Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-10-21

vited to inspect the sanitary condi-
tiOns in n around Johannesburg anu
to Recommend change in methods. Inc
Transvaal mines are worked by ma
tives gathered from the
wilds. These natives, prior to going
to the mines, lived Il semi-nomadic life:
They had few towns or other forms or
community. Their housing was of the
simplest.
In the mining camps they have 10
live crowded together in barracks, often
within stockades. The transformation
in their habits of life is similar to that
of those groups of American Indians
that have at times been up on
the plains n confined on some prison
reservation. The natives employed in
| the mines have with them few women.
| There are almost no children.
The normal death rate for high grade
white men in the prime of life is around
three per 1000. In 1903 the rate among
the native workers in the mines of the
Transvaal district was 72 per l,O0O,,
about "a times the rate normal Tor
white men OF the same average age.
Since 1903 this rate has dropped
steadily; it reached % in 1912. This
was a gratifying improvement. but as
the rate among the negro men working
on the Panama canal in 1912 was only
10. little more than one-third the
Transvaal rate. it was thought that
Colonel Gorgas could give the Trans
a operators some good advice.
Gorgas found pneumonia to be the
most important cause of death. In his
efforts to find a way out Of the pneu-
monia situation. Gorgas drew upon his
observation in Africa.
among the new boys" The rate
among the odd boys" was less than
one-fourth that among the new boys.
The negroes newly in from their
matched nuts and lives of isolation in
the wilderness, newly herded together
in the closely crowded mems barracks
OF the mine, were most susceptible to
pneumonia. Those that escaped ac-
quired some immunity.
h practical teaching of this obser-
walton is that new boys" should be
gradually accustomed to the barrack
life of the mines. They should be
couraged to bring their families with
them. They should be given work in
places that We're not dusty nor crowd
ed. If it becomes necessary to crowd
them, let it be Tor gradually.
The next most important factor in
pneumonia was crowding. Sometimes
the crowding was extremely bad. The
men slept in hunks, and these were ar
ranged in tiers. The average amount
of floor space per each man was in
VII 1888 IIdl on lOcls NlIcIC
crowding was at its worst the pneu-
monia rate was highest.
The practical lesson from this is
that h overcrowding should be done
away with; h a wherever possible the
barrack plan Of housing should be dis
continued, and that the men should be
housed in small cottages, preferably
with their wives and children.
1t made no difference whether the
men slept in their wet clothes or not.
In Panama h laborers often returned
from their work with their clothes sat-
of them had no change of clothing.
Some slept in their wet clothes.
The pneumonia rate was no higher
among the wet clothes group than
among the others. In the crowded bar
racks of Panama some of the men had
That group had no more pneumonia
h the others.
The hex recommendation is that ell
common drinking cups should be done
away with. INT bubbling fountains
substituted for them in all quarters.
dence as to the value OF Vaccination
against pneumonia. concluded that 1t
had not been of service. In the Pre-
mier mine there was evidence that the
pneumonia rate had been reduced by
vaccination. but elsewhere the evidence
VIZ Liza = y a 4IO OOOIJ SuSSSSSkul,
Gorgas thought it promising, how
ever, and he advised that the chamber
OF mines continue experimenting with
it.
The miners suffer heavily from con-
sumption. In 1912 the consumption
pared with less han one for egr
workers in the canal zone, 1903 for men,
women n children in London, and
1.67 for the same group in New York.
However. conditions are even worse
than that. When a native worker gets
q way of sending him home to die, as
Is he custom with our penitentiaries.
When these and other smaller groups
were added. the consumption rate was
found to be 1887. Consumption is
American cities.
The most important single recon-
mendation made by Gorgas was
against overcrowding. Instead of hous-
Ing men In rooms where there were
only Is square feet of floor space, none
should have less h so. and. as far
as possible, each man should have q
cottage.
It is evident tina a large number Of
persons will be infected when infection
ts introduced into a room in which 100
persons are living than when intro
duced into a room in which six per-
sons are living. the floor space per
capita being the same in the two cases.
He recommended careful routine ex-
animation of the sick and ailing, In
addition there were the common recon-
m~endations about the care Of sputum,
s%anatoria, and hospitals.
Miners phthisis is a form OF lung dis
ease due to breathing dust. Those
whose lungs have been injured by dust
arc readily infected by the bacillus Of
consumption and the Occus Of pneumo-
min eIvnn r~o,Nr nyNr7o to- - ~ 49,
be enough %sprinkling to do away with
dust.