Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-04-20

Thermometer registered q temp r3
tlra in which human ifa coH4 'o@
sustained. De~ceu we're made t
on Wednesday,, Taals a-3 Ert
day o.aeke4eu codes were Ur0us
uD rom below.
On Saturday there came j1yful
news. Twenty living men We're
coming from mat pit of death; llv-
ing men VINO had walled themselves
in; living men who had endured all
the agonies of hunger, cold and
thirst.
The rescue work went on. More
than a hundred of the dead had
been brought out, when on We'd
nesday, the twenty fourth, 1t was
discovered that the fire had started
in the coal itself and the mine was
sealed.
The heroism called forth by this
tragedy holds all in its mighty ap-
peal, but consider the other side OF
the picture the loss OF the men,
the untold suffering of the women
and children waiting, waiting above
ground, hoping, but all in vain, I'M
til they are called at last to follow,
heartbroken, the corpse of some
loved one. When we consider this,
we ask ourselves, us it necessary"
Day after day, week after week,
men are killed in our coal mines,
not only from fire and black damp,
but from falling coal, due to i'm
properly timbered roofs and pre-
mature blasts Indeed one can say
to himself, with the assurance of
approximating the truth, that yes
terday ten men were killed in the
coal mines of this country, that ten
men were killed to. day, and tO-mor-
row ten more shall be killed. The
daily average is really higher than
that, for the mines are not worked
more than two hundred and ten
days per year. On every working
day, then, fifteen miners are killed,
fifteen families are made desolate.
Is it not terrible that In this day of
marvellous achievements in science,
from eight to ten thousand men
must every year perish in the mines
only a few hundred feet from the
open fields and the light of dayG Is
this not stain, a blemish upon our
American civilization?
The United States prides itself on
being n wonderfully civilized nation,
leader among those of the earth,
out in this respect at least Europe is
far ahead. Let me prove my state
ment John Mitchell, once presi-
dent of the American Federation OF
Miners, says: ''In the coal mines
OF the United States there are killed
an average of four men annually
out of every thousand employed,
whereas in the continental countries
of Europe less than one, and in
Great Britain one and one half in
every thousand are killed = col
mining is the most hazardous in
dustry in America"
The Bulletin of Labor, issued by
the Department of the Interior,
says: I'm regard to the deaths per
one million tons of coal, the United
States not only occupies a position
worse than that of most of the Eu-
ropean countries, but is also show
idg an increase in the rate, whereas
every other county is showing de-
crease. And this rate will increase,
for, with the depletion Of the thick
or and more favorably mined seams
of coal, thinner and less regular
seams must be worked. And the
natural result would be to increase
tae death rate"
In other words Great Britain and
the continent have decreased their
mine death rates while ours has
been increasing. Are we, then, SO
inferior to the other nationsG Are
we so wasteful of human life2 Can
we afford, because our population is
great, to throw away the lives Of
our fellow men? IL the great coal
industries of other countries can by
enlightened legislation and enforce
ment maintain with success increas-
ingly safe conditions in their mines,
the United States should adopt the
same methods. 1t is a national dis
Ri 0CO tA4eO Jul OWA COuhGLyS Will
all it's great minds and its men of
fabulous wealth, does not apply its
genius to the finding of some rem
edy for the terrible human sacrifice
in its mines.
There must be remedy! What
is it?
We pension the soldier. but we
make no provision whatever for the
worker whose labor is not only for
his employer but for the public; for
the laborer who dies that his fellow
men may live.
There is the relief commission to
aid the sick and the needy. Grant
ed it's work is good, but what is re-
lief for the present when there is
nothing in store for the future;
when the wage Garner is gone and
the dlrest poverty looms ahead9
Measures for rescue and relief are