CHAPTER SIX

INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS: HEALTH

The inevitable result of low wages is poor health. Bad housing conditions and insufficient food must follow upon the heels of scanty pay, unless the wages are supplemented in some other way; and that means anemia, tuberculosis, typhoid, and general physical debility. "In the New York block" bounded by E. Houston, Mott, Prince, and Elizabeth Sts., "one of every nine children born dies before it attains the age of five years. The death and disease rates are abnormal. The death rates for all ages in the City of New York in 1905-6 was 18.35 per thousand, and for those under five years it was 51.5; but in this block it was 24.0 for all ages and for those under five years it was 92.2."[63] "Nothing could be added to or taken away from these homes to add to their squalor." (P. 296.)

The conditions of many workers' homes can be learned in detail from pages 254-259 of the Federal report just quoted. Here only a few of the leading facts can be mentioned. Thus in Pittsburgh 51.1% of the families investigated had as many as three persons per sleeping room.[64] Eleven per cent. of female factory and miscellaneous employees and nine per cent. of store girls are rated as having "bad" housing conditions and bad food.[65] Very few girls doing "light housekeeping" get proper breakfasts (l. c., p. 18), or, indeed, any other meals. It is not because they can't cook, but because they have to keep food expenses to a minimum in order to buy clothes, pay room-rent, doctors, etc.

"'You see I'm dieting,' said a frail slip of a department-store girl as she held out her tray upon which the cafeteria cashier, in the presence of the Bureau's agent, put a two-cent check, covering the cost of the girl's lunch--a small dish of tapioca. She may have been dieting, but the evidences were pathetically against the need thereof, and there were some things telling other tales to a thoughtful observer. The girl's shoes and waist and skirt were plainly getting weary of well-doing, and to hold her position as sales-woman they must soon be replaced" (l. c., p. 17).

The tables on pages 80 and 81, to one who practises the "great transmigratory art" (as Charles Reade calls it) of putting yourself in another's place, tell pitiful stories of making ends meet (l. c., pp. 54-55).

NUMBER OF WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS KEEPING HOUSE CLASSIFIED BY COST OF LIVING AND WAGE GROUPS

------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------- | No. of women with average weekly cost of living ($) | (food, shelter, heat, light, laundry) ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ Average |Un- |1.00|1.50|2.00|2.50|3.00|3.50|4.00|4.50|5.00|5.50|6.00|6.50| weekly |der | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to | to |and |Total earnings |1.00|1.49|1.99|2.49|2.99|3.49|3.99|4.49|4.99|5.49|5.99|6.49|over| ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ $1.00: $1.49| .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 3 1.50: 1.99| .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 2.00: 2.49| .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 6 2.50: 2.99| .. | 1 | .. | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 4 3.00: 3.49| .. | .. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 7 3.50: 3.99| 1 | .. | 1 | 2 | 1 | .. | 3 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 9 4.00: 4.49| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 13 4.50: 4.99| 1 | 5 | 4 | 6 | .. | 5 | 3 | .. | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 27 5.00: 5.49| 2 | .. | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 19 5.50: 5.99| .. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .. | 2 | .. | .. | 17 6.00: 6.49| .. | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 20 6.50: 6.99| .. | .. | .. | 2 | 1 | .. | 1 | 2 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 9 7.00: 7.49| .. | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 16 7.50: 7.99| 1 | .. | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .. | .. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 22 8.00: 8.49| .. | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 23 8.50: 8.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 5 9.00: 9.49| .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2 | .. | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .. | 1 | 10 9.50: 9.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | 1 | 1 | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 5 10.00: 10.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 2 | 4 10.50: 10.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 11.00: 11.49| .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 | 3 11.50: 11.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | 2 12.00: 12.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 2 | .. | 1 | 1 | .. | 5 13.00: 13.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 14.00: 14.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | 2 15.00 & over| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 2 ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ Total | 7 | 17 | 29 | 32 | 26 | 36 | 29 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 7 |236[A] ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------

