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162 THE COLORED AMERICAN MAGAZINE houses. To drive out dirt means to drive out disease, not only tuberculosis, but many others. OCCUPATIONS. The fact that certain occupations seem to predispose persons to tuberculosis more than others has been the cause of endless investigation on the part of medical scientists and sociologists. Many statistics have been compiled and much speculation has been indulged in. It has been estimated that as far as tuberculosis is concerned, stone cutting is the most unhealthy occupation (Brandt), and bankers, brokers and officials of companies are the most healthy lot. Unfortunately we cannot all be bankers and brokers. Out of 100,000 marble and stone cutters, five hundred and forty died of tuberculosis. This is undoubtedly due to the inhaling of small particles of stone which set up an irritation of the respiratory tract, making it very susceptible to the tubercle bacillus. Next to the stone cutters, the cigar-makers and tobacco makers are most likely to contract tuberculosis. The irritation to the respiratory tract by the tobacco dust as well as the unsanitary condition of tobacco factories are the causes of this being such an unhealthy occupation. Next come plasterers and whitewashers, then printers, then servants, then hat and cap makers, then bookkeepers, clerks and other persons who are engaged in occupations keeping them indoors and physically inactive. Then laborers (not agricultural), then tinners, then cabinet makers and upholsterers, then musicians and music teachers, then glassblowers, then barbers, then sailors. In this table forty other occupations are given. The five healthiest occupations so far as tuberculosis is concerned are steam railroad employees, clergymen, miners and quarymen, farmers and the bankers, brokers and officials of companies. HABITS. Dissipation is a potent factor in the fall of the body by tuberculosis. All persons who are sick unto death deserve sympathy and prayers, but I trust I am not transgressing my religious teachings when I say least of all does he deserve sympathy who has brought himself to death's door by habits contrary to the advice of a good mother, forgetting the lessons of Sabbath School, and words of good teachers. As Dr. Flick says: "Disease and death are the wages of sin. When the black sheep of the family meets with an early death, usualy it is by the way of consumption." It may seem strange to you, but I have never heard a so-called temperance lecture in my life but the knowledge I have of the far-reaching results of the use of alcohol has more than once caused me to say that a man might with greater safety dose himself with strychnine. Every vital organ of the body is damaged by the abuse of spirits – the heart, kidneys, liver, blood vessels, stomach. Consequently when a man with half a heart – figuratively speaking – half a liver, half a stomach, is attacked by the tubercle bacillus, there is nothing in him to fight with. He is only half a man, and what else can you expect them to do but to die. But when a young man's father or mother or good [[End page]] [[start page]] THE COLORED AMERICAN MAGAZINE 163 [[Image – portrait photograph of well-dressed young man in suit and tie and bat-wing collar, autographed: Henry M. Minton 1906 – captioned: HENRY M. MINTON, Ph. G., M. D]] friends advise him of the fire he is playing with in the abuse of the system by alcohol, he says, "You are regular old fogies, grannies, behind the times." My dear friends, this is not a lecture on morality, but one self-preservation. You don't have to take my word for it. Watch and see for yourself. By dissipation I don't mean alcoholic drinking alone. Excessive use of tobacco, overeating, bad hours and loss of rest, and many other habits which go with drinking, and some-
