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17
remove from a locality in the event of impending
ill-health, or of contagious disease breaking out
near them. There is this unfortunate distinction
existing between the rich and the poor in
reference to the influence of preventible disorders,
and consequent ravages upon either class : while the
wealthy are able to seek in change of climate and
locality a removal from the scene, the humbler
classes are nearly, if not altogether, debarred from
such an advantage by inadequate means and the
necessity of earning their bread in one fixed locality.
It is of no avail to lament over the laws of
absolute necessity, but all parties should combine
in a demand for that even-handed justice to
the working ranks, which, though it may not interfere
with a stern destiny which consigns them to
a life of toil, is bound at least to provide that the
theatre of that toil shall be free from the pollutions
that endanger the functions of life, and uncontaminated
by contagion and death.
I must say it is a scandal to the present constitution
of society that the reverse of this continues
from year to year in spite of all the suggestions
of medical officers of health, and the warnings
of experience. In vain does one plague after
another ravage the family of industrial orders, and
like doomed men they stand amidst the harvest of
death,looking earnestly but in vain to the legislature
for that help which no other power can give.
Parents, children and friends drop around them
the victims of a poisoned atmosphere : while they
hear and feel successive warnings, the irrevocable
law of necessity fixes them to the spot and
they cannot flee from the danger.
c