The Common Sense of Socialism: A Series of Letters Addressed to Jonathan Edwards, of PittsburgSpargo, John
General
The Common Sense of Socialism: A Series of Letters Addressed to Jonathan Edwards, of Pittsburg
Spargo, John
Socialism
Here is another diagram for you, Jonathan, showing the comparative
mortality from Consumption among the workers engaged in six different
industrial occupations and the members of six groups of professional
workers.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM
Showing Relative Mortality From Tuberculosis.
Deaths per 100,000 living in the same occupation
Marble and stone cutters. 540
Cigar makers and tobacco workers. 476
Compositors, printers, pressmen. 435
Barbers and hairdressers. 334
Masons (brick and stone). 294
Iron and steel workers. 236
Physicians and Surgeons. 168
Engineers and Surveyors. 145
School teachers. 144
Lawyers. 140
Clergymen. 123
Bankers, brokers, officials of companies, etc. 92]
I want you to study this diagram and the figures by which it is
accompanied, Jonathan. You will observe that the death rate from
Consumption among marble and stone cutters is six times greater than
among bankers and brokers and directors of companies. Among cigar
makers and tobacco workers it is more than five times as great. Iron
and steel workers do not suffer so much from the plague as some other
workers, according to the death-rates. One reason is that only fairly
robust men enter the trade to begin with. Another reason is that a
great many, finding they cannot stand the strain, after they have
become infected, leave the trade for lighter occupations. I think
there can be no doubt that the _true_ mortality from Consumption among
iron and steel workers is much higher than the figures show. But,
taking the figures as they are, confident that they understate the
extent of the ravages of the disease in these occupations, we find
that the mortality is more than two and a half times greater than
among capitalists.
Now, these are very serious figures, Jonathan. Why is the mortality so
much less among the capitalists? It is because they have better homes,
are not so overworked to physical exhaustion, are better fed and
clothed, and can have better care and attention, far better chances of
being cured, if they are attacked. They can get these things only from
the labor of the workers, Jonathan.
_In other words, they buy their lives with ours. Workers are killed to
keep capitalists alive._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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