[A] 16.6% of those for whom the information necessary was secured. In the cities investigated (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Minneapolis, and St. Paul) there were, in 1905, 400,000 women employed in stores, mills, factories, and other similar establishments.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- NUMBER OF WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS KEEPING HOUSE WHO HAVE SPECIFIED NUMBER OF PERSONS WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY DEPENDENT ON THEM FOR SUPPORT, BY WAGE GROUPS --------------+-----------------------------++---------------------------- | No. of women having || No. of women having | wholly dependent || partially dependent | on them || on them +-----------------------------++---------------------------- Average | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | || 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Weekly | per-| per-| per-| per-| || per-| per-| per-| per-| Earnings | son | sons| sons| sons| Tot.|| son | sons| sons| sons|Tot. --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+---- $ 1.00: $ 1.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 1.50: 1.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 2.00: 2.49| .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 || 1 | 3 | .. | .. | 4 2.50: 2.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 3.00: 3.49| 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 || 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 3.50: 3.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | 2 | .. | 1 | 4 4.00: 4.49| 2 | .. | 1 | .. | 3 || 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 4.50: 4.99| 1 | .. | 2 | 2 | 5 || 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 5.00: 5.49| .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 2 || 7 | 1 | .. | 2 | 10 5.50: 5.99| 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 || 4 | 1 | .. | .. | 5 6.00: 6.49| .. | 1 | 1 | .. | 2 || 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 6.50: 6.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 4 | 1 | 1 | .. | 6 7.00: 7.49| 3 | 1 | .. | .. | 4 || 1 | 1 | .. | 1 | 3 7.50: 7.99| .. | 3 | 2 | .. | 5 || 10 | .. | .. | 1 | 11 8.00: 8.49| 6 | .. | 1 | .. | 7 || 4 | .. | 2 | 1 | 7 8.50: 8.99| 2 | 1 | .. | .. | 3 || 2 | .. | .. | .. | 2 9.00: 9.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 2 | 2 | 1 | .. | 5 9.50: 9.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 10.00: 10.49| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || 2 | .. | .. | .. | 2 10.50: 10.99| .. | 1 | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 11.00: 11.49| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | .. | .. | 1 | 2 11.50: 11.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | 1 | .. | 1 12.00: 12.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 13.00: 13.99| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 14.00: 14.99| 1 | .. | .. | .. | 1 || .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 15.00: over | 1 | .. | 1 | .. | 2 || .. | 1 | .. | .. | 1 --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+---- Total | 24 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 46 || 54 | 21 | 15 | 11 | 101 --------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-----+-----+-----+-----+----

But bad food and bad housing are not the only enemies of the workman's health. The nature of his daily toil and the conditions under which it is performed are often against him. Even ventilation becomes important when one has to spend ten, eleven, or twelve hours a day in one room, and yet this is almost entirely neglected.

In 1908 a special officer was appointed in New York State to make tests of the atmospheric conditions in places of business. One hundred and thirty-six factories were examined, and in some printing establishments as many as forty parts of carbonic-acid gas (CO_{2}) in ten thousand volumes of air were found, though a legal limit of twelve is recommended. One cigar factory, with windows partly open, had eighty such parts. The following table will exhibit the results of this investigation.[66]

------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Parts of CO_{2} in| | | | | | | | 10,000 vols. air |5-12|13-20|21-25|26-30|31-40|42-60|65-70|75-80 ------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Factories in | | | | | | | | each class | 82 | 166 | 80 | 67 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 3 ------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

Sometimes the exigencies of the trade require that there should be no draft, as in the handling of carbon filaments for incandescent lamps, and then the conditions of the atmosphere become acutely unhealthy. In addition, in some of the rooms numerous bunsen burners are always lighted and all currents of air carefully excluded to prevent their flickering.[67]

Elsewhere, the process of manufacture often vitiates the air, as the "blow-over" in bottle shops. "In some factories, at times the air is so full of this floating glass that the hair is whitened by merely passing through the room. It sticks to the perspiration on the face and arms of the boys and men and becomes a source of considerable irritation. Getting into the eyes it is especially troublesome" (l. c., p. 66). Something similar occurs in etching glass by a sand-blast. Unless a hood and exhaust are provided, a pressure of from fifty to ninety pounds scatters fine sand and glass dust through the air and is breathed in by the operator (l. c., p. 440). Even worse, however, is the acid etching, as the fumes of hydrochloric acid cause severe irritation to the throat and lungs (l. c., p. 442).

