The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-12
MR. BURRELL WILL
 MAKE TESTS TODAY Pleased With Conditions at
 Mulga and Banner DUST IS KEPT DOWN
Government Expert Says His Mission in Birmingham Is to Secure
 Closer Cooperation Between State and Federal Bureaus


 After spending the past two days at
 Mulga and Banner mines. gathering some
 20 samples of mine air at these two
 places, G. A. Burrell, chief chemist Of
 the United States bureau of mines of the
 Department of the Interior will be en-
 gagged in conducting analyses in the office of the chief state mine inspector today
 and tomorrow. The notification that the
 complete gas laboratory for the state
 mining department will arrive in this city
 within few days will detain the federal
 chemist in this city probably through
 Monday
 When speaking of his first visits to Ala bama mines MT. Burrell said last night: The state inspection department and coal mining companies of Alabama are eer- tainly doing their utmost to reduce the fatalities which occur in coal mining. Anyone visiting the Mulga and Banner mines, as I did Wednesday and Thursday, cannot but be impressed with the efforts
 being made toward that end. Safety first is apparently the first consideration, judg- ing from the earnestness with which the problems of safety in coal mining are being attacked.
 T am told that conditions are In no wise exceptional in these mines to those existing in other mines. I believe that this state is well abreast of the knowledge having to do with greater safetyAin dig ging coal The possibility of future coal dust explosions is given great consider ation. The practical plan of continually watering the mines is carried on to a satisfying extent and the dust IS so 1 drenched with water that in almost every | place in the mines one can squeeze the | dust into a ball that will retain it's shape when released from the palm. Good opin- 1 ion has it that this watering system is a very efficient method. This and other sensible practices will result in a very much reduced fatality roll in the tutufe. Due to the combined and earnest eff forts of the state departments, the coal companies, the federal bureau, the techni- l cal press and other agencies, the year 1911 passed with a decrease of 25 per cent in
 the total mining fatalities in the United States as compared with the previous year. This state was unfortunate in that a great catastrophe swelled its total. Such holocausts direct attention and mis- lead the public into believing that coal mining is perhaps the most dangerous or all occupations. While much remains to be done in minimizing the risk, the same can be said of many other occupations and statistics, show that the percentage death rate in coal mines is below that or other occupations In which the fatalities
 do not occur so many at q time and, as a consequence, public attention is not con l centrated upon them.
 6,,Mv.aparticuar mission to Birmingham | has to do with cooperation work to be
 carried on between the fedeIal and state dA,artments and mining companies, 1 whereby more exact knowledge can be oo- tained regarding the condition of the
 ventilating current Perhaps the main diff l fieulty in the way of exact testing or the l air current has to do with the fact that proper devices for such purpose have not 1 been readily available. The bureau oi l mines has assembled such an instrument
 and I have brought it to Alabama to h.
 troduce it. Testing the air current simply
 means that gas can be drained from par
 ticular area more completely than with
 less accurate methods.
 .I must say, however, that tests already l completed show very satisfactory. condi- | tions in Alabama mines"