The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-03-01
EDUCATE MINERS
CUT DEATH RATE
Thousand Lives a Year VIII
Be Saved By New
Bill.

WASHINGTON. D. C., March L.
Van H. Manning, director Of the Blu.
reau Of Mines, Department Of the In.
terror, informed Congress today that
the education of the -Engllsh.speak.
ing 6oreIgn-boru among the mines by
the so-called Americanization bill
should result in the saving from death
each year Of nearly 1000 Of these men
and the saving from injury Of about
10000. Teaching these men how to
read and write the English language
would permit them to read the ordt.
nary precautionary signs in the most
dangerous mines and enable the men
to understand the suggestions for safe
ty given by the bosses, according to
Mr.. Manning.
Mr.. Manning blames the present
high death and injury rate in the
mines to the pfesenceof these foreign
ers from the n,English.speaking
races, majority OF whom are not even
able to read or write their own Ian
guages. He finds that the death ano
injury rates among these men are
twice as high as among the English.
speaking miners and that their pres.
ence in the mines is responsible for
higher accident rate than would ordi.
narily exist among the English-speak.
ing miners, making these men q mem
ace to all Of the miners. The statis-
tics show that there are more than
100000 foreign-born men employed in
mines and that % per cent. Of these,
or $4,000, are from the non.English-
speaking races, nearly all Of them
from countries where there is no min.
ing.
These are the men the Bureau Of
Mines is unable to reach with its life
saving recommendations, for they can
not understand. We have tried to
reach them in their native tongues, but
this seems to be hopeless, too, for we
find that but few of them can read
even their own languages. What /
object to most seriously is that 1t is
the great horde Of men of this calibre
which is ieopardizing the lives Of the
American miner.
The intelligent American miner has
been making much progress in safety,
and if we had to deal with him alone,
the death rates would soon be down to
par with the natural hazards Of the
industry, and it would not be pointed
out that this country has the highest
fatality rates of any civilized country
in the world. For the protection of the
English speaking miners, we should
educate these ignorant, illiterate men
or keep them out of the mines. They
should be given the opportunity OF
keeping pace with American progress
and a chance to become good Ameri'
can citizens,or they should be kept
away from places where they endan.
ger the lives Of men who are good, in.
telligent citizens.
with the mining industry increas.
ing in extent about ten per cent a
year, the leaders believe that we need
all the men we can get. If that is true,
let US give these men decent chance
for their lives, and let US give the min.
ers from tn English-speaking races,
who do understand the difficulties and
dangers, a little more than $3.50
chance for their lives.
There are two points in this that
appeal to me. First, it is our duty as
citizens to make better citizens out Of
these on.English-speaktng foreigners
and save them from the dangers we
know so we'll and second, it is our
greatest duty to furnish our own Eng
disappearing miners with the protec-
ton they are entitled to against the
irresponsible and ignorant type Of
miner who does not understand the
dangers and apparently cares SO lit
tie about them. The mad dog that is
running amuck in the mining industry
today is the foreign-born from the nom
English.speaking races who does not
know the English language and who in
majority of instances is so ignorant
that he doesn't know how to read or
write even his own languages"
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