CHAPTER XXXVI 



INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS OF HEALTH 



Questions. 1. Do people live longer in civilized countries or in un- 

 civilized countries ? What conditions make the difference ? 2. What 

 conditions in modern life are unfavorable to health ? What conditions 

 are favorable ? 3. What kinds of occupations are dangerous ? Why ? 

 Why do people enter dangerous- occupations ? 4. Can dangerous occu- 

 pations be made safe ? 5. How can accidents be prevented ? 6. Why 

 do the laws interfere more with some kinds of business than with others ? 



283. Changing conditions of work and life. With the growth 

 of industry it has become easier to produce the necessities and 

 conveniences and luxuries of life. As a result the standards of 

 living have been steadily rising in all industrial countries for a 

 century and a half. In more recent times it has been possible to 

 measure the improvement in part by a study of the health condi- 

 tions and the death rates. If we compare the sickness and death 

 rates of poorer communities or countries with those of more 

 prosperous communities or countries, we find that, on the 

 average, the poorer people have more sickness and die younger. 

 If we compare the health and mortality of earlier periods with 

 later periods, we find improvement. Of course this improve- 

 ment is not wholly due to increase in the productivity of indus- 

 try, but it is partly due to that. The men and women whose 

 work makes living conditions better are themselves often suffer- 

 ing from bad working conditions. Some occupations are strik- 

 ingly dangerous, involving serious accidents. Among these are 

 marine service, iron and steel manufacture, chemical manufac- 

 ture, and work in compressed air. Other occupations are dan- 

 gerous to health, although they are not classified as hazardous 

 or as involving great risk of accident. The dangers in such oc- 

 cupations arise from the special materials used or from the 



379 



