The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-02-20
DEATH HAZARD IN
MILLS IS GREAT
Bureau Of Labor Statistics Makes
Study at Fail River,
Mass.
WoMEN ARE BIGGER RISK
Mortality Among Cotton Mill Workers
Much Higher Than Among Those
Following Other Pursuits-Tu-
bercuiosis Takes Many.

Washington, d. C.-Frcm an indus
trial standpoint death at less than
old age means q fixed and definite
loss; the worker has at each age .
certain expectancy Of life, varying &C
cording to certain factors. but still
definitely calculable, which makes his
death the loss Of so much potential
industrial activity.
In bulletin No. PSI entitled "Pre-
ventable Death in the Cotton Manu-
featuring Industry" just issued by the
bureau Of labor statistics Of the Uni
ted States department of labor. Is
shown the real death hazard by age
groups for wage earners, especially
for those engaged in the several
processes of cotton cloth manufacture
and also what factors have been es-
pecially active In cutting off the lives
Of wage earners during age periods
which are normally Of greatest produc-
tive activity.
In this report, which is supplement-
airy to an earlier report upon the sub
ject, the death hazard, by age, sex and
race of the entire operative popula-
ton of Fall River, the leading cotton
manufacturing city in the United
States, is cOntrasted with the CORE
spending hazard Of the nonmill opera
lives Of the city for the five years.
1908 to 1912, inclusive. and a study
is made of the death rates of workers
In the different rooms within the cot
ton mill.
Women Have Higher Death Rate.
BY q comparison Of death rates by
sex of the whole Fall River popula-
tion, aged 10 to A. 1t Is shown that
females have appreciably the higher
death hazard. From tuberculosis their
death rate exceeds that of the mates
by II per cent, from nontuberculOsis
causes by 8 per cent and from all
causes combined by 8 per cent. Yet
while this is true Of the population
as a whole, 1t is untrue OF that por-
ton of it (61 per cent? which does
not work in the cotton mills, for
among these three-fifths the male
death rate exceeds the female by IA
per cent.
The total death hazard of the ma
tive born exceeds that Of the foreign
born by 9 per cent, though the native
born are less liable than the foreign
born to die of tuberculosis, the differ
ence between the death rates being
slight, however-less than 1 per cent.
The Irish and French Canadians show
the highest death rates among the
different racial groups.
In Fall River married females be-
tween the ages Of Is and A are much
more liable To die, both from tuber-
and from all nontuberculOus
than the single, while among
the males the single are almost invar-
iably far more liable to die early than
are the married of the same age.
Hazard eater In Mills
Fail River cotton operatives between
the ages OF Is and IA are about one
half (46 per cent? more liable to die.
from all causes combined, than are
operatives Of the same age,
heir hazard from tuberculosis being
100 per cent and from all nontuber-
causes Of death. 20 per cent
than the hazard of all other |
persons. As to workrOOm hazard It
appears that the spinning and weave
looms are the two wOrkrOOmS show
ng the greatest peril for male work
IFS. the death rates, both Of single and
married men, from all causes being
than the corresponding rates Of
operatives. For both single |
Ind married females the spinning
'oom is the room Of greatest peril, .
act which Is important because the
pinning room females are q youthful
,roup, 20 per cent being under %.
Within Industrial groups tubercu-
isis Is by far the commonest single |
.ause of death. the tuberculOus deaths