Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-02
LIFE IN The COAL MINES
Numerous Deaths Attributable to
Competition.
Ten Thousand Mcn Are KILLED or In
iurcd tnDueiiy--.U nited states Geo.
logical Survey Expert Speaks
$50 Million Tons wasted.

washington "pec''u ~ '"e A'"""'
evening Sournai says
IT D. ~ iio'''''S' eNpe'. II. VI
tue tecil'loi"S'' W 1880
seo'osiOa' survey iia"o wv
Gay that inc runo"s co'"pe''''o'' III o
coai on ness oi inc country "ieo'
'eSp"iS"''e 'oi '''e e'o"' VS. VI 80 -.
80 .n.,
THE American nina owner ia az hui
name as the mine owner of any other
country said Or. Holmes. He would
like 70 follow every practice and use
every, apnlioroe for safety to be found
in Rritain. France. Germany. Belgium
or elsewhere. He pays his miner higher
wnpes than in f7urone and at the same
time receives for his coel less than half
the price received for similar coal by
tho operator I'm those countries and he
must employ an increasingly large per-
centage OF miners who come to him I'M
familiar either with tho practices of the
industry or with the language or ira
ditions of the country.
And the penalty which the nation Is
paying Cor this bad system is the increas-
Ing waste OF resources and the still more
unpardona Bile increasing waste Of human
life the yearly loss Of $50. oOO 1000 tons
of coal and the killing or in turing yearly
OF from 5000 TO 10. 900 men.
"Ruinous competition exists not only
between the operators IN the same field,
but between the operators of one field
against those in another field or in an
otner state where o'Herent mining laws
Ahu regulations e"'s''
SMALL. OPERATORS DRIVEN OUT.
The competition f. first Of all driv-
Ing out OF the business the small opera
tors eyceot where they find protection
under local freight rates and is forcing
even the larger operator to mine coal
under conditions which he cannot ap-
prove but from which he finds no es-
zane. II he and his fellow operators
,ndeavor to get together and place the
br,ce Of coal at the mine at q reasonable
has,s thcv go 70 ieil under oi,her a fed
oral or q State statute. and "a the only
a,ternative oscb r,,ust live mr. ..iocrr,b b,.
underbidd,ng the other. which he can do
only through waste,ul and unsafe n1ir1,rg
methods
Even when the demand for coal and
the prices are at their best. under exist
!ns coholtlon' the operator can mine only
part OF MS coal which can ne TAKE" ""
most cheaply ana SOFA ri hsher prices
Inc remainder must DE lett underground
an such shape as may preciuoe tne ~
ture recovery ana tnus we waste year
~ more thah EoooV'oVo IONS OF 'he ma
""'' 5 luei supply
THE REMEDIES.
"And what are the remedies for this
had situatioro The ruinous competittve
systems ,,pon which coal mining in the
United States il based at the present
tilno should he changed. The price paid
for coal nj the mine should be such as
will permit and secure safe and ef1cien,
mining-in mining unaccompanied bv
either this large loss of life or waste q.
resources-in mining which can have due
regard not only the safety but also ia
eta health and comfort of the men who
toll underground and whose labor is Sc
essential 10 the welfare of the nation
All this can ho done without adding ar-
preciabiv to the burden of the average
American citizen, without any increase
cottage and without tho risk ~ INV I'm.
reaaonah,e restra,r, ~ troda
,rnro .ro>c