Page 65 - The Social Weapon: Darwinism

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T The Cruelties of Darwinist Employers
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With the Industrial Revolution that began in England and
soon spread to the whole of the rest of the world, new factories
were built and machines began to be used in them. People were
frequently injured because some employers attached no value to
human life, especially that of the workers, and refused to take
the necessary safety precautions. Most of these injuries resulted
either in death or in the loss of fingers, hands or arms. It has
been determined that in the 1900s a million workers a year died,
suffered serious handicaps or fell sick. 19
For workers who spent their lives in a factory, the loss of a
limb or organ was almost inevitable. During their working lives,
more than half of workers either fell ill or suffered serious in-
juries such as the loss of arms and legs, or of sight or hearing.
For example, workers manufacturing stiff brim hats suffered
mercury poisoning. Almost all radium dial painter workers
ended up with cancer. 20
Although employers were fully aware of working condi-
tions and the accidents taking place, some took no steps at all to
improve conditions. Many steel mill foundry workers worked
twelve-hour shifts in temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees C (117oF)
21
for very low wages. In 1892, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison
summarized these inhuman conditions by saying that every
day, the average American worker faced the same hazards as a
soldier at war. 22
Some capitalist businessmen attached no importance to
human life and regarded it as expendable. During the construc-
tion of the railroads alone, hundreds lost their lives due to bad
23
conditions. One of the most striking examples of this ruthless-
ness is of the American businessman J.P. Morgan, who pur-
chased 5,000 defective rifles at $3.50 apiece and sold them to the
Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar