Montana labor news., 1936-04-09
The Tragedy of Silicosis

We have had opportunity to test tn
wisdom of her comment. We hav,
seen the most meritorious measure
languish fer years in legislative hall
until suddenly some dramatic event
a factory fire, a mine catastrophe. tn,
sinking OF an ocean liner-spurred thu
public and their representatives TO in.
sist upon protective legislation. Onh
thus have we secured adequate escape!
from factory fires; the r~ock-dusting O
coal mines to check the spread of Goa
dust explosions, and some measure O.
saftey at sea. Through these years
have assembled, fact upon fact, abun.
dant material for an article on "Proyi.
dental Promotion OF Labor Legisla-
ton"
But unfortunately many Of the prob
lens in this field which cry to HEAVIER
Tor protective laws are made up OF day
by day sniping in the workplaces with
out the startling barrage OF thunder
and smoke and property damage re-
CURED to concentrate attention upon
needless suffering. This is notably
true OF the insidious diseases OF oceu-
patton which year in and year out take
their toll OF human lives. 1t was neces-
sary 10 photograph the deformed vic
TINS OF the match workers "phossy
Jaw" and then finally to lead one OF
hem into the public hearing room at
Washington, before Congress would
take the simple step necessary to abol-
ish that occupational disease. In most
OF the states it has been impossible
after all these years OF workmen's &C
cident compensation to extend this
modern protection to those who are in
capacitated for further work as a re-
suit OF breathing the poisonous dusts
and fumes Of industry,
The most widespread OF all occupa-
tional diseases in America today is
| silicosis. 1t was referred to, under an
earlier name, at the First National
Conference on Occupational Diseases
held under the auspices OF the Amer
lean Association for Labor Legislation
at Chicago in 1910. For more than
twenty years in this country govern
ment officials and independent experts
have studied silicosis. Elaborate re-
ports and monographs have been pub
lished and have gathered dust. Physi-
cal examination OF the workers in the
lead and zinc mines OF Missouri, in
the copper mines OF Butte, and in the
anthracite region OF Pennsylvania,
have furnished appalling evidence Of
the deadly silicosis. In 1929, New
York City, in the midst OF drilling a
twenty-mile water tunnel from Yonk-
ers to Brooklyn, found that 81 per cent
OF the workers examined were al
flicted with this occupational disease.
At that time, as secretary of the As
ISOLATION for Labor Legislation, I ar
ranged an informal hearing and intro
duced an impressive group OF ~silicosis
experts before the New York State
Industrial Board. An official COM
mittee wa appointed, but its mild rec
lamentations have not yet been pro-
mulgated, Always in this country
there has been money for more and
more study never has there been sim
liar encouragement for legislative ac-
ton,
S%ihcosis, in simple lay language, is
caused by breathing silica dust, Tiny
particles Of silica, too fine to be seen
ven with a good miscrope, are
breathed into the lungs. A chemical
action leads nature in self defense to
build a wall OF fibre around the poison.
An increasing number OF these fibrous
lumps-"nodules' to you and the X-ray
gradually block off the blood
supply and finally the air passage-ways.
Distressing shortness Of breath and fl
nally plain suffocation may result.
Naturally the victims are extremely
Susceptible to tuberculosis, which
carries off about three-fourths OF them
while pneumonia gets about another
fifteen per cent. Enlarged hearts,
from attempting to force blood through
the hardening lungs, completes the
story.
No satisfactory cure is known. When
this disease is once advanced. the vic
tim is doomed. Dr., Alice Hamilton,
after a study among monument max
ers is quoted as saying that no head
could rest easy beneath one Of those
slabs if the marble workers silicosis
were widely known.
The dusty trades offer the greatest
single hazard in American industry.
And yet deaths as a result Of occupa-
tional ~silicosis are unnecessary. To be
sure, the known preventive measures
are often difficult to apply and they
cost some money. With d million
workers daily subjected to this hazard
in a long list Of employment T. includ-
ing sand blasting, the making of pot
terry, metal grinding and polishing,
work in iron and steel foundries and
in glass and asbestos plants, as we'll as
in rock drilling-the task OF proven
ton challenges the ingenuity Of Amer
ica's boosted ~individualism.
Wet instead OF dry drilling, carry
ing away the dust at the classic point
of origin" and adequate ventilation.
call for inventiveness and a willing
ness OF the part of management to do
the right thing ever if a bit more ex-
pensively it requires a little more time
to dig a tunnel AS an aid in stimu-
lating preventive measures, as we'll as
in the decent care Of those workers
who are not yet adequately safe
guarded, coverage of all occupational
disease under worhmen's compensa-
ton laws should be demanded as :
minimum requirement OF civilized So