The Washington bee., 1908-11-14
~ e. a Lt.saA "a. = - s -
PEACEFUL INDUSTRIES
War Stays Its Thousands,
Peace Ten Thousands.
COAL MINE DISASTERS
The Country He's Been aTticuIa- ~
Shocked by Them RecoI tiy-F az
Happened Within Period of a Few
Weeks, in Which 700 Lives Were
Lost.

War slays is thousands and peace
its ten thousands. For the year
1906 the Interstate Commerce Com
mission reported the number OF rail-
way accidents in the United States as
108 324-a total greater than all the
casualties Of the Boer War, which
Lasted three years. The records of
the Public Service Commission show
that 155 people were killed by street
cars, elevated, steam and subway
trains in New York City in the three
months ending November 3Oth. 1897,
and that 500 more were seriously ~
jured These figures have attracted
muca attention but they DO not prove
that the railroads are sinners above
ali the industrial agencies of the
country; on the contrary, there are
many more accidents in factories aEi
in the building trades than on the
railroads, but their vast total is not
appreciated because ii is the duty of
the statistician to record them accu-
has made any serious attempt to
gather accurate figures relating TO
the loss of life by industrial acci-
dents. On the basis of a report If
the commissioner of labor, made a
number OF years ago, It is computed
that the industrial accident rate IN
tie factories of New York State
reaches the appalling figures OF "A
to 1000, and that more than $4,000
factory employees are killed or injured
every year in the United States. Min
ing and railway asualties bring the
total of slaughter. mutilation, and
other injuries up o more than 524,-
600 cases annually record which
makes that of any twelvemonth N
the history of war pale into insig-
nihcance. The entire losses, in kill
sd and wounded in the RussO-Japan-
csc War were 1876.
The country has been particularly
shocked of late by the succession If
coal nine disasters-Four within q
period of a few weeks-in which
about seven hundred ives were lost;
and the recent exactiOn of this dread
ful death-toll lends special in
terest to the report On coal-mifle ac-
cidents which has just been issued by
the United States Geological Survey.
This states that in the year 1905
nearly seven thousand men were kill
ed or injured in the coal mines of
the United States, ana that the num-
Der of mine explosions has been
steadily increasing. This increase
is said to be due in part to the lack
of properly enfOTcible safety regula-
tions, which are insisted upon in EL-
TLpean countries, particularly in
France, where the accident death-rate
among cOal-mineTs, is less than one
TO every thousand employed; the
American ratio is 8 1-2 to 1000, be-
ing three and One-half times that #
Belgium and higher than that of eth
er Prussia or Great Britain. Oae
of the devices employed in German
mines for the rescue Of miners caught
in suffocating gases consists of an
Rirtight mask fitting over eyes, nose
and mouth and connected by tubes
with reservoirs Of oxygen.
The amelioration of the horrors Ol
peace should be regarded as equally
important with the amelioration OF
the horrors of war. Some foreign
philanthTopists view it in this ligHt
and not only have they induced en-
ployers and the governments of tn ell
respective countries to take action
resulting in the installation of pro-
tectiye devices of many sorts, bit
they have established several NJ Is
Gums in which the mos improved Gf
these devices are kept on exhibition
for the benefit of employers AMI
work people. A similar work has
been undertaken in this country Dy
the American Museum of Safety De
vices and Industrial Hygiene, which
maintains a permanent iTee exhthi-
tion at No. 231 West Thirty-ninth
Street, New York, where the manage
ment is demonstrating to employers
the economy-tO say nothing of tie
higher considerations insuring
the safety of their wOTk-people.