i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

46 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
"SQUIRE MACK" ON THE MINER.
"Who says the coal miners aint a progressive
lot?" demanded Squire Mack.
"What have they done?" asked Davy, the constable.
"They've barred saloonkeepers and bartenders
out of their union," replied the Squire.
"That's funny," commented the Constable.
"I thought maybe it was a knock," said the
Squire. "I aint heard from Bishop Potter yet, but
then, maybe this aint got any reference to the
Subway Tavern, of blessed opening fame. However,
what other kind of a booze joint would a
coal miner be likely to know about and be interested
in? Subway means under. The coal miner
works underground. The saloon is under society;
whether it's called Subway Tavern or something
else it's the road to hell. Even if you don't believe
in that forbidding corner of the hereafter. I
won't take it back about the saloon, for if you
stick to it you won't be interested in the life to
come, nor the terrors of it, neither. You'll experience
all of the worst of them right here on
earth.
"But how did saloonkeepers and bartenders get
into the coal miners' union? And if they're in
why should they be put out? It's true that the
miners furnish the fuel we keep our fires going
with, if we don't use gas, but I never heard anyone
that expected to be believed say that when
we die we'll engage in the same trade we're in
here. So why should these two trades hook up?
The coal miner is a hard-working, sober, and industrious
man when he aint on strike, and then
he can't help being idle. He's necessary to the
existence of the bartender and the saloonkeeper.
but if he depends on tnem for anything he's just
a weak brother like the rest of us that don't know
any better or can't control our appetites.
"I've heard of the underground route to a jag.
but it wasn't anything about a coal mine. It
was only what the critic of the poet calls a
happy euphemism without any reference to the
facts in the case, in the same way that speakeasy
describes a place so loud that it keeps the people
a block away awake without ever attracting the
attention of the police, or a blind tiger hasn't anything
to do with a freak zoological specimen.
"I don't believe a coal miner would want to
give up the freedom of digging coal far away
from the maddening crowd for the strenuous existence
of the man that pushes booze to warm the
cockles of Mr. Easyman's heart or fire his blood
and brain till he's ready to commit any crime.
Besides that, whoever heard of a bartender going
on strike? Why, you wouldn't know there was a
bartenders' union if it wasn't for the Labor Day
parade. And what would a pousse cafe look like
that had been chucked together with a pick and
shovel?
"There's other things besides that idea about
fuel that's alike in tne two trades. Both of them
uses the pick—the bartender the icepick and the
toothpick, and the miner the coalpick. Both of
them needs lots of air—the miner for breathing
when he's underground and for conventions and
the bartender to fizz the water for the highball.
Both set free much sulphur—the bartender to
make his friends settle and the miner because he
can't help it if it's in the coal. Both professions
are extra hazardous on the life insurance books—
the miner's because of the firedamp and the bartender's
because of the firewater.
"You'd think a fellow-feeling would spring up
between the miners and the underminers, but it
aint so. Resolutely the coal miners refuse to
allow the others to belong to their union. Whether
it's to be war or not I dofj't know, but it's fair to
suppose the bartenders will retaliate and keep coal
miners out of their union."
"If the coal miners took the bartenders in they
might do the world a service by reforming them,"
suggested the Constable.
"True." admitted Squire Mack. "But if all the
coal miners become bartenders they might get in
the habit of working steady, and then what'd become
of the miners' union?"
EXPERIMENTS WITH COAL DUST.
Mining engineers have never agreed as to
whether a mixture of coal dust and air alone is
explosive, but it is generally conceded that when
even a small percentage of firedamp is present the
mixture becomes exceedingly dangerous. Efforts
are now being made to determine just what part
coal dust plays in mine explosions. Much light
has been thrown on the question as a result of the
experiments made in England in artificial galleries
both on a small and on a large scale, in which
shots from a cannon or pistol were fired in an
atmosphere heavily charged with coal dust but
free from explosive gases. In some cases an ignition
or explosion took place and was propagated
throughout the entire length of the galleries. In
other cases there was simply an elongation of the
flame from the shot without ignition. The certainty
of an explosion was found to depend on the
fulfillment of a number of conditions, among which
are, the fineness, the state of dryness and purity
of the dust; the amount of dust in suspension;
the kind and quality of the powder used to produce
the initial explosion; the tamping used, etc.
If any one of these and perhaps other conditions
was unfavorable no explosion was produced, but
when every condition was favorable violent ignitions
and explosions resulted.