I can recommend a couple of sources that MacKinnon Simpson might find useful in trying to establish the link between tuberculosis and the printers' trade: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the Politics of Occupational Disease in Twentieth-Century America (Princeton University Press, 1991); and Michael E. Teller, The Tuberculosis Movement: A Public Health Campaign in the Progressive Era (Greenwood Press, 1988). Both of these sources provide a historical overview of the medical community's understanding of tuberculosis, and they investigate the links between the workplace and a variety of lung diseases that were often classified as t.b. I don't know that much about the printing trade, but I would guess that if there was a high incidence of tuberculosis among printers, it may have something to do with the interconnections of fumes, coughing, and spitting in the workplace. If you can't find the answer to your question in these sources, you might consider posting a request on H-Labor. Good luck. Gregg Andrews Southwest Texas State University