The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-08-02
Down in the Coal Mines.

Notwithstanding y the vas. wealth that
flows in PActoiian streams from the
coal regions of Pennsylvania. there is
no potion of the State in which so
much poverty and wretchedness prevail.
IGstead of securing a just share of the
wealth created by their labor, the
miners are the victims OF a system OF
cupidIty which wrings the last dollar
from their toll. What with the low
wages, the long intervals of enforced
idseness, the company store inlqui-y,
and other wrongs aud exlnTtions, The
condition Of Pennsylvania miners IS not
30 be envied by their bretheTn in any
part OF the globe. Although the n0mI-
nal daily wages Of the miners who re
Gently organized the extensive strike in
GeImauy are lower than the wages paid
IN Pennsylvania, the German miners
secure l,Tger yearly earnings through
more steady employment, and are far
better protected by the laws from the
rapacity Of their EMPLOYERS.
Apart from the decentralization and
misery produced bV the wage system,
there is another gloomy phase of human
eXistance In the Pennsylvania cOal
mines IN the insecurity to life. \ re-
cent number of HlTpcr'S Weekly con-
tanned striking picture, in which two
miners had come 70 tell "A poor woman
that she was widow. The mining re-
giOns are full OF widows, made such by
disasters which with due precaution
might have been averted. At best. the
underground occupation OF the miner
is attended by constant dangers. He
cannot tell at what moment he nay oe
suffOcated by nOXous gases, engendered
by The caIelessness of superintendent.
inspector or boss, or buried beneath d
mass of coal brought down by the
practice of Tobbing the pillars of the
mine.
Yet the statute-book of Pennsylvania
is covered with laws for the alleged
protection of its miners. Most OF this
legislation has been in the interest of
otiicialism, in providing a retinue OF
State inspectoTships, and thus imposing
upon the COmmOn~ ealth a duty and
responsibility which belong to the mine
owners.
One of these inspectors, in a report
upon a mine accident in which nine-
teen persons lost their lives last FebTu-
airy, attributes the fatal accidents in
mines in large degree to the employ
ment of unskillful and inexperienced
superintendent. The inspector truly
sons in responsible positions in mines
who have had on few years or few
months experience" 1t is not merely
an absurdIJy, il is crime to put iEeX-
peT!enced persons In places in which
their ignorance may cost the hundreds
of lives intIusted to their care.
In recent report of the State Bureau
OF Statistics il is admitted that the
laws ''to protect the lives and health of
miners are not enforced - and to this
fact ascrIbes the numerous fats! disis-
terS in the mining regions. But it is a
grave question whether these laws
themselves, in their blundering inter-
ferauce, do not cause much of the mis-
chief which this report deplOres. While
the main object OF legislation should be
Ito protect the innocent against the
guilty" these mining laws, instead of
fixing responsibility for willfuI neglect,
have succeeded in sub dividing and
confounding it 70 such an extent that
responsibility eau scarcely be said 10
exist all.
II the mine-Owners and operators
should be held responsible penalty and
in damages for the accidents caused by
the neglect of supeTintendents and
bosses, they would be extremely cautious
in the selection of their servants.
When compelled 10 pay for the loss of
life and limb resulting from the ignOr~
auce or carelessuess of their mine super
lnteudents, the coal corporations would
find II economical Ia employ men of
knowledge and experience. But when
disaster occurs, and a corOner's id
quest follows. the responsibility is tossed
backward and forward from State iu-
spectOr TO mine superintendent and boss,
aud IN the confusion the guilty persons
are sure to escape from prosecution,
and their employers from damages.
BY its bluhdering interference the
State thus increases the danger of mine
accidents, The State inpectOT trusts 10
the superintendent, the superintendent
to the boss, and miners and miners and
mine-OwneTs to all three. It is not
strange that with this divided RESPONSE
bility there should be so many disasters
in the mines, and so many poor, helpless
and dependent widows in the mining
regions, like the victim in picture above
referred sO.-Phild. Record.