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Accidents in mining, though very common, have not been statistically tabulated as thoroughly as railway injuries. The occurrence of four mining disasters within a period of less than three weeks, in December, 1907, in which alone 650 persons were killed, will illustrate the economic loss in wage-earning capacity and the consequent burden of dependence. In one town of 3000 inhabitants the monthly wage cut off amounted to $17,500; 130 resident families and probably 120 families in the old country were left without means of support.

It is acknowledged that a large part of the injuries incident to such occupations as transportation, mining, and factory labor are preventable, and if there were as much direct profit in life-protecting devices as there is in inventions for economy of production, the number of such catastrophes would rapidly decline. With the aspects of prevention and compensation we are not at the moment concerned, but there is already promise of remedy in legislation making employers liable in industrial insurance and in propositions for workingmen's compensation, the cost of which will be added to the expense of production and finally borne by the consumer.

There is a destruction of personal capacity and a strong tendency to degeneration in a large number of occupations because of the disease-begetting conditions that surround the work. Much more has been done in England and European countries in searching out the source of diseases that have their origin in occupation than in this country. From the time Ramazzini published his memorable work, "De Morbis Artificum Diatriba," in the latter part of the seventeenth century, to Dr. Arlidge's "Diseases of Occupations," published in 1892, and the weighty volume on "Dangerous Trades" by Thomas Oliver and his collaborators in 1902, there has been a series of careful studies of the disease-engendering conditions of the trades and professions.

In this country, however, only a few of the labor bureaus have investigated this feature of the conditions of labor. Among the first to do so carefully was the New Jersey Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the results appear in its Annual Reports for 1889, 1890, and 1891. The effect of occupations upon the health and duration of the trade life of workmen was traced in three industries -- pottery, hat-making, and glass-blowing. As specimens of the facts brought to light by the investigation of these trades may be cited that of pot-makers, who prepare the pots in which the raw material for glass is melted. These pots are made of fine clay, which requires a great deal of care in its preparation, involving grinding, pulverizing the dry clay, its mixture, and tempering. At that time little attention was paid to the improvement of the machinery in use and the buildings in which these processes were conducted, so as to keep the workmen from inhaling the dust. As a consequence, from ten to fifteen years was about the length of time a man could work at the trade continuously in health. The report of the same Bureau in 1905 shows a most encouraging decline of the worst conditions in this dangerous trade. While there are a few establishments in which "lead colic," "potter's asthma," and tuberculosis, the characteristic diseases of this occupation, are still produced by antiquated methods of manufacture, and by excessive dust, in the majority of them the trade is now fairly healthful. It is particularly significant that in proportion as the trade has become less deadly, intemperance has declined among the employees.

In recent years the Massachusetts State Board of Health has made a careful investigation of conditions affecting health or safety of employees (104) in a large number of occupations. The textile industries, in which Massachusetts stands first in point of production, employ more women and minors than men and are generally regarded as unhealthful because of irritating dust which tends to produce disease of the lungs. In the mill towns it appears, however, that the death-rates of mill operatives are not abnormally high, nor do the general death-rates of these towns compare unfavorably with those of towns engaged in other lines of industry. Of the 93 manufacturing establishments investigated, 19 carry on their manufacture under nearly ideal conditions, and 23 under conditions designated as good; moderately bad conditions prevail in 35, and distinctly bad in 16; in all of the two latter classes, the report declares, marked improvement is possible without unreasonable expenditure. The unwholesome conditions in these establishments consist of poor light, impure air, non-regulation of artificial moisture (i.e. excess of moisture and undue heat or no artificial moisture and excessive heat), more or less dust (some "infectious" dust), lack of cleanliness, and poor ventilation. In this report, as in almost every other on the same subject, mention is made of the reckless indifference of the employees themselves to ordinary hygienic precautions, even when prescribed as rules of the factory. This apathy of workmen and the neglect of employers have made it necessary for the state to interfere and fix the plane of competition below which employers are not allowed to go nor workmen to permit themselves to be employed. The Massachusetts Board of Health proposes that when there is any question as to the interpretation of the law requiring factories to be well lighted, clean, and sanitary, the inspectors shall use as a standard the conditions existing in those factories carrying on a similar business, in similar buildings, where the health, safety, and welfare of the working people are most completely protected.