The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-06-15

on them. This means blown out, not set back at the cross cuts, but the light blown out"
 If you are as familiar with the condi- tions that exist in the mines, you would have people think you are, you would know that there are a number of miners who do not wait for a fire boss to come and brush out the gas, but take the responsibility on themselves to brush out the gas, without permission, and with out a safety lamp. You would know also that the mines that make gas to amount to anything in this state brattice the place with plank or cloth. In rooms. or leave an opening behind the gob in the entries to carry current of air around the face to sweep out the gas, and you would further know. if you were posted so well, that the heavy shooting done by the miners without any preparation shoots out, tears down. and otherwise destroys the brattces placed fAr the companies to carry air in to the face When shot down 1 by the miner the air of course cannot get to the face, and the companies have l to go in and replace it to be shot down again when the miner fires his shot in | that direction again, and or course the l practical man knows that gas will &C., | cumulate in such places
 | The point made by me in rule eight, Is | that the miner must. not brush the gas unless he be given a safety lamp. and
 
 will have shot down hfs brattice. Gas Will Accumulate. You know also that in driving entries, | air courses and up sets, that cross cuts l have to be made and that they are hardly | ever less than 30 feet apart and in the 1 up sets as soon almost as they are start ed gas will accumulate in them and it | has to be brushed out until it is up far enough to put up the brattice. and that | you cannot put the brattice right up | to face. as 1t will be in the way This Is the case especially in pitching seams. l Now. if the miner would cut his coal i or mine it, as required in rule one, he would not shoot 1t hard. and there | fore. he would not shoot out this brattice 1 that was put there by the company to | protect his life.
 l You seem to think that the 17.0oO or 1s- | 900 miners in Alabama not In the l least responsible for anything whatever. | Some of the other states have more 1 stringent laws by far than those rules 1 made by me, and they put the miners In | the chain gang for violation of them, | too.
 You say further, that if my instruc-
 tions are carried out, that they will re-
 duce the earning capacity of the miner, | which in my opinion will result in the opposite. for you, or any reasonable man, | knows that when anything is done In a | systematic way it gives better results
 than to do 1t without a system. | You further maliciously miss tated facts | when you say that the companies have
 violated the mine law for years and I l have not prosecuted any of them, you | show your lack of knowledge of condi- | tions again. 1 have prosecuted one case, l and union miners. gray-headed with age l and who have worked in many coun- 1 tries. states and different coal mines as 1 you have, went on the stand and swore l that l was wrong. and that the mines | were safe; that a man could climb lad | der PIP feet out of a shaft with hot steam | pipes and 3 inch exhaust pipe from | a steam pipe in it without any incon- | venience to man. and they further
 swore that one hole with plank par tition built in 1t made two openings. So | you see what | am up against when Il 1 hit you and your gang. and how hard itI | is to convince a court jury under such
 circumstances, and l am not in the least
 surprised at your sarcastic remarks, for | l know it hit you in tender spot. Misstate Facts.
 You know too that all the explosions
 from windy shots that have killed more than two men at a time In Alabama. | happened at union mines. There were in 1905 H. 900153 tons of coal produced | in Alabama. the most in any year in l the history of the state. Union labor produced 29 per cent of 1t, .34l per cent of the labor was union. Twenty-six per cent | in number of mines were worked by union men
 There were 1S5 men killed in 1905, 1S3 being union men, which gives you .7l3 per cent of all the accidents last year. | What do you think of that with all your | scientific and practical knowledge you
 seemed to be possessed of? Don't you think 1t is time some one was coming to your rescue?
 expect to enforce these rules and in
 making your contracts You will have to
 make them subject to rules made by the
 chief mine inspector of Alabama. will
 say here that general rule will not
 apply to the state therefore. the most
 of the mines, or mNes in the different
 coal fields. will have to have special
 rules to meet the conditions that may | arise at different places There are but
 two things that will prevent me from ] carrying these rules out. the legislature
 or the supreme court. Yours respectfullys | J. NJ GRAY,
 Chief Mine Inspector.