The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-07-06
The MARYLAND MINER
BOOK LEARNING and


course and then signed up for the
short summer course. After this he
took the State examination and be-
came successfully assistant foreman
and foreman in his mine. Still he was
not satisfied. He left the mines for
two years to take course in mine
engineering in regular university.
The man now is superintendent of the
mine in which he worked only few
years ago in minor capacity.
Another Marylander followed a
slightly different course. He started
out also in minor position in the
mines and promotion also began with
his completion of the night course and
the summer studies. Now, however,
he is a foreman instructor with the
United States Bureau of Mines, a
position which pays great deal more
money than he was able to make be-
fore enrolling in the vocational class.
Still another example of the purely
practical value of the courses is to be
found in Mr.. Ewing, the junior in
structor in charge of the classes in AL
legany county. AS very young man
he was working in mine when he
enrolled in the States first vocational
class. AS a result of the training he
received he became assistant foreman
and at the time he quit to become in
structor, he was foreman.
One measure of the value of the vo-
cational work-and one which is pre-
scented with pride by those in charge
is thee circumstance that ninetyfour
pc recent of all the officials from the
grade of assistant foreman upward)
of all Maryland mines have attended
one or more of the courses. This
does not mean that all of them have
become officials directly as result of
the vocational training. Quite num-
Der of mine superintendent and even
one or two mine owners have found
the courses valuable as a means of
keeping posted on new developments,
especially in the field of safety promo
ton and rescue work. But quite a
number of the men who rank as Off
Gals attribute their promotion directly
to the training which they have re-
ceived.
DR.. Rutledge points out that the
real value of the vocational work can
not be measured in dollars and cents.
One Of the chief benefits and one
which applies equally to those who
may not have had their wages raised,
is the fact that instruction in safety
methods, first aid and rescue work
has tended to reduce accidents. Min
ing at best is a hazardous occupa-
ton and the dangers are increased
geatly where there is ignorance as to
the cause of accidents, the means Of
preventing them and the best methods
of minimizing their effects.
Mine rescue and first-aid squads,
trained in Maryland, have won high
honors in national and international
competitions. Practically every mine
in the State has a well-trained first
aid personnel and in some of them
every worker has received instruction
along these lines. This work is close
Iy allied with the vocational training
and it is stressed particularly in the
summer courses.
Until quite recent ythe mine voca-
tional leaders boosted that not man
who had enrolled in their classes had
been injured seriously in mine ac-
cident A single fatal accident of the
sort that is unavoidable in the mines
had marred that perfect record, but
DR.. Rutledege, as chief engineer of the
Bureau of Mines, and his two mine in
spectors, who spend their time inves-
tigating conditions in the various
Maryland mines assert positively that
the vocational work has been an i'm
portant factor in reducing the num-
Der of fatalities and serious injuries.
And if you should want to attach a
dollar-and-cents value to this safety
factor, DR.. Rutledge says it may be
appropriated by comparing the ac-
cident record of former students with
the rate for the unframed mine popu-
lation-and estimating the actual saw
ing to operators of payments under
the workmen's compensation law.