Weekly journal-miner., 1915-09-08
UNIFORM LAWS FOR
 SAFETY IN MINING
(From Thursdays Daily.l

terest to the metal-mining districts
 of the United States has just been
 issued by the Bureau of Mines, under
 the title, Rules and Regulations for Metal Mines" It is to be known as
 bulletin 75 and the authors are w.
 R. Ingalls,, J. Parke Charming, James Douglas, James R. Finlay, and John
 Hays Hammond The committee was
 originally appointed at meeting of
 the American Mining Congress at
 Denver, Colorado, in November,
 1906, and its object was the drafting of modern law governing quarrying and metalliferous mining which could be recommended to the several States
 for adoption, in the hope that the passage of such a uniform law by the mining States would tend to lower the number of fatal and serious acci- dents.
 When the committee took up its work, it found that Colorado, Mis- souri, Montana and New York were the only States that had enacted min ing laws of broad scope applicable to other than coal mines. California. Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dako- ta, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming were found to have statutes pertaining to metalliferous mining, but with few and incomplete safety provisions.
 This committee of the American Mining Congress did considerable work along this line and made number of reports. In April, 1911, Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, director of the Bureau of Mines, invited the com mittee to serve as committee of that bureau with the idea of prepar- ing final draft of law and this was accepted.
 Starting with a composite of exist ing laws, the committee by success sive stages endeavored to work out a general law that would embody the best mining thought of the day, be in accord with approved modern min ing practices, and yet at the same time be effective and practical in op- eration, and not merely collection of .rules and regulations to be disre- garded or enforced at will.
 The committee, in discussing its re- port, says: "We have found that a great deal of interest and attention among mine operators has been awakened by our advocacy of i'm proved means for promoting safety in mining. However, we are under no illusion that our recommendations will be immediately and generally adopted. We consider our work to be especially of educational charac- ter rather than anything else. It will be useful in three main ways, we think, as follows:
 '1 As a basis for State legisla- ton.
 2. As basis for private systems of inspection.
 B. As a collection of simple rules for the guidance of everybody en- gagged in mining.
 Since the publication of our first report several States have adopted l new mining laws and amended their old ones. In this connection our code has served some purpose; for l example, in the drafting of the laws that now stand on the books of the States of Nevada and Arizona. We do not expect that any State will at once adopt all of our recommenda- | tions, especially those that are essen tially of legal character. We offer them as what we think ought to be and hope some day will be.
 sOlllOC Oul III Sl plDllCdllOli, llll lliCl l more, most of the mining companies of consequence have adopted inspec- ton systems or have at least framed | codes of safety rules, which have been based to large extent on our code, notably so in the case of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company This tendency, in fact, has become one of the most important phases in the movement for Safety First This is the gratifying consummation that we had in mind. Unquestionab ly, also, the widespread adoption of State laws providing compensation for injured workmen has helped the safety movement by making accident prevention worth while
 We consider, however, that the chief usefulness of the code of rules that we have formulated will be to small operators, who frequently en- gage in unsafe practices without knowing that they are unsafe or with out thinking about the matter at all. There is a reasonable hope that our report will be Of educational value