Industrial Accidents in Different Months of the Year Compared with the Hours of Stmlight Each Day in Different Months According to Weather Records for New York City in 1 9 1 o

Twenty-four hours in a day are shcmi as 100 per cent divided between darkness, semi-darkness, and sunshine. Curves showing accidents for three different years liave the same general shape as tlie upper curve representing hours of darkness. The scale for the accident curves should have been started so as to show zero at the bottom of the curve field

The hours of cloudy weather, however, vary in different years. The area showing cloudiness and twilight was drawn from actual weather observations made in New York City during the year 1910. The percentage of sunshine in different months fluctuates considerably, as will be noticed in the chart.

COMPONENT PARTS SHOWN BY CURVES 141

The lower half of Fig. 127 contains three curves showing the monthly distribution, for three successive years, of about 700 deaths annually from industrial accidents reported from an area embracing 80,000 plants. The similarity of these curves, showing the number of fatal accidents per month, to the curves showing the percentage of darkness, is intended to convey to the person seeing the wall exhibit, the truth of the statement at the top of the chart, that "an abundance of light tends to prevent industrial accidents." Though Fig. 127 is a very commendable and effective piece of work, it should be pointed out that there is danger of exaggerating the facts in the way in which the chart is prepared. The lower left-hand scale does not begin at zero. By measuring, it can be seen that the scale begins at 20 accidents per month. The bottom line of the curve field should have been drawn near the edge of the picture frame to represent zero.