COAL - Clpdigital.org
COAL - Clpdigital.org
COAL - Clpdigital.org
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THE ILLINOIS SHOT FIRERS'<br />
BILL ENACTED INTO A LAW.<br />
The Illinois house of representatives passed the<br />
shot firers' bill, on May 5, by a vote of 101 to 2.<br />
The state senate had previously passed the<br />
measure by a vote of 48 to 2. On May 18<br />
the measure was signed by Gov. Deneen and the<br />
law will become effective July 1. Of three bills<br />
affecting the operation of coal mines in Illinois<br />
introduced at the late session of the legislature,<br />
the shot firers bill was the only one that aroused<br />
opposition on the part of the coal producers. The<br />
other two provided for safety appliances and for<br />
their inspection, conditions to which the operators<br />
willingly assented. The bill provides that at all<br />
coal mines in the state where more than two<br />
pounds of powder are used for any one blast, a<br />
sufficient number of practical experienced men,<br />
to be designated as shot firers, shall be employed<br />
by the company and at its expense, whose duty it<br />
shall be to do all the firing of all blasts prepared<br />
in a practical, workmanlike manner in the mines.<br />
Immediately after the completion of tlieir work<br />
the shot firers shall post notices, indicating the<br />
number of sliots fired, and the number, if any, not<br />
fired, specifying room and entry and giving reasons<br />
for not firing, and also keep a permanent<br />
record of their work. The superintendent is not<br />
to permit the shot firers to do any blasting until<br />
every employe except the shot firers are out of the<br />
mine. Penalties are provided for a violation of the<br />
law.<br />
The passage of this bill was due to its active advocacy<br />
by the United Mine Workers of the state.<br />
The operators opposed it on the ground that under<br />
its operation accidents were likely to be multiplied.<br />
The effort of the miners to secure this<br />
legislation was also construed by many of the producers<br />
as a violation of the annual wage contract.<br />
The Illinois Coal Operators' Association held a<br />
meeting at Springfield, before the bill was signed,<br />
and decided that the mine workers of the state<br />
should be required to reimburse their employers<br />
for the additional expense occasioned in complying<br />
with the law. A communication, requesting<br />
a definite statement as to what responsibility they<br />
intended to assume and what attitude they intended<br />
to take in regard to the added cost of production<br />
was drafted and presented to the mine<br />
workers through the headquarters of their state<br />
<strong>org</strong>anization.<br />
To this letter no reply has-yet been made, and<br />
it may be that a state convention of the mine<br />
workers may have to be called before a definite<br />
reply can be made.<br />
The indictment returned several months ago<br />
against Joseph Leiter for importing laborers into<br />
Zeigler under armed guards has been quashed.<br />
THE <strong>COAL</strong> TRADE BULLETIN. 35<br />
J. H. SANFORD, OF THE CLYDE <strong>COAL</strong> CO., OF<br />
PITTSBURGH, GOES TO THE EMPIRE<br />
<strong>COAL</strong> MINING CO., OPERATING IN BEL<br />
MONT COUNTY, OHIO, AS GENERAL<br />
MANAGER.<br />
The Empire Coal Mining Company, owned by<br />
Pittsburghers and holding upward of 30,000 acres<br />
of the best coal property in Belmont county, Ohio,<br />
has elected J. H. Sanford of the Clyde Coal Company<br />
of Pittsburgh as general manager. Mr. Sanford<br />
retains his ownership in the Clyde Coal Co.<br />
but leaves its general managership to develop the<br />
new property in Ohio and will make his headquarters<br />
at Bellaire, Ohio. He succeeds Louis P.<br />
Newman, who promoted the <strong>org</strong>anization of the<br />
Empire company. Mr. Sanford is well known as<br />
one of the most able coal operators in the country,<br />
having devoted his entire life to the indust".'.<br />
MR. JESSE HOMER SANFORD<br />
He entered the business with his father. M. F.<br />
Sanford, who has also given his entire career to<br />
the coal trade and is the head of me Pittsburgh<br />
Vein Coal Co., with headquarters in Pittsburgh.<br />
Jesse Homer Sanford was born in Vienna, iTumbull<br />
county, Ohio, December 16, 1861. riis mother,<br />
Ostia L. Leet Sanford, descended on the maternal<br />
side of her family from the Woodfords of the<br />
Western Reserve of Ohio. Both sides of Mr. Sanford's<br />
family descend from veterans of the Revolutionary<br />
war and on the paternal side from the<br />
early Puritans. Timothy Alderman, Mr. Sanford's<br />
paternal ancestor who served in the Revolution,<br />
was born and reared in West Avon, Conn., and<br />
the home in which he was born is still standing<br />
there. The family moved to the Western Re-
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