Bisbee daily review., 1917-03-11

actual work, for they are the ones who are getting hurt. Men who labor have toil-hardened hands with stiffen- ed fingers and should not be expected to compete with supple fingered gen ! try who follow lighter vacations. Men who toll in mines. mills and smelters should have equal rights with other ] employees, in fact, l believe they 1 should have shade the best of it, and in future contests, would sug- gest that no one but the workers be allowed to compete. or if this is not satisfactory, that separate purses for each class be provided.
 I believe that it is only a question of time until all contests will be done away with. or at least confined to in | ter-company or local meets. A better 1 plan will take the place of these, and that is the paying of fixed bonus to all men who give the injured correct First Aid treatment. This arrange ment will provide the incentive so much desired in this work Sand will put all trained employees on an equal l footing. This system need cost the companies no more than the sending of a couple of teams to state con test and will prove far more benefi- cial as to results. If the Copper Queen Company's mine department had given s4 to each man who gave First Aid treatment to an injured em- ploye. they would have been out less money than they were in sending two teams to the Phoenix contest, and it is not necessary that any such sum be paid. in fact. the bonus should be ( graded one.
 The giving of a bonus for proper First Aid work is something that expect to see taken up by every up- to-date company just as soon as a good working arrangement for the re- porting of all cases treated, with their rating, can be secured. This will doubtless require considerable thought in working out a suitable sys- tenn for each companys operations, but believe that it can and will be done
 | I desire to make but few comments regarding the Mine Rescue contest. The less said about any rescue con test, the better These were original ly put on as spectacular stunt for the benefit of the 1ayman, and he was given to understand that men wear ing oxygen apparatus could travel at will through the workings of a mine filled with dense smoke and gas. the heroic rescuers bringing entonbed miners to fresh air and safety. This is far from the truth. and men trained in the fighting of mine fires look upon these contests as merely dress par ade affairs and know that the con- testants are simply playing to the grandstand.
 The chief thing that makes rescue contest a good deal of a farce is that actual conditions in mine ire car not be duplicated and these conditions | can not be imagined by the sDecta. iors. The problems or events submit ted to the cOntesting teams at all con. tests invariably call for the rescue of live men and the bringing of them through irrespirable gases. This type of problem has little foundation in fact and is entirely misleading. l doubt very much if there is one au. thentic case of men wearing appara. tus, bringing out alive, through gas and smoke. single miner. That res. cue men have made such efforts is all very true, but if the man was alive at the start, he would be dead when brought to safety, and rescue crews who undertake such stunts are run lining desperate chances of meeting with disaster themselves. In case of fire in metal mine. the men will get to fresh air by their own efforts. or else will soon be dead. In a coal mine conditions are somewhat different. more especially if an explosion has occurred. but even then the value of apparatus men in saving life is prob ! ieliducdI
 | No oxygen apparatus on the market today is dependable Tho parts are ' too many and too complicated and 1 delicate to withstand the hardship i and wear essential in any apparatus used in fire fighting Then. the sup 1 ply of oxygen is not sufficient for strenuous work or long trips Seldom will it be found that the five sets of apparatus worn by the rescue squad are working in unison. While the supply of oxygen is supposed to be sufficient for two hours, in ordinary 1 fire fighting an average of about one hour is all that will be secured. The work of crew wearing apparatus must be governed by the action of the man wearing the least efficient ! equipment
 To one who knows the Limitations and weakness Of the apparatus the successful carrying out of problems 1 such as were submitted at Phoenix, in which men were supposed to tray