Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-12-21
RECENT NINE HORRORS

weeks explosions in coal mines
have caused large loss of life in the /
bituminous region. The last one
came Thursday in Western Pennsyl-
vania when more than 200 miners
were entombed and all have prob
ably persisted. The disaster in West
Virginia a few days before in which
nearly 400 miners lost their lives, and
even more recently a smaller loss of
life at Fayette City, Penn, and the
explosion Monday in the Yolande,
Alabama, mine in which sixty
two met death completes the
list of catastrophes which have
made the month of December the
record holder in this most undesira-
bic field The total for the months
casualties will be over 500 lives.
In each case the explosion of
fire damp" in the mines has caused
the terrible loss of life which has
stunned the whole country on account
of the enormity of the human toll.
That the last accident did not have
a longer list of victims is due to the
fact that the members of the Greek
church were observing a feast day
and did not go into the mines on
the fatal day.
Such terrible tragedies are we'll
calculated to awaken the people to
the exceedingly hazardous manner in
which the coal mines Of the country
are operated.
On the same day that the newspa-
pers published an account of the last
disaster, appeared a summary of the
figures gathered by the department
of the interior on the subject of the
loss of life in coal mines in the Uni
ted States From this investigation
it is shown that three times as many
men are killed in coal mines in this
country per thousand employed than
in most European countries. For the
last six years the fatalities in mine
horrors were double those for the
twelve years preceding, showing an
alarming growth.
There must be a reason for this.
If the mine owners are criminally
negligent-and they would seem the
most at fault-steps should be taken
at once to force the taking of every
precaution in the way of ventilation
and security of passages in which
the miners must work Penitentiary
sentences should be provided and
inflicted without fear or favor upon
offending mine owners. The work is
hazardous enough at best, and should
not be rendered many times more
dangerous by the efforts of the
mine owners to increase their pro-
fits by taking long chances on the
lives Of their employees.
On the very day of the latest explo-
sion a bill was introduced in Con-
gress providing for a bureau of mines
in connection with the Department of
Commerce and Labor to investigate
all coal mine accidents and ascertain
their cause. This bill will receive a
new impulse by the tragedy of Thurs
day.
Too often state mine inspectors are
incompetent, being political creations
without regard to their knowledge of
mines and mining conditions. The
national bureau would be made up
of experts and would not be subject
to the change of political control
which occurs so often in states.
The time to act is now, when the
minds of the people have been arous-
ed by the series of catastophes which
have left the nation aghast at their
magnitude. 1t is not impossible un
der present state laws to send often
ders to prison, and nothing less than
a rigid examination into the recent
explosions with view to finding out
their cause and where the culpability
lies, will be anything like satisfac-
tory.