616 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
but in the winter of 1908 following its introduction the absences were 
cut down to 1.9 per cent of the force employed, without any other 
change in conditions or personnel so far as I was able to discover. 
The vice president of the Manhattan Trust Co. of New York states 
that by proper ventilation he has so increased the efficiency of his 
clerical force that he has been able to reduce the number of employees 
4 per cent. 
In the printing establishment of Mr. C. J. O’Brien, in New York, a 
ventilating system was installed because of the insistence of the 
State department of labor that the law be complied with, the order 
having been resisted for two years. After the system had been in 
use a year, the proprietor stated that had he known in advance of 
the results to be obtained no order would have been necessary to 
have brought about the installation. Whereas formerly the men 
had left work on busy days in an exhausted condition and sickness 
was common, now the men left work on all days in an entirely differ- 
ent condition, and sickness had been very much reduced. ‘The errors 
of typesetting and time required for making corrections were greatly 
reduced. 
It is much to be desired that this problem should be studied by 
careful quantitative methods as a definite factor in the profit and loss 
account. The National Electric Lamp Association is approaching 
the question of sanitary conditions in this manner, comparing in 
detail the temperature and humidity of its workrooms with the 
hours of work, the pay and the efficiency of its employees. Only 
by such systematic study can it be determined how much factory 
sanitation is really worth in any given case. The evidence is already 
strong enough, however, to warrant some investigation. In cases 
where preliminary study shows its value, why should not the sani- 
tary inspection of a factory be made a part of its routine operation 
just as supervision of its mechanical features is a part of its organi- 
zation to-day? It isnot solely or chiefly the problems of ventilation 
as ordinarily understood that should be studied; and it must be 
remembered that there is never anything magical in a “ventilating 
system.” “Systems” are as dangerous in sanitation as quackery in 
medicine. The problem must be approached from a broad biological 
viewpoint, and should include all the conditions which make for 
lowered vitality. Temperature and humidity come first and foremost 
and dust and fumes must be guarded against in certain processes. 
The cleanliness of the factory, the purity of drinking water, the qual- 
ity of lighting, the sanitary provisions, and a dozen other points will 
suggest themselves to the skilled investigator when on the ground. 
He may find in many of these directions economic methods by which 
efficiency can be promoted. 
The consulting factory sanitarian will be a new factor in industry, 
but the progress of industrial economy and of sanitary science unite 
in pointing to the need for such an expert. 
