The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-07-09

fight AGAINST
POISON MENACE
OccupntiOnGl Ills Are
Cause of Many Deaths
BY ART SHIELDS Federated Press)


BY ART SHIELDS Federated Press)
NEW YORK, July Millions OF
felt hats, soft velours and derbles
adorn as many heads in this country
but few of the wearers know what
price in human lives is paid In the
manufacture. But Of 100 union felt
hatters recently examined, 4S per cent
were found to be suffering from that
form of mercury poisoning known as
"hatters shakes.
A study of 500 union death records
showed that the death rate from
pneumonia is 17S per cent above that
of the average population and from
tuberculosis, as per cent higher. Other
diseases abound. And yet, experience
in the hat plants of more civilized ma
tions shows, all these hatters' death
hazards are unnecessary.
viii Make Health Demands.
Facts such as these have reused the
union hatters of Danbury, Conn.,, to
demand decent health conditions. A
scientific survey Of the shops, leading
to the remedies they will demand from
their employers, is being made with
the technical assistance OF the Work
ers Health Bureau, 100 Broadway,
New York, to which the Danbury hat
ters' union is affiliated.
DR.. Alice Hamilton Of Harvard
Medical School, leading authority in
the United States on hatters' hazards;
DR.. Yandell Henderson, professor of
physiology at Yale and DR.. c. e. A.
Winslow, professor of public health at
Yale and authority on the control of
dusts and ventilation-all consulting
experts for the Workers Health Blu
reau-have offered their services to
the union.
Stand In Water.
American hat factory conditions are
shockingly inferior to those of other
countries. No mercury poisoning Is
found in the British and Italian plants.
In England hat factories are dust
less, practical exhaust systems carry
ing off the dust and steam. In Italy
men work with rubber gloves and
aprons; exhausts carry off steam and
employees have special dining and
dressing rooms and men are changed
from one department to another so
that they do not work long in the
mercury.
But in America nothing has been
done in most factories to eliminate
the deadly dust and steam.
They are dirty. Laboratories are
unsanitary, while proper ventilation is
unknown. In most shops there is
water on the floor and the men have
to stand in water all day.
Mercury Poisoning.
The cause of mercury poisoning,
most insidious Of hatters' ills, has
been traced to cheap production
methods used in American plants.
Soft felts. fluffy velours and stiff der
bies start as bits of rabbit fur damp
ened and blown together to form a
felt. Because cheap piece fur is used,
poor in quality, a strong solution of
nitrate of mercury must be employed
and this mercury solution steams into
the hatters' lungs from the hot sizing
tubs.
What mercury remains in the felt
is volatized by the hot irons Of the
pressers and passes into the atmos-
phere for inhalation. In England the
difficulty is avoided at the source by
using whole skins
Other diseases affecting hatters In
clude silicosis, incurred in breathing
the PARTICLES of sand dust from sand
papering the surface of the finished
hat; chronic bronchitis and lung in.
fiammation, of which 80 per cent of
unionists examined are found to be
suffering; abnormally high blood
pressure, found among 80 per cent;
loose teeth and infiamed gums, affect
ing As per cent and due to mercury
and nitric acid fumes; tremors
(trembling or twitching OF the body),
SIS per cent; excessive tiredness, 80
per cent.
Straw Hatters' Ills.
Straw hatters suffer from rheuma-
tism, excessive fatigue and other trou-
bles from constant standing in an
oppressive atmosphere of steam and
heat.
1t is hoped that the example set by
the Danbury hatters in improving
shop conditions will be followed at
Orange, N. j., second largest hatters'
center in the east. The present issue
is regarded as being as fundamental
in its way as the fight waged years
ago against the famous bovcott causa