Civics and HealthAllen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Science
Civics and Health
Allen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Hygiene; Public health
Eight different elements of industrial efficiency are concerned with
the individual's health habits,--the industrial worker, his industrial
product, his employer, his employer's profit, his trade or profession,
its product, his nation, national product. Obviously few men have so
little to do that they have time to think out in detail how this act or
that indulgence will affect each of these eight factors of industrial
efficiency. Once convinced, however, that all of these elements are
either helped or injured by the individual's method of living, each one
of us has a strong reason for imposing habits of health upon all
industries, upon employees and operatives, upon all who are a part of
industrial efficiency. When these eight relations are seen, parents and
teachers have particularly strong reasons for inculcating habits of
health in their children.
That industrial inefficiency results from chronic habits of unhealthy
living is generally recognized. The alcoholic furnishes the most vivid
illustration. The penalties suffered by him and his family are grave
enough, but because he has not full possession of his faculties he is
unpunctual, wastes material, disobeys instructions, endangers others'
lives, decreases the product of his trade and of his employer, lessens
the profits of both, depresses wages, increases insurance and business
risks. Because no one can foresee when the "drop too much" will be
taken, industry finds it important to know that the habit of drinking
alcoholics moderately has not been acquired by train dispatcher,
engineer, switchman, chauffeur. Because the habit of drinking
moderately is apt, among lower incomes, to go hand in hand with other
habits injurious to business and fatal to integrity, positions of trust
in industry seek men and women who have the habit of declining drink.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account