The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-07-26
AMERICA OEv|SING WAYS AND MEANS
To LESSEN DEATH TOLL AMONG MINERS
Thirty Thousand Lives Have Been Snued Out in Decade,
While in 1913 There Were 1852 Men Killed and $4,000
Injured in Mining and Allied Industries in the United
States.

quiries on the part Of the Federal
Government and a proper dissemtn-
alton of the results obtained; II Calls
for more stringent police supervision
or inspection by the States. and Tor
more determined cooperative effort
on the part of both the miners and
the mine owners in the way of making
and enforcing regulations.
Difficuit to Handle Foreigners.
large proportion of the men enter
ing the mines of the United States
each year come from the farms ana
villages of different European coun-
tries; they are unfamiliar with our
language. our institutions, our laws
and know little or nothing of mining.
majority of the men now working
in the coal mines OF the United States
speak and read but little English. II
is, therefore difffcult to reach these
men through publications, even when
the latter are prepared in the most
. simple and elementary manner. The
plan most successfully used by the en1-
ployes OF the Bureau of Mines In
reaching and interesting these men II
through giving actual working demon-
STATIONS in mine rescue, first aid ana
other safety measures and methods.
and the giving of lectures illustrating
with lantern slide pictures which con-
trast the safe and the dangerous
methods. In these lectures and DEM
constructions, local interpreters are used
as the need for them may appear.
Work of this kind develops a new
interest In the safety work among the
miners and following the movements
of each of the rescue cars this interest
on the part of the miners Is. shown in
their call for the publications which
treat OF mine safety work. So far as
! 1t has gone. this educational work Is
assuredly developing safer and better
mining, and the leaders among the
miners express the belief that IL car
ried forward on larger scale the
work cannot fail to develop also bet
ter citizenship among these miners.
$4,000 Killed In Decade.
, mo one likes 10 estimate the money
value of a human life. but at times IL
becomes necessary to do this, especial
/ ly in working out the economies Of
compensation acts. II is a reasonable
estimate that during the past ten
years more than 1000 men have been
killed in connection with the ac-
cidents in the mining industries of this
country. 1t is impossible to estimate
the number injured or who have sur
fered from bad health conditions. II
! is impossible to estimate the number
Of men with health shattered through
these conditions who have had to give
UP their work years before their
natural time or the number of de-
pendents who have suffered thereby
| 'If 1t is assumed that each human
! life lost Is valued at $4,000, IL will
be seen that the deaths alone in the
mines have cost in the ten years s9o.-
| 600. 600.
las to the metal mines metal
lurgical plants and quarrying opera
.tions. unfortunately. there are few re-
liable data regarding health conditions
i'm the United States; yet there are
sufficient isolated figures concerning
certain districts to indicate that the
death rate from occupational diseases
In even greater than the accident rate.
| Whatever may be the value on q
human life In arranging for reason
able compensation these losses Of life
and labor are national In their extent
and character and fall ultimately upon
the gen. raj public as representing the
consumers of mineral products.
TT is important. therefore. not only
from a huma unitarian standpoint, but
also from the standpoint of economics,
that everything possible should be
done to reduce the loss of life and
labor in the mining industry both
| through prevention of accidents and
through the Improvement of health
conditions. II is Also matter Of de-
cided Importance to the public from
I both the standpoints that these i'm
provements shoald be brought about
At a minimum cost and in minimum
time"