Evening journal., 1919-10-03
IRELAND SETS Up
FRESH VAR Wall.
Wages Raised, Cost of Liv-
ing Advanced, Under
hourishplent Prevails
BIRTH RATE
is LOWERED


DUBLIN. Ireland. Oct. 3.-Sometimes
one hears ne argument:
ireland was never so well on u
didn't feel the war at all"
Didn't IL Asw the Irish social work
ers. Lots, they say. al The vital sta
tissts. People could not afford 10
marry The already low vitality OF ,he
countrs grew less, so tuberculosis IN
crea,9 and the birthrste fell. ms
they Fay, was true Of all Ireland, Du'
espetslly OF the cities.
Rales certainly got scarcer IN ire
lan(fin 1918 there were iOo,O94 DaDics
honx but in 1912 the number droppeu
fdI37O. tuberculosis jumped; pc
foYthe war Ireland's tuberculosis raus
nf her in a class with Serbia, anu
: 1ce the war II has increased. Much
cfthe tuberculosis IS said 90 have Desh
fought back by returned emigr1ilis'
md during the war the annual mar
,est migration OF 5000 boys and Sirls
A England and Scotland was Increased
nv a munition migration which totaicu
!. 5000 placements.
Housing. ordinarily, is very bad; III
.he proclaimed town Of Westport'
(which, like many OF its neighporins
towns sends IFS harvest quota aDrOau'
,bere are many boys with an English
fcold. :" according 20 DIR. Bermingham' oi
,he Westport Union, these boys ac-
onire consumption across the Channei
where they sleep on bags in dark, Ill
ventilated barns called paddy houses
Nbeiher bad housing Of munition
workers tended 10 raise the rate or not
tbere was a tuberculosis war increase
from 93S7 10 $3.50. And marriages
nyere fewer. The Whole country was
said 10 be becoming "sligO-like, Tor
IN certain parts OF Sligo those who did
Inot emigrate were confronted with The
cost OF subsistence and have never
married. Weddings in 1913 were 22'2oO
and in 1917 dropped TO 2i,Oi3.
Similar war "well-being" Is evident
In the cities-olly intensified. Shortly
before the close OF the war Llonei
C;ordon-Smth. social investigator at
.plunkett House IN Dublin, made an IN
| 'auiry into the condition OF the poor IN
.he city. and his findings show the
eason for the lowered vitality there.
! le found "a vast number-of people win
insufficient food TO nOurish themselves
,rnd their families. This was partly
4 Tue 90 unemployment
Among the organized workers alone
there were 1900 idle in 1917. and II was
xparily due 10 low, real wages, Tor
{ while the organized unskilled workers
weekly wages increased from s3.s2 TO
s6.s7. TO support a wife and three chill
dren on the poverty food line cost
SI22. 80 Dublin found a little goes
/, further with few in the family; IN
- fe
Il and IN 1917 they dropped to 6's19. Anu
4 Nhilc there was a war decrease III
| tuberculosis from LA TO i,5h' que 70
4 the efforts Of the Woman's Heaith rs.
II eociation. Dublin still possesses one OF
I. thr largest tuberculosis rates ol an!
icdy in The civilized world.
Belfast showed similar war results
but The facts Of too much, not 100
little 70 do. Aeroplane linen was want
cd ,1ish orders. OF the textile work
: ers the majority are women and TO
marry and keep on at the mil Is
common occurrence In Belfast bNeh
in peace the bearing Of children IS
| especially difficult for these women
Z md the devastation Of tuberculosis
' ,otable. Or. II. W. Ba' lie, now medical
, superintendent Office Of health Tor
Belfast, says.
premature births are found TO be
frequent among women who work 10
mills and factories. Many women who
anpear 10 he utterly unable for such
r work are through stress OF circum-
stance compelled to work up to the
Issi day TO confinement. This would
account for young and delicate children
found by health visitors
tuberculosis comes Oftener TO the
SINNERS than TO the other workers
Net spinning is the practice, women
waists open at the breast, hair pulled
back tight 10 prevent the irritation o
loose ends on skin made tender by tn
warm. wet air. bare feet on the slopp'
noor-snatch up their shawls at leavini
time and run out in the cold or rain
Under the war strain, births in Bel
fast fer from 1926 10 S,1iS and tuber
culosis deaths rose from sii TO 932.
peculiar fact is noticeable sbou
Irish tuberculosis that is not to be oh
served in the tuberculosis rates q
really prosperous countries. Mon
females than males die Of Il. Or. ~
drew Trimble, chief tuberculosis Z
Ger in Belfast. in summing up the y
vitality conditions Of Ireland, seIss
this fact.
In Belfast and in ireland generF
he says. more females than fles
suffer from tuberculosis In reat
Great Britain the reverse u thfase.
In former years, however, the had
much the same experience in hreat
=, Britain as we have here, but i"ould
be necessary to so back over | years
10 a. point where their mOrtaY from
tuberculosis among women equaled
ours. IL would seem that the iruships
associated with poor econOs condi-
tions, insufficient wages anhouslng'
want OF fresh air. good fooand sur
1cient clothing-tell more eaVily on
the female than on the ma ana that
with better conditions OF ing tuDer-
q, culosis among women is iomatlcally
reduced we may hou therefore.
that as Great Britain ISressed so
shall we"