Even when there is no such irritant in the air as just mentioned, extreme differences in temperature between the work-room and the outside, or between various parts of the shop, may be a source of serious danger to health. In the glass industry, many persons have to work in temperatures ranging from ninety to one hundred and forty degrees, and as high as fifty degrees above the outside air (l. c., p. 75). Industries where an artificial humidity is required, such as silk, cotton and flax spinning, are likely to induce rheumatism, pleurisy, etc. After working ten hours in a room filled with live steam to prevent breaking of threads, to pass into a New England blizzard is apt to produce serious results. The boys in bottle-making shops are obliged to pass continually from a temperature of 140 degrees at the "glory-hole" to one of 90 degrees or less in other parts (l. c., pp. 49ff.).

And even if conditions of atmosphere and ventilation are good, the mere fact of continuing work for thirteen hours seven days a week tells seriously upon the physical endurance of the strongest.[68] When night work is required in addition to the day's labor, as in the glass industry, the consequences are likely to be worse, especially where children are concerned.[69] Night work frequently means a presence in the factory of at least twenty hours out of the twenty-four. "During the course of the investigation there were found two cases of recent death, both children, which could be directly attributed to exhaustion due to double-shift work in the furnace room" (l. c., p. 122).

In the clothing trade, "some piece and task-workers reported that they commonly worked seventy-two and even seventy-eight hours a week during busy periods" (l. c., p. 115). "There were instances where women said they worked from 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning to 9, 10, or 11 o'clock at night" (l. c., p. 241). For store girls, "thirteen and one-half hours on Saturday is not only excessive but works considerable hardship."[70] "One girl worked 24-1/2 hours at one stretch with but two half-hour intermissions for meals.... Four girls working in one establishment on the 'night force' one day for each week reported their 'longest day's' labor as 16-3/4, 20-1/4, 22-1/2, 24-1/4 hours" (l. c., p. 205). On the elevated railways in Chicago, at the time of the investigation, 1907-08, women worked for 80-1/2 hours a week (l. c., p. 208).

When the business requires the maintaining of practically one position all day, whether standing or sitting, such long hours are bound to have a bad physical effect. This is the case, for example, in department stores (l. c., p. 178); in the glass industry where many growing boys are cramped before the furnace holes all day long;[71] in many processes in the manufacture of incandescent lamps (l. c., p. 482-483); and numerous other occupations.

But there is frequently added to mere length of hours a feverish haste in working induced by starvation piece-rates or by the necessity of keeping up with a machine. When a woman perforates 3100 bulbs a day and welds tubes to them, there must be a constant nervous tension to attain such rapidity (l. c., p. 469). The even more complex operation of stem-making for these bulbs proceeds at a rate varying from 2600 to 3500 a day (l. c., p. 467). Three thousand stems and bulbs are assembled each day (p. 470), while in one day, an expert will test the candle-power of 5000 lamps (p. 472). The operation of mounting Tungsten filaments in small copper wire is very much like threading an exceedingly small needle. If one imagines this repeated 3000 times a day, with thread that has to be handled with the greatest care to prevent breaking, he will have some idea of the strain on eyes and nerves (p. 478). Twenty thousand completed lamps are tested daily at a piece rate of 6c. per thousand lamps (pp. 486-487).

Very frequently, too, these long hours at an intense strain must be spent at work positively dangerous on account of the process, such as matchmaking[72] or painting lamps.[73] Chemical poisoning is frequent in hatters' and furriers' work, and plumbism, which is very similar to phosphorous poisoning, besets any trade in which lead is used. This is the case, in the production of white, red, or yellow lead, industries in which goods dyed with them undergo the process of building, winding, weaving, etc., and such an apparently innocuous occupation as the manufacture of earthenware and pottery. "One of the first symptoms of plumbism is a blue gum, followed by loosening and dropping out of the teeth. Blindness, paralysis, and death in convulsions frequently follow. Besides plumbism there are serious indirect results from lead-poisoning in a number of industries."[74] Readers of George Bernard Shaw will remember that Mrs. Warren adopted her profession through fear of contracting this disease. Her sister had fallen a victim to it and the frightful ravages made among her friends drove her to this course. In other industries such as wool sorting, blanket stoving and tentering, and warp dressing, lock-jaw is an incident.

