Evening star., 1915-12-31
Work of the Bureau Of Mines
Discussed by Two Speakers
Before Engineering Bodies

The sections of the congress devoted
to engineering, to mining. metailurey'
economic geology and applied cnem-
istry, and q subsection of the educa-
tional section held a joint meeting this
morning at tho Raleigh Hotel. Dean
Gardner c. Anthony of Tufts college
presiding. Van H. Manning OF Wash
ington, director of the United States
bureau Of mines, delivered an address
in which he briefly told of some OF the
work his bureau Is doing. declaring 8
that within the past year preliminary
steps have been taken which Will lead
to greater efforts toward the preVen-
tion of losses in metal mining.
Work of Constructive Nature.
"Other work." Mr.. Manning said. OF
similar constructive nature, whicn
has been undertaken and either carried
to a successful conclusion OF Is now
under way, includes the development
of a process for extracting radium from
carnotite at a hitherto unheard-of 10"
cost; elimination of the harmful IN
gradients and saving of the values IN
copper smelter smoke: organization OF
first aid and rescue corps at mines
throughout the country; fuel tests or
coal used by the government, resulting
in annual cash savings of s20o,ooo' IN,
creased efficiency in production ana
utilization of petroleum and natural
gas: the publication of statistics on &C
cidents, covering all branches OF the
mining industry, and publication OF ali
federal statutes and court decisions re-
lating to mining.
The proper demands made upon the
bureau have increased much more rap
idly than the ability to meet them In
addition to the pressing humanitarian
considerations which arise, the money
loss, which represents waste OF ma
tional mineral resources, presents an
urgent argument for similar work in
all pan-American countries.
Mine Accidents, A. n. Fay's Theme.
A joint session Of the sections Of the
congress devoted to conservation and
to mining. metallurgy, economic geol-
ogy and applied chemistry was held
this afternoon at the Raleigh Hotel,
James F. Cailbreath, secretary. Amer
lean Mining Congress, Washington. pre-
siding. Albert H. Fay, mining en-
gineer of the United States bureau of
mines, delivered an address telling of
the bureaus work in mine accidents, in
which he said, in part:
The magnitude of the mining indus
try may be grasped when one realizes
that more than 100000 men are en-
gagged in the mines in the world. OF
this number 100000 are employed in
the coal mines. and 100000 in the
metal mines. In addition, millions
more are engaged in allied industries
dependent directly upon the mines for
coal and metal
Mining Is one of the hazardous in
dustries, in which three out of every
1000 men employed are killed each
year by reason of some accident. " lille
world wide data relating to non n-fatal
injuries are not available, yet reports
for all metal mines in the United
States over a four-year period show
that thirty men per 1000 are injured
sufficiently to cause loss of time OF
twenty days or more, and $50 per 1000
receive minor injuries. resulting in a
loss of time of one to twenty days. A
reduction of so per cent in the num-
Der of accidents would mean a saving
of 5000 lives every year, in addition
to reducing the loss of time and suf-
fering resulting from non-fatal in
juries.