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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1908)
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In 17 Years Nearly 29,000 Men Bave : Perished Underground : 71 T OT.very pleasant, nor creditable to I America, certainly, is a report just , . waJtf a Aff French government by M. Taffanel, an expert sent Jo investi gate the numerous coal-mine disasters on this side the Atlantic. 'Mine operators of the United States, as a rule, he thinks, have little regard for humari life, judging from the almost gen eral lack of effective . means to guard the ' lives- of the 630,000 or so men ' and hoys whyr& compelled to earn their livelihood burrowing in the boxvcls of the earth. ' To appalling proportions, indeed, ht$ the death ' rate in coal mines grown of re cent years Annually nearly as many lives are 'snuffed out in underground horrors as the United States lost, by, bullet and dis ease combined, duringthe war with Spain, and more than twice the number are in jured. , With his life in'his hand, the Ameri can miner goes to his daily toil. More than three .times as many per thousand employed are killed on this side the A tlantic annually as meet death in the deeper pits of France . and Belgium, and nearly three times as many as .in the, mines of Great Britain. Prussia? with, the worst record in, Europe, sitbws an-annual death toll from mine dis asters1 only two-thirds as heavy per thou sand as that of 'America. As a maker of widops and orphans the . coal mine holds nigh rank among the in dustries of the country r t . XT! W 'HEN 'M.1 Ta'ffenel made -his scathing criticismf American mining meth ods.1' at least three - bills -intended to , prevent, .so.far as' possible, 'such ter- -rible.' disasters" aa- have .marked -the t last six months were r pending I in 'Congress, 'thejri spon sors being' Representatives ' McIIenry and 'Wat son, of Pennsylvania, and 'Englebright,' of Cali-. forma These Bureau the Department of ,Commerco and Labor..1 The bureau will have power to investigate 'mining ac- . cidents, with a',view.to preventing them, and also to plan the establishment of "a fund out'of -which surviving victims of accidents' may1 be compen- ' ' sated or the dependents, oft those killed inay "be . ')( ,.' 2 - -- ese", provide tforthe establishment ,pf a of Mines and Mining, ;tobe included in !.. 1 i pensioned. - t For it isn't alone the men and. boys whose lives may bo snuffed ont without warning by an explosion of firedamp or the collapst, of a treach erous mine roof who are to be considered in plan-' ning battle tgainst the .underground demon of death.,- - , , A- large : percentage; of fatalities throws newly made widows and orphans upon their own pitiful resources or upon the charity of the com-' munity.1 -' - ' ' ; , . ' . ' . When 400 men and boysi one Friday morn lmr.' streamed.- in two long. lines,' into tho en- trances of the Monongah mine, near Fairmont,' W,:Va., there was no suspicion of danger. ; No, place of -underground labor in , the state had a higher reputation fee safety and good manage-. Cyeffl&'&ttttctio 7fejyo7iof?j&4.WPfr., jfocfei-cS0tffTcJfiri'cr& . ,. ,-i-r ; 4t .-- ,..1 11 - , -J, - " - J4- .4.' fc L4 . v . ; Only one of the doomed 'army came ' but' alive! " y . ' ; ' " '. 1 "'' ' Down the long, slanting tunliel they had gone; their jokes' and. laughter floating 'back . through the grimy ndssages,'. the lights in, their ' , . caps flickering like, fireflies ' in the deepening '4, dusk:,.. ; : ..; a , ' , . , In the town abovewives and mothers were ; ' busy about their household -tasks and tending . , the wants of little, ones, who, in' time, they be lieved, were destined to join' the daily pr'odession ' ' of underground toilers. , " 1 . ' ''A 'few Koftrs later,-and -th4' town. was. lifted. . and shaken "by aheavy explosion.' All those on ' the surface knew what itVmeant. ' '," In a short , time hundreds of frantic women and children and a' few score .whitei-faced men had gathered at the mine entrances, which wero' wrecked' and from which poured' volumes"' of smoke,' dust('and gas.', ( lioweyer 'desperately pursued, it was soon found that the work of rescue would' be in vain. ' . There was no life left- in the' grim, hungry maw -of the Monongah. . ' ' ' For -days the sad after-story engaged the at-,. tention of a horrified country, and' then passed virtually from' mind, as had done many ' other ' , calamities of like nature. , ' ' 1 The world ; moved on; it transferred its in terest to tfther things. , It was the terrible explosion, in. tho, Coiir riers mine,' near Calais, France, in 1906,' causing the death- of -1060' miners, that ledl'.to a -stiffening of French mining regulations'" and to the es tablishment,' under the. direction of .M. ", Taffanel, ofa fltecial goyefnipent stationvto make, a study of inflammable substances present in -the cham bers of nunes:aM which endanger the lives of miners through explosions. This is part of the . . work .proposed for the Bureau of Mining In this .country. - ' . . : - That; disaster, too affected the percentage of French 'mine fatalities for the year-ra percent age that' had been becoming remarkably' small. , . 