CONTENTS. Anthrax as an occupational disease, by Wm. H. Rand, M. D. Conciliation work of the Department of Labor, May 16 to June 15, 1916.... Conciliation work of the Department of Labor, March 4, 1913, to June 6, 1916.. Federal employment work of the Department of Labor.. Work of State and municipal employment bureaus. Employment in selected industries in May, 1916. Employment in the State of New York in May, 1916. Proceedings of the American Association of Public Employment Offices..... Unemployment insurance under the British National Insurance Act.. Employment managers' conference, Boston, May 10, 1916.. Strikes and lockouts, December, 1915, to May, 1916. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 1, 1915.. Wages and hours of labor in the cotton, woolen, and silk industries. Retail prices of food in the United States in March and April.... Page. In man anthrax is almost exclusively of occupational origin. The newspapers occasionally chronicle the occurrence of the infection in workmen employed in tanneries or as packers, handlers and dressers of imported hides and hair, wool sorters, or as farm laborers. It is certain, however, that but a small percentage of the cases ever come to the knowledge of the general public. In the Journal of the American Medical Association of December 4, 1915, a news item casually refers to "another death from anthrax," reported from Endicott, N. Y., the city bacteriologist of Binghamton confirming the diagnosis. This victim had been employed in an Endicott tannery, where, it is presumed, he became infected. No comment is made on this fatality, either editorially or by the correspondent sending the communication. In all such cases specific data ought to be obtainable. Where did the hides come from? Had they been inspected by a State or Federal officer? Had they been subjected to any (and what) process of sterilization? If so, was the disinfection inadequate? Who was at fault in the matter? What penalty attaches to negligence in observing sanitary regulations as to anthrax? Are any prophylactic measures enforced by State or local boards of health for the protection of the workmen exposed to this contagion? These are some of the questions that demand full answer. In some of the States anthrax is a reportable disease and should be made such by law everywhere. Probably no part of the country is exempt from the disease. The Bulletin of the Maine State Board of Health for January, 1916, reports, "In Maine cases of human anthrax have occasionally occurred among those who have handled hides which have come from places where this disease is prevalent." At the annual meeting of the Delaware State Medical Society at Wilmington, October 11 and 12, 1915, Dr. John Palmer, jr., reported |