The bee., 1913-12-16
SAFETY FIRST"
Work of Mine Rescue
Has Reached Stage
Of Great Effec-
tiVeneSs.
BRAVERY OF MINES
AND RESCUE TEAMS
EULOGIZeD
Dr.. Holmes Of The Bureau Of Mines Pays
Fine Tribute


being received by the Unitet
States Bureau of Mines, of min
ers rescued from death in acci
dents, 1t is becoming apparent tC
the offic ials that the general
"S,fety First" movement, lnau-
gurated by the Bureau, has al
ready reached a stage of great
effectiveness T; Hundreds of mines
throughout the country, through
the precept and urging of the
Bureau have established rescue
and first-aid crews and ii is from
these crews of volunteer heroes
that the Bureau is almost weekly
hearing of lives saved. Most of
the accidents involve but a few
men and are not chrOnicled In
the newspapers, yet in every in.
stance the reports breathe of the
rarest sort of heroism upon the
part of the rescue crews.
"Slnce the Bureau of Mines
was created" said DIR. Joseph A.
Holmes, director of the Bureau
of Mines today, in speaking of
this part of the work" our rescue
men have trained 5000 miners In
the use of the modern rescue ap.
paratus and 1000 miners in the
principles of acknowledgements
jured. These constitute an army
greater than many legions that
won their triumphs upon the
field of battle, for these men do
not destroy life, they save life.
They are the soldiers of human.
ity, the minute men of peace.
"All through the year these
men have been answering the
emergency call of the mines, in
many instances rushing into the
very jaws of death, in the FAINT
hope of bringing back father to
his family or young man to his
mother. Many lives have been
saved and a mum Der of rescuers
have had their names added to
the long row of martyrs. The
saddest incident of the year was
when two young men gave up
their lives at the Dawson. New
Mexico disaster, some time ago,
while endeavoring to rescue the
entombed men. Their sacrifice
was purely a voluntary matter,
like the acts of any other rescuer.
They died like the courageous
men they were and there were
other rescuers, equally as cour-
ageous, ready and waiting to
take their places in the ranks.
"The bravery of the mines has
never been questioned. There
has never been a time when more
voluteers than needed did not
respond. There has always been
a rescuer to step into the vacant
place in the ranks. And when
the rescuer goes 10 his death, he
is not spurred on by martial mu-
sic, the roll of drums, the crack
of rifle fire, like the soldier in
war. There are no volleys of
cheers 20 nerve him in the or
deal. His is the grim, silent,
desperate task in the darkness of
the bowels of the earth. His
incentive is the consciousness
that he is performing the highest
duty that is possible fora fellow
man. And unlike the battle.
field. the world thrills for a day
over the heroism and the sacri-
fee of the hero and then forgets
him. There are no battle ami
versaries to quicken the memory
of the world as to his feats, no
camp-fires of the veteran survi-
vors to live anew the valor of the
dead hero.
"The world seems to give more
recognition to the hero that dies
in plain view of the people than
to the man who gives up his life
in the darkness of the earth. A
swimmer who jumps into river