The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-09-23
Fifty Teams Of Miners Participate
in Contests at San Francisco;
Show Best First Aid
Methods
$4,000 MEN TRAINED
BY U. s. BUREAU
Operators Start Rescue Stations and
Provide Cars to Reduce Death
Rate in Dangerous Un-
derground Operations
By United Press.

BY United Press.
San Francisco. Sept. PA great ma
tional demonstration of ways of saving
human lives is being held here Fifty
teams Of miners from all parts Of the
United States are ready to compete for
medals to be awarded the best work in
life saving and first aid
The miners in the contest we're se-
lected through state and sectional elm
ination competitions The team repre-
senting the southwestern states came
to the fair on the $1,000 given as first
prize at the contest held in Kansas
City in July. The winners of the south
ern interstate contest had their ex-
penses betrayed in the same way after
a lively competition at Birmingham,
Ala.
Today's program provides for con-
tests between teams representing the
same states and groups of states in the
west. These teams will meet the east
ern teams tomorrow
The u s bureau Of mines Is taking
an active part in the demonstration
In the past four years the bureau has
trained $4,000 miners in rescue and
first aid work, 1t now has eight miDc
rescue cars in operation, manned by
trained crews who when not actually
engaged in rescue work, spend their
time teaching the mine.s
Operators have been spurred by the
bureau to establish rescue stations and
provide rescue cars, until there are
now 20 of the former and IL of the lat
ter in use.
The need for such efforts is shown
by the appalling death rate in the
mines of this country.
In the year 1918, the last year for
which statistics are available for all
the mines and allied industries, S763
men were killed and $4,000 injured.
This includes coal mines, quarries, ore
dressing plants and smelling plants.
In the last ten years. in the coal
mines alone, there have been 26,O00
deaths, a fatality rate of three and
three quarters men in every 1000 en-
poyed and more than million men
injured.
1t was tc reduce the death rate and
lessen the number of injuries that the
federal government early in 1908 took
up its work in behalf of the miners.
The first marked progress was in 1911,
when the first national mine safety
demonstration was held in Pittsburg,
in the presence of the president Of the
United States and 10000 miners. Since,
that time there has been wonderful
development throughout the country
in both rescue and first aid work.
"A large proportion of the men en-
tering the Mines said an official of
the bureau, come from the farms and
villages of different European coun-
tries: they are unfamiliar with our lam
guage, our institutions. our laws, and
! know little or nothing Of mining. A
majority of the men now working in
the coal mines of the United States
speak and read but little English. It
is therefore difficult to reach these
men through publications, even when
The latter are prepared in the most
simple and elementary manner
INC one likes to estimate the money
value of human life, but at times it
becomes necessary to do this. espec-
tally in working out the economics of
compensation acts. 1t is a reasonable
estimate that during the past ten years
more than 10000 men have been killed
in connection with the accidents in the
mining Industries or this country. II
is impossible TO estimate the number
of injured or who have suffered from
bad health conditions. It is impossible
to estimate the number OF men witt
health shattered through these condi
tions who have had to give up thei'
} work years before their natural tim,
or the number OF dependents who hav.