The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-06

physician makes medical examinations
of the workers who handle fulmin-
ate. Moreover, it is the policy to
transfer to other departments work
ers found suffering from illuminate
poisoning.
DR.. Alice Hamilton, who is making
special Investigations of OccupatiOnal
poisons for the United States Bureau
of Labor Statistics, writes concerning
illuminate poisoning
"Scrupulous personal cleanliness is
the only preventive of this form of
poisoning, and this would really in
volve frequent hand washing, for it is
almost impossible, especially in hot
weather, to avoid touching the face
or neck or arms with the fingers. For
those who are very susceptible to full
inmate poisoning there is nothing to
do but to give up the work. Other
wise they run the risk of a very dis
tressing eruption which may spread
over the whole body"
Although the company states that it
has spent large sums of money in in
stalling sanitary apparatus and that
as the plants have been enlarged and
rebuilt the sanitary arrangements
have been greatly improved, one
worker employed in a process in which
she handled illuminate reported that
employees in her department were for
hidden to wash their hands until after
the factory whistle blew for dismissal,
and that the only washing facilities
were long troughs with a number of
spigots. She also said that no tow
els were provided.
The common trough certainly in
creases the danger Of conveying in
lection Frequent washing in indi-
vidual basins should be possible in
order to get rid of such, poisonous
powder and to prevent infection. Pro-
tective clothing, such as aprons and
caps is another precaution which is
not observed in the Bridgeport fac
tory.
The Boom in the Cost of Living.
These conditions, night work, in
dustria1 accidents and occupational
diseases experienced by working girls
in Bridgeport should come within the
scope of legal control. A third ques-
ton which has forced itself conspic-
uously upon the city and has made
life difficult for the wage-earners,
that of the rapidly advancing cost of
living lis more elusive and far harder
for society to deal with. The work.
ers first felt the pressure of higher
costs in rising rents when the rush to
Bridgeport came in response to the
great demand for labor.
The resources of the city were not
equal to the demand for. houses and
rooms which ensued. The first COM
ers had quickly snatched up the few
vacant rents" as rented house or
tenement is usual termed in Bridge
port. Real-estate agents ceased to
have houses to offer, and rents Jump
ed almost instantaneously. AS a
result families which could not pay
the increases were evicted Many Of
them were at first unable to find va
cant tenements for the amounts which
they could afford. Some of these be-
came for the first time dependent up
on charity, while others, with incl
dental hardships,, were able to read
just their family budgets and give
higher proportion for rents than for
mer1y. "Our rent has been raised
So since last summer, and another
raise will take the roof right off our
heads said munition worker re-
Gently. Others told of increases in
their, monthly rates which ran as high
as 50 and $40.
The hardship of rising costs did not
stop with small economies Some
times it even ceant the breaking up Of
families. II couldn't keep all the
children after the rent went up" said
a night-worker "a widow who was try
ing to support her four children and
keep the home together. She had to
put three Of the children in an or
phan asylum and go to board with
relative, taking the youngest child
with her. Overcrowding was in
evitable A Hungarian family Of
eleven persons, five of them children
in flimsy ''three-decker'' in the rear
Of a dirty court. Another Hungar-
ian family crowded it's fourteen menu
bers into four rooms in a three
decker.
Some families solved the problem,
temporarily At least, by living at the
nearby beaches. In the fall Of 1915,
when the people who had been stay
ing at the shore for the hot months
prepared to come back to the city,
they found it hard to get rooms. and
many of them decided not to try to
come. back. They put up extra stoves
in the lightly constructed cottages
and shacks and prepared to spend the
winter months at the shore. The
long street-car ride, the frequent snow,
ice and slush and the lack of proper
sanitary and heating arrangements
proved to be not the only drawbacks
to healthful /homeolffe at the beaches.
The usual cheap amusement places
abounded and exercised influences
which were distinctly undesirable.
The munition companies saw that
the lack of housing facilities was
serious hindrance to the free response
of labor to their demand. Unless
houses at reasonable rates were pro-
vided, workers could not be induced
to come to Bridgeport. According
ly, the Remington company bought
up large tracts of land, in 1915 and
1916, and began the construction of
one, two, four and six family houses
The houses, many of which were
by the summer of 1916, are
we'll built and attractive, but they are
rented at figures too high for many
of the families to pay. To accom-
the increasing number of
girls in the 1nunition plants large
buildings of the dormitory type were
started. The plans provided for ex-
cellent construction, but in housing
large groups together they are social
i