The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-12-27
Too Many Mine Disasters.


licans can construct for use at the
national convention in 1924.
Too Many Mine Disasters.
From the director of the bureau of
mines of the United States, H. Foster
Balm, comes a rep, which seemingly
should make men stop to think. Here
Is the opening paragraph of Mr.. Bain's
communication
Goal has been mined for three
months since the resumption of min
ing following the five months strike.
and in that time six explosions killing
about 1So men and injurine more than
100 others have occurred in bitumi-
nous mines. The number and vio-
fence of these explosions is increasing,
the record of the past month being
the worst Of all. The coal industry
has not In years suffered as many big
disasters, and the entire country prop
erly Is aroused"
1t should be remembered that this
communication of Mr.. Balm consti-
tutes a government and official report.
II gives the viewpoint of men whose
business it is to study situations and
without fear or favor to comment
thereon.
The director asks these questions:
"Why did these explosions occur?"
Were they entirely accidental or
could they have been ~prevented?"
'Will similar explosions follow2" Then
Mr.. Balm adds: investigations now
under way will determine the cause of
past accidents and what, If anything,
might have been done to prevent
them, but Investigations alone will
give no assurance that similar acct
dents will not again occur. The les
sons learned must be applied and
every possible protection taken II this
killing Is to be stopped"
Due Partly to Strikes Results.
The country is told in the cours of
the directors report that while the
seasonal hazards, which are greater
in the coal industry during the winter
months, probably have influenced the
result. there has been a %lessening Of
morale throughout the coal industry
as a result of the strike, which tends
toward a less careful attitude of mind.
Another probable factor. he says, is
a changing in personnel at the mines
following the strike and the shifting
Of miners to camps where they We're
not familiar with the dangers. In
places. he says, there is a lack of that
, discipline (which is essential to pre-.
~vention of disaster whether in fight
ing a battle or in fighting the hazards
of nature"
This government official tells the
country, which has been shocked by
recent terrible disasters in the mining
industry, hat In the face of these in
creased hazards it Is the instant duty
OF operators and min workers to con-
centrate their attention on the pre-
vention of accidents. Unless this Is
done, Mr.. Balm says warningly. there
will be more accidents and more lives
lost, however much the research men
may do to solve the causes of acct
dents and to provide methods for
avoiding them.
Until the present series of dis
astrous explosions the record of de-
crease In accidents had led the bureau
of mines to feel that dangers from
certain sources were being eliminated
After the demonstrations in the min
ing bureaus experimental mine, be
ginning In 1911, the number of bltumi
nous mine explosions declined as a re
suit of the educational campaign in
augurated by the bureau of mines and
carried on with the cooperation OF
miners and operators. During a ter
years period the number of deaths re
sulting from explosions was decreased
by one-half from the number killed
during the previous ten years.
Coal Dust Certainly Explosive.
1t may be interesting to know that
practical mining men of the country
were still incredulous a few years age
as to the explosibility of coal dust
They were invited to the experimental
mine to witness the tests. In one OF
the tests a mine car was shot from the
entry of the mine with such force that
It was carried 300 feet through the all
before it landed on a hillside. Little
doubt remained after that In anybody's
mind that coal dust was itself eXplo
sive and was also the of initla
explosions which later extended theil
force through the mine.
It seems to be believed in Washing
ton that If the mining industry can bt
stabilized and troubles of various
kinds which have beset 1t in the pas
can be minimized, the future may be
fairly free from disaster. During thu
ten years when there were compare
lively few upsets in the industry, ex
blossoms were cut down materially.
Director Balm says explosions cal
and must be prevented and that there
Is no reason, with the present knowl
edge, why local explosions in mines
should spread throughout the entire
underground workings. Then he adds
that miners and operators, as well IA
official inspectors, must take hold oi
the situation promptly and vigorously
or there will still be more serious eX
plosions and more men killed."