The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-01
PROPOSED BILL SEEN ENDING BOOTLEC COAL
RY DON JENNINGS

WM WVN 1RNfNagN00
 United Press SlAla CoFFeanonaoNe
 uarFlsburR, Pa. April l--(Upl- The POnnNyivanla legislature can sound the death enell for the an~ thraelte regions once.tlo tloarlshlng hootleaglng operations ie it egdors. es Q proposed measure placing ln~ Aependent coal mines under the same strict safety standards tnnins talned ln legitimate collierles.
 Such leglslation--toRether wieh war proapcTlly.-would reduce to a negliRlhlN figure the number og Eree~lAnce mines, product of the do. prosslon-toFn early sos, Tn March leal, survey there were S.Ooe coal holes In operation. There now are less than 900,
 The new measure, calling for compulsory closing of wuFklngs not meeting safety regulations, vlrtN~ ally would eliminate al surviving Independent mining operations, since they are makeshlft ln char acter. fe signed Into law, the mea- sure would authorize the state mines department Co make semieNnnuAl inspections oe mines employing two to five men, Present law provides for inspection of collerles employing five or moro men.
 Had Public Sympathy
 Bootleg production, which onco reached a high of e,000, 900 tons an- nually, last year totaled S,000,000 tons and it ls estimated that II every hole now in operation continued full time, the ieAS output could reach no more than 100000 tons,
 Joh.ess miners who dug holes tn their back-yards" or operated pre-. carlous shafts on company owned land were supported from the bee ginning by Q sympathetic public opinion, evidenced by the fact that lE was practically impossible to con~ vict bootleggers for trespassing or stealing coal, Companies found themselves helpless in the face Of thriving contrahand mining on their own property and thus was begun one Of the nations unique enter priSeS,
 But "the economic reasons for bootleg mining no longer exist" said Acting state Mines Secretary Rieh- ard Maize, Pointing to the high fatality rate among treelance min CTS, Maize said miners are no long. or forced into tho dangers of boot" log mining by the necessity of earn- ing living.
 Legitimate employment Is now available for all those desiring tt. As Q matter of fact, several thou- sand former bootleggers have re- turned to employment In legitimate mines"
 Operate Under Nl Plan
 Meanwhile, large proportion ot Independent mines still are being operated under . plan adopted In l0Al, which was aimed at ending H. legal mining by on agreement be- tween legitimate companies and free-lancers,
 Specifically, 1t provided: Purchase by legitimate collierles os coal pro. duced in bootleg mines; hiring by the legltimate companies of all free- lancers employed In voluntarily closed contrahand coal holes; exer. ton of efforts by the independents to see that no new coal holes were opened, and matching of working time at the freeslance pits with that ct legitimate mines,
 Maize estimated between S6 and 60 per cent of current free.lance mine output now Is proceSsed at leg itlmate breakers.
 Although the sharp reduction in bootlegging was laid to the opera tor.frcelancer agreement, the ex- odus of miners into war industries and the armed forces has been re. garded as the principal factor In the decrease.