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36 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
AMENDING PENNSYLVANIA MINE LAWS.
In the annual report of the department of mines
of Pennsylvania, which has just appeared. James
E. Roderick, chief of the department, makes the
following suggestions:
In last year's report attention was called to
the necessity of amending the mine laws of Pennsylvania,
and the opinion was expressed that one
law, modeled after the English law, would meet
all the needs of this state. The law is enacted
to safeguard the health and life of the employes
and to preserve the property of the operators.
Whatever tends to protect the life and preserve
the health of the anthracite miner would fulfil
tne same purpose with the bituminous miner. It
is not the duty of the department of mines to
draw up a new code of mine laws, unless instructed
to do so by the governor, but we assume
it to be our duty to call attention to this important
matter.
The legislature should pass a resolution authorizing
the governor to appoint a commission, whos?
duty it should be to draft a mine law to meet, as
tar as possible, the present conditions of the mining
industry. Or. two commissions might be appointed,
one to revise the anthracite law, and one
to revise the bituminous law. Both the operators
and the mine workers are fully aware of the
need that exists for such revision, but they are
deterred from making an effort toward this end,
as each party fears that the other might gain
some advantage in the revision. The present
mine law, it is well known, is merely a compromise,
with a nullifying proviso attached to almost
every clause of importance.
In the composition of the last commission to
amend the mine laws, the miners had a majority.
To give a majority either to the miners or the
operators is unfair, and can hardly be expected
to produce satisfactory results. There is no
valid reason why a commission shou'd not be
created to draft a law that would be fair and just
alike to the employer and the employe. Any law
emanating from a commission of operators, engineers
and miners must necessarily be more or less
of a compromise. A commission of men expert
in mining matters, who have no financial interest
in mining, should be named and given the power
to look into the needs of the mining interests of
ihe state. They should have the power to compel
the attendance at their meetings of operators, engineers,
superintendents, foremen, miners, mine
inspectors, and any other persons who they think
could enlighten them on the subject.
After getting sufficient data they should call
into consultation a constitutional lawyer of high
repute, to make the final draft. The representative
persons who had given information to the
commission should be called together again and
the proposed act submitted to them. Any objections,
corrections or amendments by any of the
interested parties should be submitted to the
lawyer, to be clothed in proper legal language.
When this is clone, a meeting should be called of
the representatives of the different interests, including
two operators, two mining engineers and
four miners from the anthracite region, and the
same number from the bituminous region, together
with four mine inspectors, two from the
anthracite region and two from the bituminous
region. This should be the final hearing, after
which a draft of the proposed law or laws should
be completed and presented by the commission to
the next assembly. The commission should be
provided with ample means to pay witnesses. It
should meet at intervals in Pittsburgh and in
Wilkes-Barre.
A law should also be enacted to cover metalliferous
mining operations and quarries in the
state. In the clay mines especially, there is
great suffering from lack of ventilation, and from
the reports received at the department the death
rate among the employes is proportionally as
high as among the coal miners. The clay
mines might be looked after by the bituminous
inspectors, but in order to give proper attention
to the other mines and quarries more inspectors
would be needed.
UNITED FOURTH VEIN COAL CO.
The United Fourth Vein Coal Co., the last of
the mergers of coal interests in Indiana, has been
completed and is ready for business. This company
owns and will operate eight coal properties
located on the Southern Indiana railroad in the
heart of the Linton district. Only the best mines
in that territory were selected by the promoters
of the consolidation. The United Fourth Vein
Coal Co. is capitalized at $1,000,000. The mines
taken over are as follows: L. T. Dickason, Freeman,
Sponsler, Antioch. Black Creek, Island Valley,
North Linton, Black Hawk. The normal
capacity of these eight mines is estimated to be
8,000 tons of coal a day or a total of about 2,000,-
000 tons annually. When the Southern Indiana
railway completes its line to Chicago Heights and
gains an entrance into Chicago, it is expected there
will be a marked improvement in the situation
as to transportation, and that the company will
be able to increase its output materially. The
officers of the new conipany are Job Freeman,
president; A. B. Myers, vice-president; E. L. Wolford,
secretary and treasurer; M. L. Gould, manager
of sales.
Baker & Albright have succeeded to the coal
business of E. Albright, in Beemer, Neb.