The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-05-14

Stdte tHe Importance "a ma III liihih ,
each and every one of the soveTigni-
ties of states and no one can over
estimate the Importance Of antain-
ing the sovereignty of tie United
States. 1t is high time that the
sovereign states of t1e uni n siould
begin to perform their duties with
reference not only to their own IN
dividua local interests, but with
reference to common coed.
Other speakers were Secretary c. r
telyou and Governor Dawson of West
Virginia.
The resolutions committee viii h
was appointed at the srggesticn OF
the president at the morning session,
and which will meet tomorrow con
sists of Governors Blanchard, of
Louisiana; Fort, Of New Jersey; Cut
Ter. of Utah; Davidson, of Wjscons II,
and Ansel of South Caroliha.
Mines and Mining.
John Mitchell spOne on C al min-
ing, the reckless wastes in this de-
dwelt particularly upon the cri rinal
disregard of personal safety of men
engaged in the mines. He sail in
part:
The production and consumption of
coal must be considered largely from
commercial standpoint. The thin
seams of coal and the thicker seams
in mines where the physical condi-
tions are unfavorabie or where the
coal is of an inferior qua ity, cannot
be mined or their product marketed
protltably unless, perchance, they are
located in close proximity to great
centers of industry.
The low cost at which coal Is pro-
duced and the low price at which 1t
IL sold to largeS. consumers Is the
most pronounced siscentiye to waste
and extravaganza. If American manu-
facturers and other great consumers
were required to pay higher rate for
fuel, It would enable mining com
panies to produce and prepare for
market countless millions of tins of
coal which under present conditions
are left in the ground, lost to the
present and to the future generations.
The Great Waste.
The great waste in the production
of coal does not at all approximate,
however. the waste and extravaganza
in its consumption. 1t is interesting
to note that under the present process
of burning. only from to 10 per cent
of the heat units In bituminous coal
are utilized, the remaining 30 or %
per cent being wasted. If 1t were pos
sihle to utilize all the heat units, our
coal supply which experts predict VIII
be exhausted by the close Of the next
century, would last FOR more than
two thousand years. And while the
ingenuity of man may not be able
to devise a method whereby al the
heat units in the coal shall be utilized
it is quite within the range OF prob
ability that a system will be evolved
by which Is pr cent OF its energy will
be used for heating, power and light
ing purposes. Indeed, at the present
time, through a process Of nvertlng
coal into gas, instead eof firing the
coal direct, 1t has ben demonstrated
that 80 per cent of the heat units can
he utilized in generating motor power
The general adoption of this method
of using coal would insure a fuel sup
ply for at least one thousand years
even though there We're no further
impromevents in methods of con.
sumption and no greater economy In
production.
While It may. no be within the
province of the government or of the
state to regulate the cost at which
coal shall be produced or the price
at which II should be sold, it seems to
me that much good would result by
continuing and extending the investi-
cations which are now being made
relative to methods or production and
consumption and the waste attendant
thereupon.
The present geenration has no
moral right to destroy those resources
which were not created by man or
given solely to us.
Personal Safety.
Our extrayagant wastefulness in
the use of our fuel supply. both in
production and consumption, is
equalled only by our srlminal disre-
gard FOR the personal safety and the
lives of the men who toll in the mines
For every 10000 tons of coal pro
duced a mine worker is killed and
several are seriously injured. For
each 1000 men employed $40 are
killed annually. Last year nearly 3
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 percentage of fatalities In
decd. in those foreign countries In
which mining is most hazardous the
proportion of men killed to the num-
Der employed is from so to rs per
cent less than in our country.
II is sad commentary upon our
Wanted civilization that more men
are killed or crippled IN mining i'm the
United States than in any other ma
tion on earth. In our mad rush for
spoils and profits we do not only