The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-08-24
Miners and Their Dangers.

The late accident at Pittston. by which
seventeen persons were suddenly killed, adds
another argument to the many already urged
10 favor of better pay for those who go down
under the ground to dig coal. 1t seems
strange that anybody can contemplate the
perils of the Dliner, or read the brief details
of the many mine calamities that occur, and
yet refuse to award to the underground
workingman such compensation as will ena-
BILE him to at least leave his family confort-
able when the evil day shall come, as 1t
must and does to a very large percentage OF
miners and mine laborers. Yet there are
many persons who seem to regard mine ac>
cidents-even the wholesale slaughters-as
a matter of course, as incidents of the cali
ing which those who adopt the trade must
take without remark or complaint. These
persons hold that if mining is extra danger
Gus or disagreeabe, miners can quit the busi-
ness and go at something else. True, they
may do so-all avenues are open-but man
is a creature Cf habit. 1t is difficult to break
from the trammels VIII ich from youth have
been thrown around the miner, even though
dangers menace him every day of his life in
q dozen forms.
Frequently the miners life begins at early
boyhood, as driver, or as his fathers dinner
carrier and helper. He learns to scorn dan
often becomes attached TO his underground
life, regardless of its lurking foes, as the
sailor does to the frail craft that is dashed by
the waves and driven by the wiads of ocean.
His friends aud companions are there. All
his associations, his hopes, his friendship
and his love, are clustered and centered IN
his life in the mines, and, while man. res
mains rational, inhabitatiYe, and social be-
ing, he cannot at will break the bonds and
enter into what to him looks like new
world. The sailor, bred 10 the brine, pines
and frets on shore; the soldier, Injured to
camps and battles alarms. chafes and rebels
under the calm restraints of peace the farm
er, welded to the fields aud forests, cannot
bear the confined life of the city. and the
metropolitan grows lonely and hypchondria-
cal listening to the croak Of frogs and the
notes of the katydid. The sailor thinks not
of storms and rocks; the soldier recks not
the deadly bullet; the farmer considers not
his risks, losses and discomforts, nor does the
city deDizen fear impure air and water, and
the pestilence that threaten with destIuc-
ton the dwellers in cities So the miner,
whose life is ever at risk, from the time he
reaches the mouth of the pit in the morning
till his days work is done and the shaft is
left behind him, reckons not the slender
tenure by which his existence below ground
and casualties when above ground the same
as other men. while his body is not more
hardened, his will no stronger, nor hs vital
ity greater than those Of other mortals.
1t does not follow because the miner is
apparently oOlivious to the dangers that be-
set him that nothing should be doUe for him.
The more he may be forgetful Of the dangers
Of the underground life the greater ought to
be the solicitude on the part Of those who
see and appreciate his risks to guard his life
While there are laws designed to protect
persons from suicidal hands surely laws
should be passed to protect miners against
their own recklessness, forgetfulness and in
difference. Familiarity with danger renders
men unfit judges Of their safety, hence the
ventilation laws should not only be rigorous
y enforced, but other laws should be enacted
to protect the miners against themselves.
Few Of the se>called accidents from explO-
sive gases are really accidents. majority
of them result from violation Of the ventila
tlon law unknown to or regarded with in
difference by the miners, or through the
reckleSsness or carelessness of some one Of
tbs miners themselves Then, again, indif-
ference to or familiarity with danger and
good pay sometimes induce miners to go into
places where life is very insecure. Others,
we fear, try to trade the dangers of the
mines lor hlSher wages and are indifferent
about making the mines safe. This is en-
tirely wrong. While the risks to life are
many and great let the compensation be
commensurate Herewith, bus now that wa
ges are down to a minimum standard the
risks should be brought down to tie mini
mum by the enforcement of existing laws
and the passage of any others that may be
found necessary. 1t is to the interest of op-
orators to reduce the risks of mining coal,
for thereby the cost of mining may be les
sened. 1t is to the interest of the miners.
because thereby their lives may be prolonged,
and it is to the interest of their wives and
children, because thereby their prop and
stay may be longer preserved to them in
life, health and vigor.-POHsUiHe Standard.