The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-08-23
to Health
By BEN LIFSCHITZ

By BEN LIFSCHITZ
(This is the sixth in the series on
"Automobile-Symbol of the Modern
Slavery" The previous installments
have outlined the scope of the in
dustry, the giant combinations, the
conflict between Ford and General
Motors, the driving forces to war
Tomorrow's issue will outline the
causes and lessons of the recent
Flint strike.)
Serious health danger confront
the workers in all branches of the
automobile industry. Painters, wood
workers, trimmers, blacksmiths
machine shop workers, foundry
workers, metal grinders. Those who
do welding, brazing, soldering, core
making, polishing, acid dipping, buff.
fling, electro planting and other Sec
tons of the work.
Breathing poisonous fumes, chem.
icals, dusts and gases, cause occupa.
tional diseases. High power
machines, tools and speed-up sys-
TENS lead to accidents, nervous dis.
orders and broken health. In de-
partments where all the processes
are conducted on one floor, every
worker is exposed to all the
dangers, all the time.
Among 1873 automobile workers
examined in Ohio 5 to 10 per cent
of all the workers had tuberculosis
5 to 10 per cent of all the carpenters
temperers, painters and varnishers
had lead or turpentine poisoning.
Deadly Dangers.
Painters and other workers are
poisoned by: lead dust from dry
rubbing down or sandpapering auto.
mobile bodies and scraping paint ano
by fumes from burning off old paint
Lead is insidious poison. 1t stores
up in the body. The smallest amount
may do damage. Less than {
grain of lead breathed each day viii
cause poisoning.
Dry sandpapering caused an cpl
demic of lead poisoning among auto
mobile workers in Detroit in 1922
SO workers were sent to the hospi
tai. In Ohio there were 104 cases
of leading poisoning among auto
workers from dry sandpapering il
the same year. Lead poisoning
causes paralysis of body and brain
In the last stages workers are help
less, unable to feed or clothe them
selves. Lead poisoning cause
painters collie. anemia, apoplexy
hardens the blood vessels and af
fects the heart and kidney.
Automobile bodies must have
smooth, durable, glossy coats, new
patent paints used for this purpose
have brough new dangers. Deadly
poisons such as benzol, the irrita
ting, suffocating fumes of other
volatile poisons cause suffering anc
distress among the workers. Ben
zol may cause death in a few
moments. Control Of the fumes is
practically impossible. The Ma.
tional Safety Council report shows
one man in three poisoned among 81
workers examined.
Spraying Poison.
Spray painting has invaded the
automobile industry increasing every
danger. The spray gun works by ali
pressure. Poisonous spray il
splashed all over the room. Oper
spraying is a menace to all work
ers in the shop compelled to breatl
the air. Flimsy compo board parti
tions do not protect respirators, d.
not keep out fumes and spray.
The automobile industry which i!
piling up hundreds of millions o.
dollars profit from the sweat ant
toll of the workers, has no money
to install special ventillating sys
TENS to carry off these dusts, fumes
and the spray gun menaces to which
the workers are exposed to all day
long.
In addition to these facts com
piled by the Workers Health Burr
of America, March 1927, we want t,
point out the few things prevalen
in the industry. The Ford Motto
Company which is directed by sucl
a humane" personality as Mr.
Ford, the company only allows L
minutes for lunch for those workin,
8 hours. In these Is minutes tn
worker must stay in line and get hi
food, eat the lunch. There is Ger
tainly no time left for anyone t.
wash up. The other automobile con
Germs are no better in this respect
In the factories of Flint, Michigan
there are no adequate sanitary facil
tiles, no wash rooms or separat
rooms away from the fumes an
dust. The workers are compelled t
eat their lunch with their dirt,
hands, and all the poisonous case
and all the poisonous materials whic
are used in handling the material i
actually being transmitted into tn
bodies Of the workers.
No Wash Rooms.
The most striking example of tn
conditions of the workers in the au
tomobile industry is that man,
the workers in Flint, Michigan, in
Guiding the women, walk with thei