ic resorts of all sorts as bar-maids, singers,
dancers, etc., to attract men in quest of pleasure. This is a field in
which impropriety runs riot, and the holders of white slaves lead the
wildest orgies.

Among the occupations mentioned, not a few are most dangerous.
Dangerous, for instance, are the sulphuric and alkaline gases in the
manufacturing and cleaning of straw hats; so is the inhalation of
chlorine gases in the bleaching of vegetable materials; the danger of
poisoning is imminent in the manufacture of colored paper, colored
wafers and artificial flowers; in the preparation of metachromotype,
poisons and chemicals; in the painting of leaden soldiers and leaden
toys. The on-laying of looking-glasses with quicksilver is simply deadly
to the fruit of pregnant women. If, of the live-births in Prussia, 22
per cent. on an average die during the first year, there die, according
to Dr. Hirt, 65 per cent. of the live-births of female on-layers of
quicksilver, 55 per cent. of those of female glass-polishers, 40 per
cent. of those of female lead-makers. In 1890, out of 78 lying-in women,
who had been occupied in the type foundries of the district of
Wiesbaden, only 37 had a normal delivery. Furthermore, according to Dr.
Hirt, the manufacture of colored paper and artificial flowers, the
so-called powdering of Brussels lace with white lead, the preparation of
decalcomania pictures, the on-laying of mirrors, the manufacture of
rubber goods, in short, all occupations at which the working-women are
exposed to the inhalation of carbonic acid gases, are especially
dangerous from the second half of pregnancy onward. Highly dangerous is
also the manufacture of phosphorus matches and work in the shoddy mills.
According to the report of the Baden Trades Inspector for 1893, the
yearly average of premature births with women engaged in industry rose
from 1,039 in the years 1882-1886, to 1,244 in the years 1887-1891. The
number of births that had to be aided by an operation averaged for the
period of 1882-1886 the figures of 1,118 a year, and for the period of
1886-1891 it averaged 1,385. Facts much graver than any of these would
come to light if similar investigations were held also in the more
industrially developed countries and provinces of Germany. As a rule the
Inspectors are satisfied with stating in their reports: "No specially
injurious effects were discovered in the employment of women in the
factories." How could they discove