Show prevention OF MINE ACCIDENTS loss of life in the western metal mines is very small when compared to the terrible fatalities in the coal mines of the country and yet one can scarcely look over a western paper without reading of some mine accident while these accidents are few in comparison they are really more deplorable because most of tiem could be avoided carelessness is the large factor in the majority of cases and this can usually be attributed to the miners themselves As a class they are extremely reckless they soon become so accustomed to the dangers they must face every day that all sense of precaution is lost and the usual measures of safety are disregarded the inevitable happens sooner or later but the lesson seems lost on the thousands of workers who each day repeat the same follies careful supervision on the part of the mine managements however would greatly check this reckless tendency of the miners A competent foreman should closely inspect the mine workings before allowing a shift to go on he should see that the ground was safe that no missed holes had been left unmarked that the outlet to the mine be clear and many other things which are usually left to the miners to discover and in most cases too late to avoid the danger false economy plays clays another large part in the tragedies of the mines just a few days since we read in a western paper of a case where two human lives had been snuffed out because no manway had been built with the shaft hanging helpless in the cage over a round of shots the hoist refused to work and they were blown to atoms without a chance to escape A manway would have cost but a few dollars extra and in this case would have been the means of saving two lives such criminal negligence should not be allowed allowed to go unpunished and yet there are thousands just such death traps all over the country coal mining is being regulated and government inspectors are trying to stamp out careless and criminal methods of mining the metal mines however are under absolutely no supervision we have our food inspectors forest inspectors bank inspect tors insurance inspectors and most every other kind but one of the most important a mining inspector is conspicuous in the list by his absence perhaps when the tariff tinkers of our great commonwealth cOMMOnweal ul get through with their present juggling act they may be induced to take up the ma matter ater of a C government overn ment bureau of mines mine and give one of the greatest american industries a I 1 little it lie lite due recognition |