The people's voice., 1939-12-06
Com. Reports
On Silicosiis

New York. - OPP = Shocking con-
ditions in the rich tri-state lead and
zinc mining area of Oklahoma, Kansas
and Missouri are described in the re-
port of a 2-year investigation made by
the Tri-State Survey committee under
| the auspices of the National Commit
| tee for Peoples Rights.
Silicosis is more common among the
100000 people in this district than
anywhere else in the U. S., the report
says, and practically nothing is being
done to prevent either silicosis or its
| frequent companion, tuberculosis. The
health hazard is so great, the commit
tee concludes, that federal and state
action are necessary.
The report points out that the mem
ace of silicosis and tuberculosis in the
| tri-state area is aggravated by a num-
Der of factors which combine to place
the area in the lowest bracket OF the
submerged third of the nation which
is "ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed and
generally uncared for" These factors
are extreme poverty, economic inse-
curity, inadequate health facilities for
general medical care and the care of
the tuberculous, lack of sanitation and
popular ignorance of the nature and
cause of silicosis and tuberculosis,
which makes it not uncommon for
silicostic father infected with tuber-
culosis to share the same roof or even
the same bed with his minor child.
Latest figures from the Oklahoma
section of the tri-state show that the
death rate for males from all forms
of tuberculosis was more than five
times as high as the U. S. average and
almost 10 times greater than the aver
age for the rest of Oklahoma. A 10
year survey by life insurance experts
has shown that half of all lead and
zinc miners die from tuberculosis.
Many of the miners die young. Often
the miners children are fatally striek-
en- by tuberculosis before they become
of working age The mining companies,
which formerly permitted sick men to
keep on working as long as they could
shovel ore are more careful now. Amy
worker who developes more than a
slight degree of silicosis is discharg-
ed.
Once off the payroll, the miner is
free to starye. Work relief jobs pay
from $35 to $40 a month, but they are
practically never available. Direct re-
lief runs to about SIS a month, but it
is not easy to be certified and all re-
lief is sometimes stopped for lack of
funds.
In two of the states, Kansas and
Oklahoma, there is no compensation
for silicosis. The situation in Missouri
is hardly better, for the compensation
law is not mandatory upon employers.
'Yet competent authorities all
agree, "the report notes, that funda
mental remedy for an industrial dis
ease such as silicosis is to provide
compensation for those afflicted since
the prospect Of having TO finance
their disabled men gives employers
a direct interest in protecting the
health of the workers"
Wages and living conditions are of
the worst. The Eagie-Picher Co., larg-
est operator in the area and bitterly
anti-union concern, recently revealed
the wages OF 222 men employed in its
Missouri smelters and in its Oklahoma
mines and mills. Although these work
ers had an average of five years en-
ployment with the company, their
weekly earnings averaged less than |
$12.
Huge chat piles, artificial hills made |
or almost pure silica residue from the /
mines, rise out of the towns them |
selves. Roads are paved with chat, |
school children play on chat yards, /
clouds of dust rise from the chat roads. l
At the foot of the chat piles are the |
flimsy shacks, cdndemned as unfit !
for habitation as much as % years |
ago, where the miners live. The com
mittee's survey showed that out of \
1867 houses observed, 1852 were un-
fit for human beings.