Allegheny, Allentown, Altoona, Beaver Falls, Braddock, Bradford, Butler, Carbondale, Carlisle, Chambersburg, Chester, Columbia, Danville, These large establishments had the effect of building up new communities or of increasing the population of many other cities and boroughs. As an advantageous consequence more than onehalf the operations were carried on in the following fifty-four localities, and the table shows also which cities are pre-eminently devoted to manufacturing: DuBois, Dunmore, Duquesne, Easton, Erie, Harrisburg, Hazleon, Johnstown, Lancaster, McKeesport, Mahanoy, Mt. Carmel, Nanticoke, Norristown, Oil City, Philadelphia, 7.087 While the industrial life of the State shows improvement in the matter of the better sanitary conditions of the mines and workshops, where its vast army of labor is employed, and while the general physical condition of nearly every class of employes is now much better than it was a dozen years ago, it is painful to record the fact that there are an appalling number of fatal accidents yearly, equaling nearly two regiments of men; and if the four-fold more of those injured in a non-fatal manner were added the results might be likened to the removal of an entire division of men from actual service. As reported to this Bureau, these accidents are very plainly classified in the appended table, compiled from statistics secured in 1907: Manifestly there should be an improvement of these conditions if it is not possible to entirely remove their causes. In a strenuous age like the present, when the spirit of commercialism is such a predominating or influential factor, it may not be possible to correct all known existing evils, but the preservation of life and limb should never be over-shadowed by the elements entering into the mad rush for monetary reward. Improvement should be made whenever it is within the bounds of attainment. Unskilled and careless labor should be debarred from all occupations of unusual risk. Child labor should under no circumstances be permitted in dangerous places, where persons of more mature judgment might be employed. Every safeguard which experience and inventive skill can suggest should be used to minimize the dire disasters which occur almost daily, and which can or might be avoided by proper care or more considerate methods. It is the boast of European countries that they greatly excel us in these particulars, and that a civilization which will permit the continuance of the evils attributed to us lacks that very important national quality-a just and proper estimate of the value of human life. It is to be hoped that future action on the part of our lawmakers and the helpful co-operation of both employers and employes will very materially reduce the accidents connected with our industries so that, in time, these evils may be wholly or approximately abated. |