Closely allied to a question already discussed, that of ventilations, is the insidious injury wrought by dust in the air. Some trades in which this condition is pronounced, seem materially to shorten life, as shown by a bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor for May, 1909, on "Mortality from Consumption in Certain Occupations." The proportion of those reaching the age of 65 and over among tobacco and cigar factory operatives was 1.8%; glove-makers, 2.3%; bakers, 2.4%; leather curriers and tanners, 2.9%; and confectioners, 3.1%: as against 4.7%, the average expected normal on the basis of all occupied males in the United States (l. c., p. 623).

Eighty-nine per cent. of the clergymen who died in 1900 were over 44, and 55% over 65 years of age; 76% of the lawyers dying in this year were over 44, and 41% over 65; 73% and 41% of the physicians had passed these respective ages; 80% and 37% of the bankers, officials of companies, etc., were over 44 and 65: yet more than half of the compositors dying in the United States for the year were under 49 years of age. About one-half of these died of pulmonary tuberculosis. Only 18% were over 60.[75] Between 1892 and 1898, 32% of the deaths of glass bottle-blowers were due to tuberculosis, largely induced, probably, by the strain on the lungs, the "blow-over," and conditions of temperature.[76]

Industrial mortality insurance statistics show that 23% of the deaths of those employed in trades exposed to organic dust are from consumption and 14% from other respiratory diseases, as against 14.8% and 11.7%, the expected respective averages for the United States.[77] The following table taken from the bulletin just quoted will probably exhibit the results more strikingly (p. 626):

-------------+-------------------------------------------- | Per cent. of deaths due to consumption | among: Age at death +---------------------+---------------------- | Occupations exposed | Males in registration | to organic dust | area, 1900-1906 -------------+---------------------+---------------------- 15-24 years | 40.1 | 27.8 25-34 years | 49.0 | 31.3 35-44 years | 35.3 | 23.6 45-54 years | 21.6 | 15.0 55-64 years | 11.0 | 8.1 65 and over | 4.5 | 2.7 -------------+---------------------+----------------------

It will be seen from this table, that deaths from consumption in these trades exposed to organic dust were more than half again as much as might reasonably have been expected. And it must be remembered that statistics indicate, "that general organic dust is less serious in its fatal effects than mineral or metallic dust, and as a result the proportionate mortality from consumption and other respiratory diseases in this group is more favorable than in the groups of occupations with exposure to mineral and metallic dusts" (l. c., p. 627).

More evident dangers of occupation, because more directly traceable to their causes, are industrial accidents. Manufacturers and employers sometimes wantonly, sometimes through ignorance, neglect the precautions and appliances necessary properly to safeguard their workmen. The introduction of complicated machinery, the use of high-power explosives, the strenuous conduct of production, without corresponding efforts to offset the natural tendencies of these conditions and tools, has made peace more horrible and dangerous than war.

Of all such sources of accident, mines are probably the most prolific. "The percentage of miners killed in this country is greater than in any other, being from two to four times as large as in any European country."[78] "Every year of the past decade," 1890-1900, "has seen from 500 to 700 Pennsylvania miners killed and from 1200 to 1650 injured. By comparing these figures with the total number employed, it will be found that on the average about one man in every 400 employed in the mines is killed yearly and about one out of every 150 injured."[79]

In 37 New England cotton mills in 1907, 1428 employees were injured.[80] The Bethlehem Steel Works alone had a record of 927 accidents in 1909.[81] In New York State, during a year of industrial depression, 1907, there were 14,545 accidents recorded,[82] and we know that they are more numerous in prosperous years.

