The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-05-10
LIFE CONSERVATION.

The main source of country's wealth is it's labor power. It is true that natural resources count for good deal, but without the ,applica.- tion of labor power to such, those natural resources could exist unde- veloped indefinitely without increas- ing one iota the wealth production or, the nation, ~a- .-.4.sf
 Consequently even if wealth, pro- duction is necessarily considered the be-all and end-all of capitalistic ex- istcnce, it is or should be no. less obvious that labor .protection, and the conservation of the life that fur nishes labor power should be the chiefest of all the aims of govern. mental activities. Now nothing of the kind is the case. On the contrary the reckless and criminal disregarf of human life is when actual figures are pronounced, in reality shocking and they display such wanton ana
 
 prodigious national unconcern tha. they are most likely to be disbe- lieyed.
 In. the February number of the Scientific Monthly Dr. J. Howard Beard of the University of Illinois mentions with statistical coelness in an article on The Avoidable Loss Or Life quito casually that we have in our midst each year, at least, 13,5OO,000 cases of industrial sick ness. Hoffman states that there ar" approximately 82,530 deaths annual ly in the United States due to ac- cidents, and that in connection with the carrying on of dangerous in dustries, there are 1000 deaths ano 100000 injuries involving disabn- ity of longer than four weeks These are what may be called direct industrial losses but there are others which are not usually considered characteristic of the industrial sy- stem which prevails, but which dis cover in modern industry the chiel predisposing cause and the maiu contributory factor to their alarming spread.
 Typhoid fever, tuberculosis, vene- real disease, especially syphilis, ali of which are promoted by industria, conditions and all of which are the prolific cause of avoidable loss of life may also be mentioned. &
 Moreover it is an astonishing fac, that the high rate of mortalty among infants especially in large populous centers is due almost exclusively to the, poverty. stricken condition un- der; which they are reared. ,. +.i--
 The article. from which the short excerpt above .a has been quoted. further thus concludes: "Preyentable disease ;, is associated insoparably with poverty and ignorance, and an5 successful attempt ; at prevention must be an attack. upon these twin
 
 brothers, of human misery n n The poverty stricken individual is four fold menace to the nation a poor progenitor. an inefficient producer. a potential source of disease and fre- quently a malcontent. Society should realize that every individual who makes his best efforts and every child born to the nation must Dc guaranteed as their inalianable right sufficient food for growth and energy. the necessary amount ot sleep and rest, abundance of fresh air. sanitary quarters and an oppor- tunity for an education. A different attitude fails to promote tho, gen erst welfare, procreates. weddings. invites disease and undermines the stability of the nation"
 It will be noted that the writer is concerned about the evils of poverty because of their reaction upon that class which has directly caused Il. Poverty is great evil not because it destroys the individual but be- cause in destroying the individual it threatens the welfare and comfor, and. enjoyment of life in the, capi- talist classes. That's one way ot looking at 1t. On tho other hand such an abolition of poverty will not materially decrease the general agi- tation for an abolition of tho system