The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-10-29

...as. resulted in c.ngress p1ssl- u act effectiy- J1l, 1, 1910, estaa |lsMag the Bureau of Mines. an. |Jo.eph X Holmes Ms appo,ated | C l Ia.., Director. In 1918 ncv- os |.-autc act was approved, enlar-1a+ l the scope and purpose of the Hu. |Feau, and making possible d wider |IAuse O. usefulness.
 l The immediate factor that led ap
 to the establishment Of the Bureau
 u as d growing realization Of the
 waste ol both life and resources ill I.Ae varied mining and metallurglcal industries of the country, as urged
 and preached from 1904 in what Was almost a crusade by Dr. Joseph A. l Holmes. at the time the head of | the TechnologiC Branch Of the Geo logical Survey and later the first l Director of the Bureau of Mines,
 through whose efforts chiefly the
 Bureau was established and built up.
 l. has been said that every insjItu-
 ton k but the "lengthened shadow
 Of d man" and in the case of this
 new Bureau it was especially true.
 pr. Holmes. himself one Of the least
 seIl-seeking of men, died in l9l5
 really d martyr 10 his work. He
 had led many rescue parties in burn
 ing coal mines in the early history
 of the Safety First" work and took
 a great many risks in personally
 demonstrating methods of fighting
 fire and gas underground. His lungs ] became weakened and tuberculosis
 was the result, due in part to over
 work and in part to exposure when ] on reconnaissance trip to the Ne mana and Matanuska coal fields ln 1 Alaska in 1913. from which he re turned enthusiastic over the pussj 1 bilities of the Interior, and recon
 mended the establishment of the present Station. When in tnr Ne nana field his foot was injured by ] one of the pack animals and, dressed thialy fo1 mushing, he had to make 1 the rest of the trip on horseback. 1 in wet, cold, blinding weather, which 1 resulted in a severe cold and deyel- i Gpsd into tuberculosis. Though lall- i ing health compelled him to leave 1 Wash ngton in the summer Jf l9it 1 Dr. Holmes. continued to direct the policy of the Bureau, to eNetC&.e a general supervision fo it's investi gations and to work on plans for
 increasing it's usefulness until a shot
 time before he died. His illness
 and death can be directly attributed ! to his courage, his eagerness to le, l.
 and his devotion to duty, which i'm l pclled him to risk his life and 10 oyertax his strength in his efforts ! for the safety of miners and the i advancement and development of the mineral industries of this country
 Dr. Holmes was known to thou sands, and many tributes have been i paid to his character and achieve mcnts. In that summer of 1913 when 1 he was in Alaska no doubt many of ! our readers met this tall, quiet, rath-
 CT sad-faced man, who was a ready
 and famous listener to other men.
 l He was one of those unusual pco-
 pie with a constructive imagination, | and he dreamed of a day when the safety of human life would be the 1 first consideration of the mine ope- l rator and of fellow miners. This i was at d time when there were practically no state or federal laws i looking toward the preservation of 1 human life in mines, and there were las many men per thousand killed | each year in the coal mines of the 1 United States as there were per l thousand in the combined coal mines | of England, Belgium and Austria. l Since Dr. Holmes began his famous
 propaganda of Safety First" the Blu
 reau of Mines has striven in every
 way, and with notable results, to cut down this high percentage,
 through safety devices, education in mine-rescue work and in the pluyoI 1 ton of accidents, the cooperation {.
 mine operators and employees. (,
 well as of the various states. The
 most notable result of the Bureau.
 activities in the past few years, fro.-,
 a human standpoint, has been the
 development of a general and nation
 wide public interest in greater safe
 ty and better health conditions in
 mines and metallurgical plants, and
 the gaining of the cooperation and
 active aid of all possible, agencies
 in the progress of this movement.