The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-09
MINE EXPERTS WILL
 REACH CITY TONIGHT
Foreigners Are Making Tour of
 United States
STUDY MINE EXPLOSIONS
pr. w. B. Phillips Discusses Object of Appropriation Made By Congress for Study of Great Min
 ing Questions.

Dr. William B. Phillips, geologist and
 metallurgical chemist who has recently
 returned from the cobalt silver district,
 Ontario, has been advised of the ap
 preaching visit of the distinguished for
 eign coal mining men to this district.
 The party is in charge of Mir. j. A.
 Holmes of the fuel testing department of the United States geological survey.
 and will arrive in the city tonight It
 consists of Herr Csrl- Meissnes chief of
 the German service; Mr. Victor Wat
 teyne, chief of the Belgium mining serv-
 ice. and Capt. Arthur Desbrough, chief
 expert of the British explosives eommis-
 sion (who is accompanied by Mrs. Des- brough) It is expected that the party will be joined here by pr. Eugene A. Smith, state geologist of Alabama. and Mir. John NJ. Gray. chief mine inspector; MT. Charles j. Norwood state geologist of Kentucky, and Prof. Royal P. Jarvis. state geologist of Tennessee.
 Dr. Phillips said yesterday
 "The Secretary of the Interior invited
 these gentlemen from abroad to make I trip through the chief coal mining dis tricts of this country with a view t6-se-
 curing their advice in the matter of a better regulation of the devices in use for the safety of the men and the mines. It was his wish that they should spend as much time as possible in the western states, where the United States govern
 ment is largely interested in the develop
 ment of the public lands and especially
 in the conservation of the coals resources. This matter is in line with what our own government is attempting to do
 through the bureau of which MT. Holmes
 is chief The extremely valuable work that was done by this department of the United States geological survey at St. Louis, during the exposition, so met the approval of Congress that a considerable appropriation was made for the purpose of extending the sphere of the investi- gations and already a great deal has been done. Much careful work has been done on the nature and effects of the various explosives in use in coal mining, on the proper ventilation of coal mines, on ex- plosive gases and the danger from coal
 dust, on rescue service following acci- dents, etc. These gentlemen wish to see what is going on here and to meet the principal coal operators who are so deep ly concerned in all matters affecting the proper conduct of mining affairs.
 "It is a fortunate circumstance that Alabama coal mines have not, so far, been the scenes of many deadly explo- sions or other accidents. With one or two exceptions this state has been sim gularly free from such terrible things. But they have occurred here and are like ly to occur again. We are not likely to escape the common experience of coal
 miners elsewhere. Even in the countries where the most efficient appliances are in use and where the utmost care is given to the prevention of accidents, as in France, Belgium and Germany, they do occur and often with dreadful results. Every man who labors in an occupation where risks are an unavoidable concomi- tant of the business has the right to de- mand that these risks be minimized and that every precaution should be used to
 safeguard his life and his health. The
 greater the risks the greater must be the
 precautions.
 If by the experience of others else
 where and by the study of our own local conditions We can secure greater safety and better sanitary conditions, we must
 do so. The element of cost does not en-
 ter into this problem, it rests upon much
 broader foundations and goes down to the bedrock of common humanity 7