Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-14

are killed annually. Last year nearly $500
men were killed and more than 5000 were
seriously injured in the mining industry
of our country. No other country in the
world shows so large a percentage of ia
talities. Indeed. In those foreign coun-
tries In which the mining is most haz-
ardous the proportion of men killed to
the number employed is from 10 to IS
per cent less than in our country"
Concerning the prodigal hand with which
the resources of the earth are scattered.
the speaker said that mining experts pre-
diet that under present methods of pro-
duction the coal deposits of the United
States will be entirely exhausted within
POD years, and that it is contended by
many competent investigators that 30 per
cent or the coal supply is destroyed or
wasted because 1t is impra ctcabie or I'M
profitable to mine 1t under present COM
mercial conditions.
A Heavy Loss.
From observation and experience I am
constrained to believe that this estimate
IS too high" he continued II am con-
WINGED that by the present methods OF
mining not less than - per cent of the
coal In mines that have been developed
is lost beyond hope or possibility Of re-
covery
The production and consumption of
coal must be considered largely from a
commercial standpoint. The low cost at
which coal Is produced and the low
price a which 1t Is sold to large con-
sumers is the most pronounced incentive
to waste and extravaganza. If Ameri-
can manufacturers and other great con-
sumers were required TO pay a higher
rate for fuel. it would enable mining
companies Ia produce and prepare for
market countless millions OF tons OF
coal which under present conditions are
left In the ground. lost to the present
and to future generations.
Consumers of coal in other countries
pay from one and one-haIf to two and
one-half times as much for fuel as is
paid by American manufacturing and
railroad companies. 1t is of course. i'm
pOrtant to the we'll being and the pros
perity Of all our people that large con-
sumers he furnished a fuel supply at a
cost sufficiently low to enable them to
compete in the worlds markets with
manufacturers in other countries. but
when one considers the tremendous waste
of energy that accompanies the use OF
cheap fuel the conclusion Is inevitable
that this very cheapHess is an extrava-
gance and not an economy.
-. Waste in Consumption.
1.-The. great waste In the production of
coal does not at all approximate. how
ever the waste and extravaganza in its
consumption, 1t is interesting to note
that under the present process of burning
only from 5 to 10 per cent of the heat
units In bituminous coal are utilized. the
remaining 90 or % per cent being wasted.
II it were possible to utilize all the heat
units our coal supply. which experts pre-
dict will be exhausted by the close of the
next century. would last for more than
two thousand years. And while the in
genuity of man may not be able to de-
wise a method whereby all the heat units
In the coal shall be utilized. it is quite
within the range Of probability that a
system will he evolved by which ~ per
cent of its energy will be used for heat
ing power and lighting purposes
Mr. Mitchell declared it a sad COM
mentary upon our vaunted civilization
that more men are killed crippled in
mining in the United States than in any
other nation on earth. and that in our
mad rush for spoils and profits we do
not only waste and destroy those ma
terial resources with which God has SO
bountifully endowed us. but press forward
in the race sacrificing also unnecessa rly
the lives and the comfort of our fellow
beings.
1T seems to me- he said. that the
time has come when we should stop a
moment to think-not alone of these
inanimate things that make for comfort
and prosperity. but also of the men and
women and the children whose toll and
derivation have made and will continue
to make our country and our people the
most progressive and the most intelli-
gent Of all the nations and all the peoples
of the EARTH.
Gov. johnson Cheered.
Gov. Johnson of Minnesota was ap-