Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-18
PROTECT THE MINERS.

The more one contemplates the sad
chapter of death in the recent mining
operations in this city. the more is one
inclined to the belief that too small a
value is placed upon human life.
Scarcely hal one frightful calamity
passed out of the public mind before an
other comes to add to the harvest of
human misery. Week in and week out,
the death list grows. Men are blown to
pieces. crushed to death or manned with
startling regularity and the hospitals
flourish and the cemeteries grow apace.
Widows and orphans abound, and the
crippled and sightless live upon the char
ity of friends. LIES struggle for exist
ence-the hopeless tug Of war-comes
home to many a broken heart under the
shadow of the dividends of wealth.
The recent picture of an old blind
man. whose eyes had been destroyed in
a mine, tottering from a bed of sickness
to the grave of his wife, vainly seeking
to end his w life Upon the burial place
of all that hope and happiness could
give, is but an illustration of the world
of heartaches that daily revolve upon the
axis of a mine accident in this city. 1t is
impossible to overdraw the pictures of
misery which such disasters imply. Not
only do they mean much to the homes
and iresides Of the humble. but they con-
Germ the well-being of the community
itself. The man who through accident
becomes helpless ceases to be a producer
and may become a burden. Men who
work in mines are seldom in afluent cir
cumstances and their injury or death
means hardship to their loved ones, or a
tax upon the generous impulses of the
community.
1t is true, the verdict of the c%oroner's
jury always ascribes to the victim the
responsibility for his undoing. This sort
of a verdict has become a fixed habit.
and inquests have ceased to serve any
practical purpose other than to meet the
requirements of law as to an inquiry into
the facts. The inability of the maneled
mass OF human flesh before the jury to
tell its side of the story, to plead it's
cause, makes it easy for that body to de-
termine that nobody but the corpse was
to blame. 1t is a cheap and easy way to
reach a conclusion. The dead man can
not kick.
While such a conclusion may be correct
in many instances, as men emploved in
dangerous pursuits frequently lose their
sense of caution, it by no means follows
that the miner is invariably to blame.
1t is the duty of the which en-.
pioys him to take every possible pre-
caution against danger, and insofar as II
does not do so it is responsible for the
life and safety of the workman. It M.
casionally happens hat men are putting
blasts in a Slope. while others are put
ting blasts in the breast of a drift. the
latter being compelled to pass under the
stope to escape the explosion. With M
system by which these dangers are regu-
lated, the men in the drift may be driven
back by the blasts in the stope only IN
encounter their own, and, caught like
rats IN a trap, be blown to pieces, This
mas happened right here in Butte. and the
verde of the coroner's jury has been
that the men were killed through their
own carelessness!
a- !
Again. a company will sometimes fur
nish defective fuse, In the interest NJ
economy. and thus contribute to fata,
accidents. Perfect fuse has a time limit
that can be calculated on with safety.
enabling the miner to get out of the line
or danger before the explosion takes
place. Imperfect fuse DESTROYS these
calculations. and the blast natures be-
fore a place of safety can be re~ached-
n the jury discovers that the
miner was killed through his W care.
lessness!
Another source Of danger is an occa.
sional scrub. who has reached the dignity
of a boss. and who places the man who
is seeking safety from an explosion IN
jeopardy Of losing his job, If he tarries