Blog 257 – 03-24-2016

Today’s title is an expression that used to mean “hurry up, go faster.” We have in this country known for sometime that lead is harmful especially to children. We did not know this about many of the chemical elements that have been used widely like Mercury when manufacturers first found a market for them. When I was a boy we played with Mercury from broken thermometers and rubbed it on pennies to make them look like dimes.

Many alive today do not even remember when gasoline contained lead or that paint once did. So it came as a surprise to many the problems in Flint, Michigan with lead in the water. For many years lead pipe was used for water pipe and even when steel pipe began to be used for water lines the joints were often joined together with lead.

Several years before he died and after he had retired my dad kept himself busy with a weekly yard sale. The two main items he was known all over the Chattanooga area for were tools with wooden handles (hammers, hoes, shovels, axes etc.) and lead sinkers of all sized for fishing. Dad bought out a wooden handle manufacturer’s inventory of handles of all types and went to flea markets and other’s yard sales to buy hammer heads, axe heads and the like that he could put new handles in and resale. At first he would replace handles for people but found most people did not want to pay enough to make it worth his while and that he made more money and managed his time and investment better selling repaired tools complete.

For the fishing sinker business he purchased molds of all sizes even up to one pound for deep sea fishing sinkers. Then he bought “plumbers lead”, melted it with a torch, and filled his molds. I wondered after his death if he poisoned himself breathing the fumes from all that molten lead. Dad was a great table game player and card player. He counted cards in his head and could recall what had been played and this gave him quite an advantage. The last afternoon of his life Dad did not play Monopoly with us. Mom said he said he didn’t like to play cards and table games anymore because his mind was failing him.

I know they say that is what many of us oldsters have to look forward to but I still wonder if lead or perhaps alcohol did not hasten my father losing his sharpness of mind or even bring on the stroke that ended his life.

I also wonder why we are so slow when the evidence is so clear about a chemical being harmful to take it off the market. But I know the answer as well as you do – the love of profit more than people. I say with Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, “”For the love of God do your duty.” This I say to all government officials who swear an oath to uphold The Constitution which charge they clearly have ” To promote the general welfare.” And get the lead out.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White