The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-02
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
TREDERIc J. HAsx1N. rtrSssar.
waAhangtGa. y. q
FIVE THOUSAND LIVES SAVED.

n
FIVE THOUSAND LIVES SAVED.
Washington. ID. C., Aug. 30.-The
American public is accustomed TO
newspaper stories of mining disasters
with headlines announcing hundreds
of lives lost.
A new headline has been written
over the mining accidents of the past
decade by the Bureau of Mines, &C
cording to Director Manning. He
claims that the rescue and mine safety
work OF the bureau has saved five
| thousand lives since the Bureau of
Mines was founded in 1910.
| The death rate in coal mines Is still
| high In every camp of thousand
miners there are three who will have
| been killed in mining accidents be-
fore a year has elapsed, and more than
two hundred who will have been in
| tured. There are more than a million
| men working in the mines of America
! and they face a casualty rate as uni
tachment at the battle front, and
much higher than that OF some MILL
! tary units in action.
J Director Manning cites convincing
| figures to show that the Bureau of
Mines has greatly reduced this casual
4
! cars. one of which It operates in each
mining district in the United States.
| These cars are rushed to all disas-
tiers. Between accidents. they go about
the country giving lessons to the
miners in mine rescue work. The re-
suit Is that practically every mining
camp in the country has its team of
| trained rescue workers. fully equipped
| with oxygen tanks and first air ap-
paratus- The days of panic and
wasted energy in case of accident is
| over. When a cavern or an explosion
occurs now, the work of rescue and of
resuscitation Is often carried thru as
| systematically and effectively as the
| digging of coal.
| Director Manning claims that the
death rate in mines can be reduced
| another so per cent, and he is going
to make an elaborate effort to i'm
press the importance of mine rescue
| work upon the miners, the mine oper-
ators and the public in general, when
the new Pittsburgh laboratory of the
J bureau of mines is dedicated at the
end of this month.
| The bureau of mines has had
| laboratory in Pittsburgh ever since the
bureau was founded. The laboratory
! Is now moving into new million dol
lar building, with greatly increased
| equipment and facilities. Miners and
| mining men from all over the United
| States will attend the dedication. One
hundred of the best mine rescue teams
in the United States will hold a great
| elimination contest for medals and
| prizes.
Incidentally. this new laboratory
| will be a notable addition to what the
| people of Pittsburgh claim Is one of
the greatest aggregations in tech
| biological laboratories and other faciii-
tics in the United States. The Uni
versity of Pittsburgh. the Carnegie
| Museum. and the Carnegie Institute of
| Technology are all near the bureau of
mines laboratory. Taken all together.
these organizations constitute a really
/ great university Of Its kind.
The bureau laboratory includes the
| only experimental mine in the world.
| and this fully equipped mine will be
the scene of two very spectacular coal
| dust explosions during the dedication
| ceremonies. These explosions are not
| given for idle amusement, but to inn
| press upon miners and the public the
| fact that coal dust, or any other dust
containing carbon, is a dangerous ex-
! plosive.
Its proof and advertisement of the
| fact that coal dust causes dangerous
explosions is an achievement of the
bureau of mines hardly less important
| than its mine rescue work.
| Before the bureau was founded,
| while 1t was known to scientists that
fine dust containing carbon would ex-
| plode, practical mining men secuted
the idea that explosions in coal mines
| were really caused by the accumula-
ton of dust. Their scepticism led to
enormous loss of life. Back in 1907.
for example. there were four great
mine explosions in rapid succession.
| which killed 500 men, and none of
them could be adequately explained on
the ground that explosive gases had
| accumulated in the mine. 1t was this
| series of holocausts which led to the
creation of the bureau of mines.
| Congress realized that unless some
thing was done coal mining would be-
come such a hazardous occupation
that men would not enter It. So. after
three years of cogitation and debate,
a bill was passed creating the bureau
OF mines.
The bureau experts demonstrated
that coal dust is an explosive by ex-
ploding some dust in A steel tube at
the Pittsburgh laboratory. But the
hard-headed mining man was still
skeptical. He said that such an ex-
plosion could be produced in a steel
tube, but not in a mine.
"All right said the scientists, I'VE
ill build little mine OF our own and
show you"
So the experimental mine was
brought into being. and coal dust ex-
plOSlOnS were staged WnlCn convinced
the most skeptical of mine operators
: that he was killing men by not con-
trolling the dust. Ever since then. the
bureau has been pulling off explosions
from time TO time, so that the miners
will not forget that coal dust explodes.
This work has led incidentally to the
esta blishment of the fact that the dust
, in flour mills and in corn-product
mills is also explosive. and has result
ed in measures being taken to prevent
lTr~eF AF,F- III rl1
fore been regarded as mysteries.
The new mines laboratory includes
an alright room which can be flooded
with any of the poisonous gases which
endanger life in mines, so that gas
masks and oxygen tanks can be dem
. | onStrated This room is fitted up lust