1 v Four 'mine disasters, alone, tin ,thT United . States, toward the close; of last "year, resulted " ,' in the Joes -of- nearly , one .thousand - Hves.1 ,r .'; ' Tbis- increase of fatalities ; during recent ' years,, say Messrs. )Clarenc ;IIaJlhd; Walter O.' Shelling, experts pf .the United States Gec ; , V logical . burvey, has been, due- m'.part to ,.the.r lack of proper and enforceable mine iregulatibns; ' 1 in part to the lack of ; reliable' inforfiaatidn con-!- cerning the explosives , used in' miningaxjd .tha;-, conditions under, which they eah'bej used t8afely , in the presence of th gas and dust 'encountered t in jtha minesy and' in? part 'to. the fact'that "in:: tho. developnxept 'of coal' mining n6tl;pnly(.'is tfee ' y . number .. of k mines . indireasing .but man,y arai l ' . , from which coal" is. taken .areejtherideeperi'p 4 -farthersfrom the entrances -where gpod ventila-(,. ' tion'is more 'difficult and tKov' dangerous. acc.u ; muiauons 01 explosive gas are more irequent. . 1 PROTECTIVE MEASURES! ftEEDED ';y, INCREASE IN DISASTERS "The incroase both in the. numbers and "tftft ff -seriousness of. mine', explosions 'in? the ;Unit'ed ':. States during . past years 'may '-be expected to ' continuei they say further,1. "unless the country! adopts" means that - have - proved ; successful . in i , European countries, ' where '"-the ; proportionate ; death' rate has-been materially. reduced.''-'''' A glance at the figure's will show; that Europe' ' is far. ahead of the 'United States ini'preventing' . mine' disasters.' ? . ' ;'., 'y,', iy ".' In ' 1805, iin America", the ratio ' of persons ' " killed was 2.67 for,.every',100vmen employed, f ' A steady increase in the'ratio. followed; -in. 1008'-' it reached-3.40 per1000.s. 'And this ratio, was .' , exceeded in 1902 and 1905. ' - ;..y. ;."v ,h; Prior to J 1840, ...when, tho!' first . preventive, measures v were taken, .Belgium- had killed ia f its mines an average .o.i349,f qr jeyery.lOOO men I . empfoyed. ' That ratio in the period of. 1901-1908 i : had' been reduced to" 1.02, 'or one-third thatbf ' the United States. -In 1906 the Belgian ratio had . dropped to .94, while "that of; America had ' risen .to. 3.40. . . ' : Great' Britain dropped its' fatio of "deaths 4 . per 1000 men employed from 1.50 in 1891 to J.29 m 1906 1 the Prussian" ratio dedreftsed from 2.94.': .. . ' ih,188Q to.1.80 in 1904; " that of France-dropped As stated,' America leads the principal coal mining countries of the worhHn mine fatalities'.- in-five years'from 1.03 per 1000 to ".84. And m recent years there has been amarked an- ."'j 'America, only, has .shown a steady increase crease in both tne number ana seriousness r ox ' ot natalities. V ' sujh disasters. , l'; 'Vhylis.this?!. .Why ia America today ki!lingi. - In the last seventeen years 22,840 men and more'men per 1000 .employed,, or per mill ion tons; boys have been killed "in tho coal mines of the , . , of .coal, produced, than ever before, or than any United States. ' ' ,' "." ' other. country kills f ' ,-f , And. many more thousands nave been.m-,, , jured,,many maimed for life, . 0 :.;'--' -, . In 1906-rthe. latest year-for' whiqh. official statistics have- been compiled: 2061 wero killed . and 4800 injured, In 1905 the deaths numbered ' 2097 and in 1904 they -were' 1999. ! .'During the last' six years thtpre have' teen-' , as 'many, violent deaths Uu the mines as during ' l-the preceding f1evenyeara, tlie number having ' practically doubled. ' ' i- ( ... In L 1890 ; there were , 701 ' fatalities ; this nurnjber was1 about equaled by two accidents lata last 3rear those ; at . Monongah,. ,W.- Vij., . and can be worked more easily, than ihoso of any other country, arid with less danger. - ' European mines, as a rule, aro older; have .been-carried deeper into the earth and are con-, . sidered more gaseous ' I ' ! ,' . Perhaps the best mining machinery in tho world is made on this side the Atlantic, - It in ;eadijy. available to every region where men go '" down to toil underground.' ' - Tho American Institute of ; neera ' is known a? u'ki of - 1 SL-iciitiib lod'.a on ?.nt!, e- ! i ment. - - - ' . tho. Darr mine in western rennjylvania.
