Show LOSS OF LIFE IN MINING dec I 1 that peaceful industry has its horrors as well as war is shown in the casualty list of american mines and quarries for 1913 issued today by the united states bureau of mines this list gives men killed in the year the number of men injured was not tabulated but it is estimated that it reached altogether in the coal mines metal mines and quarries men were employed and the death rate for each 1000 men engaged was or nearly three and one half men dr joseph A holmes director of the bureau of mines comes forward with the statement that taking the hazzards of the industry into consideration this list of death and injury is excessive and unnecessary and a discredit to the industry and the country commenting on the deaths in the mines dr holmes said we stand aghast at the slaughter in europe as reports reach us concerning the terrible war that is raging and we pride ourselves on our freedom from war through the adaptation of higher meals ideals and standards yet to me this report on the death in one year of men engaged in a peaceful industry is quite as discreditable and when we consider that this record is being repeated year after year the very thought of it becomes appalling in the last three years as far back as the records of the bureau covering certain branches of the industry go the mines and quarries of the united states have swallowed up human lives and have incapacitated temporarily probably a quarter of a million men and the saddest part of it all is that a great part of this death roll and a still greater part of the injuries are not necessary I 1 believe I 1 am conservative when I 1 say that half of the men killed in the year 1913 might have been saved and three fourths of the men injured in the same year might have escaped injury had all the various agencies involved the operators the miners and the state and national governments done their full duty in the matter perhaps no one of these agencies has done its full duty por for the bureau of mines as representing the federal government I 1 can say that owing to a alack lack of adequate funds this bureau has fallen short of doing its full part in this great safety movement and I 1 therefore hesitate to criticize the seeming shortcomings of any other agency it is not to the credit of the hinted states that the very european countries embroiled in the greatest conflict of the ages es kill in their mining industries but one half or even one third of the number of men we kill I 1 refer to the number killed tor for every 1000 employed which is a fair basis for comparison according to the latest foreign statistics belgium killed one man in every 1000 great britain and france one and one half men and germany two and one half men as compared with the american date rate of three and one half with such a grew some record as has the united states in its mining industry it is high time something more drastic is done to bring this excessive loss of life down to a basis that will be more favorably comparable with other countries it can be done it should be done and I 1 hope that the american people will see that is done before the federal government began its attempt to aid in reducing the mortality of the mines the death rate was steadily increasing and although every year our coal mines grow deeper and more hazardous as with increasing depth the explosive gases increase this increase in fatalities tali ties has fortunately been stopped and the rate is now being slightly reduced but this is only a beginning of what I 1 hope will soon be a much greater improvement what we really aim to do is to aid in saving the lives of at least two men in every 1000 of the three and one half men per 1000 now killed in our mining operations in an industrial army of over a million men working underground that will mean a yearly saving of more than 2000 lives and in the combined mining and mineral industries employing two and one third million men I 1 hope we can aid in preventing 30 to accidents each year it must not be forgotten that mining is and always will be a hazardous industry and that each year it will demand as its tribute to modern civilization a certain death roll we cannot avoid the inevitable but we can avoid the unnecessary and that would mean each year the lives of at least two thousand miners spared to the nations wage earners and to their wives and families and a reduction to an extent of to in none fatal accidents in the mining and metallurgical industries of the country surely this is something worse striving for |