The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-10-09
By JAMES b. MORROW.

The simile-an overloaded vehicle for
a sober fact-sounds like a drunken vii
lage ioafer after he has inherited his
mothers house and lot. or a blanket IN
dian who has sold his birthright TO a
white man for a little ready cash
Coming TO the point in unexaggerated
words. no more than 10 per cent of the
coal burned in manufactures or on rail-
roads is converted into work The loss
IS greater. almost unbelievable. when the
work happens to be electric light.
4 BarbOrOus Waste.
The waste. though this be a wondrous
age in most respects is barbarous-the
destruction of a forest. one might almost
say, 10 boil a hunters coffee pot and TO
cook his bacon and flapjacks But the
squandering of vanishing resources goes
beyond material wealth Each seventy
five trainloads OF coal-huge cars of steel
piled high with glistening lumps-repre-
sents the needless sacrifice of one human
life The injured, broken men-some Of
them unfit for further work-should be
added to the cost.
Indeed II ali the miners killed during
two decades were alive and concentrated
with their families. at a single spot, there
would be a city with more than 10000
inhabitants. Gettysburg was horribly
bloody. SO was Shiloh. Yet the fatalities
in the coal mines Of the United States
are larger annually than were the fetali-
ties among the troops under Meade or
Grant in either of those terrible battles
between the North and South. And
again the wounded do not figure in the
list. nor DO the metal miners. nor the
quarrymen who die as a part OF the price
paid for the neeessaries, comforts, and
beauties Of civilized life
Story of shame.
The story brought up from the depths
Of the eartS Is shameful, whether meas
ursd in human blood or in dollars and
cents. But it is drawing 70 an end Here
after its chapters will be shorter and less
brutally realistic, The ridiculous Indian
is gradually to fade from the scene OF
his extravaganza and eredulity, The vii
Iage prOdisal is TO have IA guardian and
place TO work. The grinning skull Of
death is 10 be pulled out OF tunnels and
Shafts where prosperity is supported and
industry begins. IN sense. the national
government has turned miner. operator,
and consumec that it may counsel the
country scientifically and paternally.
The announcement was recently made
that President Taft had chosen DIR.
Joseph Austin Holmes 10 be director OF
the newly created Bureau of Mines. Kid
den away in the appointment was an
unusual stale OF facts. Holmes, as
name, meant nothing TO the public that
reads OF current events. To mine opera
tors. mine workers, manufacturers. rail
road managers. engineers. chemists. and
biologists, however, the name was in
stantly and pleasantly associated with
one of the most useful accomplished. and
broad minded scientists in the United
States
An uncommon element pertaining 10
the appointment was the spontaneity,
enthusiasm. and unanimity of its de-
mand. The man with a lamp in his
hat joined the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company and the United states Steel
Corporation in asking that it be made
Coal digger. coal producer and coal
burner were all agreed. and sent advo-
Gates and letters by mail and petitions by
telegraph 10 the President in strenuous
and ardent support OF DIT. Holmes. In
trade publications and among technical
men Or. Holmes is already famous.
Doubtless he will he as widely known as
clifford PnChOt before long.
Fuel Important Subject.
Everybody is directly and vitality in
terested in fuel Dr. Holmes has been
studying the subject for years. He has
scrutinized mines in all parts of the
country and IN Europe. The whole pur-
pose Of his life may be put in four
words: THE prevention of waste'-the
waste of coal, gold, and everything of
value found beneath the surface of the
earth
Half Of che coal in each mine is left
in the ground. IN the Joplin district of
Missouri, $l,250000 in zinc is annually
passed over for the cream OF the richer
veins. Fourteen tons Of copper are daily
carried away in the tailings of re
duction mill in Arizona. At another mill.
in Utah. the waste amounts 10 $500
every twenty-four hours. Random in
stances that could be multiplied many
times Moreover, few Americans know
that coal and other mineral products az
grcgate 65 per cent of the freight tom
mage of the United States.
But the prevention of waste" as ex-
planned and practced by DR.. Holmes.
includes life. health, and limb. There
are 7000C0 coal miners in the country.
More than 100000 other men work in and
around the mines. Thirty States pro-
duce coal, All of the States produce
minerals OF some kind. Out Of each
Ice men employed in digging coat, 3.S9
are killed. The figures elsewhere are:
Prussia 206; Great Britain. lbs; Bel
GUM. 100. and France, csc. DR.. Holmes
has proved that coal dust is more deadly
than gas. lie is training men at rescue
work. and is standardiZlng fire appa-
ratus and explosives Of various kinds.
The oxygen helmet OF Europe was
brought mere at his request. In short,
the work of this remarkable man
touches every home. every factory. every
railroad, and every human being in the
land.
Holmes Like PinchOt.
In appearance and in vim Holmes, or
the mines, resembles Pinchot, master Of
the woods. He is tall, slender, and gray
eyed. His father, born in New York and
educated in Tennessee. was a Presbyter-
ian clergyman in South Carolina, marry
ing there and inheriting through mis-
wife a plantation and fifty slaves The
civil war despoiled the preacher and his
family of everything but land. Joseph
Austin. the son. was graduated as a
bachelor Of science from Cornell Uni
versity in 1851. He took care of a build
ing during his first year at college. Then
he was put in charge OF the college