrial Diseases. 1t is shown that in
three years the Illinois commission found
/ SIS cases of lead poisoning in that state
and that a hasty and incomplete study
disclosed 121 cases of this one disease of
occupation in New York city alone.
Many of these were due to the absence
of regulations requiring the use of sim
Pile protective devices and practices
which, it is pointed out, are in general
use in Germany and England under leg
islation providing for the payment of
insurance benefits in the case of sick
ness directly due to industry.
A growing appreciation, however, of
the need of regulating the conditions
among which the thirty million wage
earners of this country carry on their
work is shown from the recent prohibi-
ton "phossy jaw" matches and from
the enactment in eight states during the
past year of the bill prepared by the
Association for Labor Legislation requir-
ing the compulsory reporting of certain
of the more evident industrial diseases.
The report, which is profusely illus
trated, is divided into four parts. Dis
eases of Occupation are treated in papers
read before the American Medical asso-
citation, this year for the first time Civ
ing place on its annual program to the
industrial disease problem. DR.. w. Gil
man Thompson presents plan for the
classification of occupational diseases;
compressed air illness, or "caisson dis
ease" is discussed by DR.. Frederick L.
Keays from a study of 1892 cases
under his observation during the con-
struction of the Pennsylvania East River
tunnels, and Dr. L. NJ. Ryan, physician
to the Foundation company, deals with
the same disease and the preventive
methods to be adopted in caisson work
Occupational skin diseases, nervous and
mental diseases, diseases of the eye, and
industrial poisons are covered by such
ell-known authorities as DIR. John A.
Fordyce, DIR. Charles A. Dana, DIR. FL
lice NJ. Alger and David L. Edsall whose
testimony refutes the contention that
national ingenuity and inventiveness
have lessened industrial disease here and
have made less needful the rigid legal
control exercised in other countries.
Reports of lead poisoning in New York
city and of the examination of lab
workers in cellar bakeries and tailor
shops are included in a section dealing
with investigations. DIR. Richard c.
Cabot of Boston pleads for more work
by hospitals and clinics in the proven
tion of Industrial diseases and Prof. C.
E. A. NWinslow contributes a much dis
cussed paper on temperature and hui
midity in factories Prof. Baskerville
proposes the use of certain preventive
agencies for workmen exposed to dusts,
fumes and gases.
If industrial disease is to be adequate
ly handled in this country, information
must be had as to the extent of these
diseases and as to the particular occupa-
tions in which they occur, points out
nual returns amount to seventeen bill
lions. These giant monopolies, with their
consequent power of exploitation, also
control patent rights, which make them
absolute i'm the market Their power is
shown in the fact that they can and do
sell in the foreign markets on an aver
age of forty per cent cheaper than in the
home markets.
Tt is n striking and instructive CON
trast to compare the agricultural with
the manufacturing interests The six
millions of farms I'm the United States
are valued at tbirty-six billions of dol
lars, with an annual production of nine
billions of dollarsf but the farmers are
not combined for the control of the mar
kets. as the manufacturers are. and it is
not surprising that fiity-eight per cent
of them make am annual earning of less
than five hundred dollars
Nor does the consumer benefit by the
low earnings of the farmers The agri-