The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-12
New Bureau ofIie Uncle Sams Be nar With
Patent and Pension Under Interior Department.
BY JOHN ELrnrrn WATKINS.

Washington. D. c., June 11.--To help
make our most dangerous occupation
safe means of livelihood: to help re-
duce our prodlgal mineral waste--
Including quarter billion tons OF
coal year; to employ trained special.
lists who Will keep small individual mino
owners as much abreast of the times
as wealthy mining corporations; to
help protect adjacent property from
poisonous mine fumes; to learn tho
nearest points where the government
can get bricks, stone, tile, lime, CO.
ment and other mineral materials for
his buildings; to find out what build
Ing materials are really freproof-in
short, to do for tho miner and for ali
interested In mineral products what
tho Department Of Agriculture does
for the farmer and for al concerned
in agricultural products.
Such are the functions Of the brand.
new bureau of mines which, within
less than three weeks--or on July l.
VIII open It's doors In Washington and
take Its rank With such of its sister
bureaus of the great Department OF
the Interior as teh Patent Office, PEN
sion Office. General Land ONCE and
Bureau OF Indian Affairs.
The new bureau affects the whole
country. All OF our forty nine States
have mineral products entering into
commerce, and the total production av.
( orages si0.00O,0oo yearly for each
State and Territory. The people Of ev-
cry State are interested in the miner
al industry as consumers. Only three
states have a mineral production yield.
ing less than million q year. and the
fuel bill IS something that concerns ev.
cry householder. that OF the country as
"A whole being q billion and half dol.
lars year.
Three million men. equaling the po-
/ puiation OF the great State of Massa.
chusetts, and all connected with tho
mining products. will benefit by the
new bureau These men contribute two
billions annually 10 the national wealth,
and their industry Is increasing faster
than our population. We arc the last
OF the great mining countries to see the
necessity OF such a government insu.
tuition.
The Dead, Manned, Widows and Orr
phnns.
How eight to ten thousand OF our
miners are now being killed and injur'
ed every year has been told over and
over In the papers and magazines. This
annual havoc equals the moving down
of ten to dozen regiments OF soldiers
In five years more than regiment mas
been killed outright I'm the Pennsyl-
vania coal mines alone. During tho
past twenty years these black coal
mines OF ours have killed 10000 men,
injured 100000 others. made 1900
widows and 10000 orphans. Recent
statistics also indicate that metal min
ing Is every bit as dangerous as coal
Railroad!ng used to be our most dan
gerouB occupation. but mining now
eclipses 1t as q taker of lives and q
breaker OF bones and hearts. Ignor-
auce is back of this awful casualty
roll Thus. there is MAN. a miner who
does not understand the explosive
powers of coal dust and fredamp. And
very few of these underground toilers
there are who know how to select a
really safe safety lamp or a safe ex-
plosive for blasts. Some miners, expos
ed 10 suffocating gases, have ripped
off their oxygen helmets from fear
that they were smothering in them