The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-02-12
MINERS ARE
ILL TREATED.
Ask Governor Leedy to Remove
Mine Inspector McGrath.
Recite the Long Record of
Deaths and Disasters,
CAUSED BY FAULTY
System of Inspection and Neg
lected Laws.
Men Who Work Underground
Need Safeguards.

miners OF southeastern Kansas has for
Warded an appeal for protection for
their lives to Gov. Leedy who has sum-
moned State Mine Inspector McGrath
to appear before him and explain why
| the violations of the law concerning
which the miners complain have been
permitted to pass without notice.
Gov Leedy did not give out the infor-
nation concerning the letter from the
miners, but it came through a Topeka
! man with whom the miners are commu-
nicating.
The members of the committee are
working secretly because they feel that
were the mine operators to come into
| possession of their names, they would
be discharged.
The letter to the governor refers par
ticularly to the recent mine disaster at
ChieOpee and the catastrophes at Elem
ing, Frontenac and Krebs, I. T. The
letter says:
"All of these disasters demonstrate
the criminal negligence of the manage
ment of corporate officials and their ut
ter disregard for law and human life"
In addition to the accommodations of
dangerous dry dust in mines where
large quantities of powder are used,
the communication cites additional and
more dangerous agents of destruction
among them being:
The employment of inexperienced
miners.
"Old and defective methods of venti-
IatiOn
THE simultaneous discharge of many
shots.
The culpabIe Indifference of mining
officials relative to existing dangers in
mines and the lack of proper safeguards
which should be employed for the better
protection of all those working in the
mines"
The miners then make the following
complaint against State Mine Inspector
McGrath and those who have preceded
him in that position:
THE mine inspectors in office at the
! time of the disasters referred to, instead
| of diScharging their official duties and
placing the guilt where it belonged and
recommending such amendments to our
mining laws as would prevent the de-
structiOn of human life in the coal
mines of the state, in violation of their
oath of office, have concealed the facts
| IN connection with the causes which
| have resulted in the horrible death or
permanent disablement of hundreds of
! our fellow craftsmen; they have shame
fully opposed in public and in private
such legislation as would tend to avert
| the recurrence of mine disasters and re-
duce the many accidents to a minimum
and to improving the sanitary condition
! of the mines which would be equivalent
to a new lease of the miners existence;
! and with few exceptions, the mine in
| spectOrS of Kansas have been too stout
| to feel the weight of their responsibility
and too dignified and diplomatic to in
| cur the diSpleasure of the coal barOns,
| but have preferred to regard public Of
| fee as a private snap and have hObnOb-
| bed with our capitalistic taskmasters."
The letter then continues:
I'VE would respectfully remind your
eXCellency that you are in a large meas
| fail to discharge their official duties, and
we regret to inform you that the pres
/ ent state mine inspector, George T. Nc
! Grath, has, in our judgment, wilfully
| or ignOrantly miSrepreSented the facts
in connection with the cause of the re-
| cent mine explosion at Chicopee. The
/ mine inspector in a public statement re-
! leased the mine officials from all blame
! and saddled the responsibility upon the
| victims that persisted in that awful mis-
| fortune, when the same dangerous con-
! ditiOns which caused the disasters at
/ other points existed there.
1T is a sweeping assertion" cOntin-
/ ues the committee, FOR US to make that
some of the coal corporations in Kan
| sas attach more Importance to the cost
| in the production of coal than any re-
| gard they have for human flesh, but the
| record proves COncluSiVely the aSser-
| ton and demonstrates the necessity of
! the state defending the miners cOnstf-
tutiOnal rights and protecting their
! health from premature decay and their
| lives from reckless destruction For one
! man or set of men to kill another, is
/
1 and is puniSha BILE in Kansas by impriS-
| onment in the penitentiary for life, but
| the coal corporations in their greed to
! make colossal fortunes, set the mining
! laws at defiance and become irresponsi-
| BILE for the death of their employees by
! the dozen or by the score.
! There is not one industry in the state
/ which has appealed to the state for
I protection from the injustice and de-
/ spOtism of organized capital when the
/ state did not promptly come to the res
cue.
| 1.-The stock raisers, who are wealthy,
! are protected from the exorbitant
/ charges at one time imposed by the
! stock exchanges; the farmers from the
| railroad companies and the land grab
| bers and insurance companies have
! been taught a very valuable lesson as
| to the proper way to treat their pat
| rons and conform to the laws of the
| state.
and, now in the interests of human
! ity; of 10000 American citizens, the
! Kansas miners and their families, we
/ aver that the mining laws OF the state
/ are so 1agrantly violated that forbear-
| ance and patience must cease to be
| virtue unless speedy and drastic meas
ures are applied to the spollsters and
/ corporate life-deStrOying coal corpora
| lions of Kansas-measures that viii
! better secure the miners lives and in
| terests against criminal negligence and
/ avarice.
"And, when your excellency has given
/ these mild suggestions year early and
| favorable consideration and started in
motion the legal machinery OF the state
| which Will wipe out anarchy and crime
| in high places as well as low, you VIII
/ have added another proof OF your devo
/ ton to the eternal principles OF justice
| and equality and will have enthroned
| yourself in the hearts of patient and
| long suffering people.
| A committee from local assembly No.