Time and again we find in the succinct official reports such terse statements as: "While working on top of boiler was overcome by gas: dead when found," "struck by pieces thrown from bursting emery wheel, died from injuries ten days later," "heavy piece of machinery was being moved by crane which broke, allowing machinery to fall against tank, which in turn fell against deceased, crushing his legs and injuring him internally: death occurred one hour later," "caught in belt and whirled around shafting; death occurred before machinery could be stopped," "struck in face by broken belt; eyeball broken: death ensued two days later at hospital from effects of anæsthetic," "broken elevator shaft caused elevator to fall with operator; skull fractured and ear lacerated: death ensued later at hospital" (l. c., pt. I, pp. 109-113).

Such are the official reports. They give no idea of the suffering of the families, the struggles of widows and orphans when the head of the family has been struck down; they do not show the carelessness or greed that subjects men to the danger of working with worn-out cranes, or defective emery wheels, or weak belting; but they do show, in connection with the other data quoted, in a cold official way, that hundreds of thousands of men and women in this country are working for excessive hours, amid unsanitary surroundings, and without proper protection from the dangers of their work: judging by the standard which for the time being has been accepted as just.

Such conditions are hard enough for grown men and women to face, they are harder still for children. And by taking children away from school and putting them at work, frequently beyond their capacity, they are handicapped mentally and physically for making enough later on to support a family. The percentage of children so injured cannot be definitely arrived at, but they are employed in considerable numbers in a large variety of occupations. Sweatshops, glass factories, the making of neckties, cigars, paper and wooden boxes, picture frames, furniture, and shoes are a few of the widely different trades that take their quota. In the Southern cotton mills, twelve appears to be the age at which children are ordinarily expected to begin work; but some of the mills employ children under that age, now and then, in fact, as young as nine, eight, and even six years.[83]

"Probably the most serious and far-reaching effect of child-labor is the prevention of normal development, physical and mental. Besides being deprived of the schooling they would otherwise get, children are injured by confinement and sometimes worn out by work. In other cases the work is demoralizing because it does not call out the best faculties of the children, or leaves them altogether idle for a part of the year.

"It has been found that children are much more liable to accidents in factories than adults. Thus a recent report of the Minnesota Bureau of Labor shows that boys under sixteen have twice as great probability of accident as adults, while girls under sixteen have thirty-three [_sic_] times as great a probability of being hurt as women over sixteen.... It has also been found that overstrain of the muscular or nervous system is much more serious in children than in adults, and that children are also more susceptible to the poisons and injurious dusts arising in certain processes than grown persons."[84]

FOOTNOTES:

[63] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Men's Ready-Made Clothing," p. 297.

[64] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Glass Industry," p. 607.

[65] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Wage-Earning Women in Stores and Factories," p. 134.

[66] Cf. Report of Commissioner of Labor of New York for 1908 Vol. I, pp. 76-93.

[67] U. S. Bureau of Labor, "Glass Industry," p. 500.

[68] U. S. Commissioner of Labor, "Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works," p. 10, 1910.

[69] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 118.

[70] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Women Wage-Earners in Stores and Factories," p. 127.

[71] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 48.

[72] U. S. Bur. Lab., Bulletin No. 68, Jan., 1910: "Phosphorus Poisoning in the Match Industry."

[73] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," pp. 485-486.

[74] U. S. Indus. Comm., Vol. XIX, p. 901f.

[75] Rep. N. Y. State Bur. Lab., 1906, pp. CVII-CXXXV.

[76] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Glass Industry," p. 240.

[77] Bull. U. S. Bur. Lab., May, 1909, p. 626.

[78] "Monthly Catalogue U. S. Public Documents," Nov., 1909, p. 184.

[79] U. S. Indus. Com., Vol. XIX, p. 906.

[80] U. S. Bur. Lab., "Cotton Textile Industry," p. 383.

[81] U. S. Commissioner of Labor, "Report on Strike at Bethlehem Steel Works," p. 121.

[82] Report of Commissioner of Labor of N. Y., 1908, pt. I, p. 62.

[83] L. c., pp. 45, 65, 83, 85, 86: U. S. Bur. Lab., "Cotton Textile Industry."

[84] U. S. Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, p. 917f; cf. also U. S. Bur. Lab., "Cotton Textile Industry," p. 385f.