Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-04-27
MINING DEATHS
ARE Decreasing
TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED AND
SIXTY MEN WE'RE KILLED
IN l.. :. IN 1912.
BUREAU WORK Increasing
Smallest Death Rate in Years, Al
though Much More Coal WAS
Taken From the Earth.

WASHINGTON, April 26.-(Spe
cial) )-TWenty-thr hundred and SIX
ty men were killed in the coal mines
of the United states last year out o
total of three quarters of a million
employed in the industry, according
to II statement issued today by thu
United States bureau Of mines The
death rate was 3,15 in every on'
thousand men employed.
The bureau further makes thu
statement that the number of mer
killed was the least since 1906, thai
the death rate was the smalles
since 1899 and that the number o
tons of coal taken from the ground
in proportion to the number Of men
killed was the greatest on record.
The statistics show that with sew
enty thousand more miners employed
in 1912 than in 1907 there were SS7
less deaths in 1912.
With 10000 more men employed
in 1912 than in 1911, there were. 1853
less deaths in 1912,
Frederick W, Horton, mining en-
giner of the bureau who compiled the
death statistics shows by comparisons
with other years that explosions OF
coal dust and gas, the great menaces
of the miner, are gradually growing
less in number and in their toll OF
life. due. he believes to the active
educational campaign of the bureau
The percentage of deaths from 9TH
err causes that the bureau has not yet
investigated. shows no such material
decreases, it is claimed
THE facts disclosed offer indisput-
able evidence that conditions tending
toward safety in mining are actually
improving and that coal is now being
mined with less danger to the miner
than ever before said Mr. Horton
today In discussing the situation. AL
though the Improvement Is greater In
1912 than in any previous year Tor
which accurate statistics are avail
able, partly due, perhaps, to eXcep-
tionally mild weather during the last
few months of the year, decreasing
the likelihood of disastrous coal dust
explosions there has been an annual
Improvement for number OF years.
This improvement has been brought
about by combination Of causes, the
principal one of which has been the
more efficient and effective mine In
spection on the part of the state MIN
inp departments and state mine In
spectors throughout the country, sup
lemented hy greater care upon the
part of both the operators and the
miners. The educational work of the
bureau OF mines has kept both the
operator and the miner alive to the
various dangers and has shown whh
should be taken to avoid
them. The bureau is therefore grat'
fled with the Improvement shown
as the greatest improve
ment relates to dangers concerning
which the bureau has been conduct
ing special investigations and giving
the results to the industry.
Although there has been an annual
in mine safety condi-
tions since 1901, and particularly
notable one in 1912, still greater de-
crease in the death rate can be eff
fected. Whether or not this Will be
made I'm 1913 depends largely on the
care exercised by the operators, sup
forcmen and all others
in authority, and b. the miners as
we'll"
Mr. Horton reviews the last seven
teen years of coal mining and finds
that 1851 miners have lost their
lives In that time. In order TO indl-
cate the economic loss to the nation
through this sacrifice Of life. he takes
the basis Of the insurance companies
that a human life Is worth at lcss'
$1,000 and draws some interesting
lie says. IF 1t be as
sumed for statistical purposes that
each life is worth at least $4,000 then
the total loss occasioned by the fatal
accidents to miners in the United
states during the last seventeen
years reaches the sum Of S16s,0oo.-
."uvf.