Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-07-09
ror tho rrotertlnn J, mime 1Yorl,ers.

The adequate protection OF mine
workers is receiving considerable
attention in England at this time,
and bill is now before Parliament
providing safeguards against explosions
and other ghastly forms of slaughter In
tho pit But, fY some reason not
apparent, the bill is constantly re-
tarded, evidently the work of in
terested parties, who fear that the
adoption OF those measures intended to
save human life might impose little
more expense upon the owners of the
mines. This delay stirs the London
Chronicle TO point Of Indignation,
and in recent issue, after claiming
to have given an authoritative, un-
answerable account of the way in
which great collery explosions are
caused, and the means Of preventing
them, it adds:
What have the government to say
and what do they propose to do? They
have a Mines bill on the stocka, for
which they will not claim five minutes
secure second reading. Do they con
test the proposition that they can sat
the lives of these men? Surely not, or
there would be no reason in bringing
forward Mines bill at all. The safety
clauses are either meant to save life or
they arc meaningless. If these dis
asters can be prevented, why, We ask,
do the government hesitate and tremble
l. fl1., L.s. n. -
some preeipice? Why docs week after
week go by without the bill being Ie-
ferred to grand committeeY They have
had the Tylorstown explosion, tho
Micklefield explosion, and the Brance-
psth explosion. That makes l40 lives
lost this year from coal-dust explo.
sions. How many more dead miners
are they waiting for before they can
bring themselves to legislate? We
suggest that the country is entitled to
an answer to this question. But this
is not all. II these disasters are pre-
,entable, why not prevent them instead
of toying with themY The government's g
remedy 10 to refer the worth of the
miners life to arbitration. They say
adopting the findings of the Cham
herlain Commission-that the pre-
vention Of explosions is too expensive
a matter to be forced upon the coal
owners. 1t may cost we don't know
how much, perhaps fiftieth of a
farthing a tona burden SO heavy that
it must be referred to arbitration and
apportioned by friendly deal be.
tween couple of mining experts.
Then If twenty lives out of every hun
dred are saved the State will reflect
that il has done meritorioua thing
with minimum Of friction and ex-
ponse. We suggest that before the
miners lives are put to this Dutch
auction the country should have some
say in the matter We have placed tht
facts before it. and we are willing tc
stake something on the belief that tht
country is not disposed to see the livei
of its miners weighed against the ex
pense of their redemption; that il
would, in fact, sooner pay fraction
of a farthing ton more for it's Goa
than save the money at the cost of life
Every word of this is true as gospel
and it applies as forcibly to thil
country us to Great Britain. At th,
Pittston mines, in Pennsylvania, more
than half hundred miners have beer
entombed for nearly week, witt
scarcely hope that one will be takel
out alive-the result of an acciden
that should never have happened.
All men who work are entitled t,
protection from any danger that ma,
be attendant upon their occupation
particularly those who engage in th,
cheerless and hazardous task of dig
ging fuel from the bowels of the earth
The authorities of Pennsylvania ant
other mining States should not onl,
enact, but rigidly enforce laws for tn
protection Of these men.