The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-01-11
DEATH IN COAL MINES.

The coal mines of the United States
are killing three times as many men
per 900 employed as those of most
European countries. In the last
seventeen years ~, $40 men have CIV
en- up their lives in the mines of this
country. AS many violent deaths oc-
Cured in the mines during the last
six years as during the preceding elev-
en- years.
The number of fatal accidents each
year is now double that in 1895. In
1906 6,861 were killed or injured in
the mines, the killed numbering 2,-
o61 and the injured 1880.
These terrible facts have been CLEAN
ed by government experts, acting un-
der orders from Secretary Garfield of
the Interior department to investigate
the nature and extent of mine acci-
dents.
The report asserts that the increase
ID the number of mine explosions has
been due in part to the lack of relia-
BILE information concerning the ex-
plosives used in mining and the con-
ditions under which they can be used
safely in the presence of the gas and
dust, and in part to the fact that in
the development of coal mining not
only is the number of miners increas-
ing, but many areas from which coal
in being taken are either deep or far
ther from the entrance, where good
ventilation is more difficult and the
dangerous accumulations of explo-
sive gas more frequent.
Experience in the deeper and more
dangerous coal mines of Belgium and
other countries not only indicates that
these mine accidents may be reduced
to less than one-third their present
number in the United States, but also
gives promise of results which in the
future may at least approach complete
prevention.
The report shows that in all Euro
peanS coa1-producing countries the out
put of coal has increased greatly dur
ing the last ten years, but the number
of deaths per 900 miners instead oi
increasing as in this country, has un-
dergone marked decrease. This de.
crease has been due to the effect OF
mining legislation in those countries
for the safeguarding and protection Of
the lives of the workmen, and has been
made possible by government action
in establishing testing stations for the
study of problems relative to safety in
mining, including the use of explo-
sives.
Fifty per cent. of all the fatalities
and 40 per cent. of all nonfatal acci-
dents in the mines of the United States
were the result of falls of roof and
coal. In all European al-producing
countries the use of excessive charge
of explosives is prohibited by law, and
definite limits are set as to the amount
of any explosive that can be used.
Although these regulations were franz
ed with the object of preventing gas
explosions, it is believed that they
have been of marked effect In prevent
ing accidents from falls of roofs and
coal.
Gas and dust explosions form an.
other important cause of mine acci-
dents. In the United States during
1906, II per cent. of all the deaths
in coal mines were due to such explo-
sions.
In regard to deaths per million tons
of coal mined the United States not
only occupies position worse than
that of most European countries, but
is also showing an increase in the rate,
whereas every other country is show
ing a decrease.