Charlevoix county herald., 1911-05-27

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was to blame came out at the hearing, but was ig
nored Fire Boss Trader at No. 6, in which the cars
ended the rum said that twice before there had been
runaways, and each occasion fires had been
started in the coal dust but had been extingushed
before they spreda. And Blacksmith Jenkins figur-
ing the time between the passage Of the cars and
the moment of explosion, showed that between the
short circuit and the explosion there had been at
least remarkable coincidence
There were 362 men killed in that disaster and,
II the cause had been fixed electricity the own
ers might have been forced to pay 81 800 man,
like the owners of the Cherry Hill mine who faced
public opinion outraged at the thought of men be-
ing sealed alive in burning mine. AS it was they
got off by contributing $4,000 to be added to the
public relief fund of $149 000 So instead of 81 500
each man cost only $55.25.
Electricity was also not blamed in the case Of
the Mariana disaster of November %, 1908, when
154 lost their lives but after the public inter-
est had blown over the use of electricity aban-
doned at the suggestion of the department of mines
and compressed air replaced in it's stead. This
might appear to indicate guilty knowledge of the
real cause.
AS matter of fact the owners of the mine the
Pittsburg- Buffalo Company had aready had warn
ing that all not right in the Mariana On Au-
gust 12 more than two months before the big ex-
plosion, there a smaller explosion which result
ed in the death of one man and serious injury to
two others; and Alderman A. R. Day. Of Mononga
hela, before whom the preliminary hearing took
place, found that the accident had been due eec
tricity William Underwood, foreman in charge Of
the mine arrested on information filed by State
Mine Inspector John F. Bell on a charge of permit
ting "the of spark-throwng machinery in that
part of the mine where only safety lamps al
lowed"
The Pttsburg Buffalo Company repeatedly denied
the fact of this accident but the report of the state
department of mines for 1908 contains account
of the accident.
Now that the United States government has
recognized the danger OF electricity, 1t has taken
the position that it would be blocking progress to
prevent its use. So 1t has set about solving the
problem in way that will bring final relief, but
this will not prevent the death of thousands of men,
who will lose their lives account electricity be-
tween now and the time when safely devices are
invented. 1t is impossible to fix exact number,
but probably no less than five hundred have come
to their death through unsafe electric apparatus in
the past year, the length of time the government
has been at work on the problem.
In March, 1910, the federal department of mines
sent wcrd to all manufacturers of electric mining
apparatus that II. II. Clark, engineer, had been
placed in charge of the work the Pttsburg test
ing station and ready to stamp the seal of gov
ernment approval on all electric mining machinery
that did not spark; but nine months later he had
not yet discovered single piece of electric appara-
tus which met the requirements Just consider that
for moment. Even with all the improvements
is as far off
But what is to be done? 1t Is objected that you
can't stop ninetenths of the mines from operating
until they made safe. And yet II they are per-
mtted to go ahead at present they are absolute
y certain to kill from 1000 to 5000 before safe
apparatus is devised and installed.
Are those 5000 lives to be sacrificed? Is nothing
to be done meanwhile? Apparently not.
IL those 5000 men were in mine and abso-
lutely certain to meet death there unless the eec-
trio apparatus were torn out, the situation would be
dramatic public opinion would be aroused, and
thing quite effectual would be DONE The real need
Is no less insisten If then 1t would not be absurd
to demand immediate action in the one case 1t is
not in the other
But, II is objected again, II would interfere with
business, IL would be too expensive, impossible
Money, then, has more rights than humanity. Money
must be saved at any cost to men, And these 5000
must die because it would be too expensive to save
them.
In Colorado they beginning to see the light
whole series of horrible disasters has forced It
on them. The coroners jury that investigated the
Starkve explosion found II had been due to elec-
tricity and commission appointed by the governor
strongly urged on the Legislature this spring abso
utely to forbid the use of electricity In mines re-
gardless of the cost
Having power to enforce the use of safety
apparatus, the department OF mines Is basing its
undertaking moral suasion. With the help of
mining inspectors and state laws IL hopes to
get results. Eventually, 1t has reason to believe
1t will be successful. 1t Is doing o similar work In
respect to explosives.