Chapter 8 - Coal-Mine Accidents

THE so-called "public," that is, the people who do not work in coal-mines, have the impression that, next to working in an ammunition or powder factory, there is no more dangerous calling than that of the coal-miner. And the public is right. At irregular intervals the whole world is shocked by the reports of mine explosions which have cost from 100 to 1,000 workers their lives. Such mine catastrophes are so common that explosions costing less than 100 lives attract little notice.

And still, fewer coal-miners lose their lives through mine explosions than from other causes.

We will here publish a number of tables pertaining to coal-mine accidents, not in order to gloat over harrowing details, but because these tables are an official indictment, by the U. S. government, against private ownership and control of the coal-mines, against the capitalist class in general, and against the present ruthless exploitation of practically defenseless workers in the coal-mining industry for the sake of profit. After reading these tables you will agree with us that every dollar made out of the hide of the coal-miners is stained with blood. It is customary for the mine owners and officials to blame all accidents on the "carelessness," "neglect," or the "ignorance" of the mine workers, but if such subterfuge is too raw to pass muster before public opinion, they blame it on their "God" or "Providence." However, experience has proven that where strict rules have been adopted and enforced, "carelessness, neglect and ignorance" disappear as if by magic and the death-dealing God or Providence keeps out of the mine. This only goes to show that if the rules and regulations for coal mining were made by honest men with-out regard for immediate profit, and if they were rigidly en-forced, mine accidents could be brought down to the same level as in the most favorable occupations.

At present the coal barons of the U. S. alone sacrifice about 2,000 lives every year, in order to make immediate profit. The accidents that are not fatal run into tens of thousands. The coal barons exact a greater toll of human life every year, in order to satisfy their greed, than the total number of dead and wounded in many of the famous battles of history. The coal barons are also the railroad barons, and in the latter capacity they exact a toll of 6 to 10 thousand lives every year while the injured total about 50 thousand yearly.

But it is not only that about 2,000 men lose their lives every year in mine accidents, but behind the 800,000 coal-mine workers of this country comes straggling a haggard, ragged, dirty, poverty-stricken horde of scores of thousands of desperate miners' widows and half-wild miners' children who are thus thrown upon a madly struggling world to shift for themselves, without a provider, without a protector.

When the workers themselves take charge of the coal-mines through their unions, they will, first of all, make coal-mining as safe an occupation as hoeing the garden. It can be done, and there is no reason why it should not be done.

Classification of Fatal Accidents in Coal-Mines

For the sake of comparison we may mention that the number killed under the same circumstances in 1912 was 2,360 and in 1913 2,785.

Some Gruesome Coal-Mine Disasters in European Countries

Explosion Disasters in American Coal-Mines in Each of Which the Number of Killed Men Exceeds 100

Detailed Account of Fatal "Accidents" in 1919 and 1920

The following detailed table of fatal coal-mine accidents may at first glance appear both ghastly and uninteresting, but a closer study will reveal to the reader that in this table the tragedy of the coal-miner's life is passing in review before his eyes as on a film. Maybe after reading these figures he or she will be more apt to stand up for the miner's rights. The table may also serve to give the miner himself a better general view of the dangers of the mine. It may some day be the direct cause of saving his life, by having called attention to the different kinds of dangers. It will also be helpful to the miner in formulating the details of his demands for increased safety in the mines.

Number of Killed in Coal-Mines in the United States During the 11 Months Ending Nov. 30 in the Years of 1919 and 1920 Respectively

NUMBER KILLED UNDERGROUND

NUMBER KILLED IN SHAFT

NUMBER KILLED ON SURFACE YARDS, SHOPS, ETC.
STRIP PITS

Some of these "accidents" may be due to the defective mentality of the workers, but most of them are directly traceable to the psychology of the profit-mongers. Accidents credited to carelessness, neglect and ignorance of the workers should be "credited" to the profit-monger. They have no business sending inexperienced or defective or ignorant men down in dangerous places. To do is downright murder. Coal-miners should be subjected to the now usual mental tests to ascertain the power of their senses, their quickness of perception, their capacity of judgment, etc. If they pass that examination, they should then be sent to a mining school at public expense to learn the theoretical part of mining in a place where nobody can get hurt, instead of experimenting with death in the dark bowels of the earth. That is what we will do when we, the organized workers, take charge of the mines. This will reduce to a minimum the accidents now charged to "carelessness," etc. But the coal capitalists, like all other capitalists, are intent on doubling, trebling or quadrupling their wealth every 20 years or so, and to accomplish that, they are willing to sacrifice 2,000 miners a year and cripple other thousands, at the same time leaving tens of thousands of women and children unprovided for every year. How long shall we put up with it?

Old and experienced miners are discharged when they begin to organize and ignorant and inexperienced foreigners, some-times half-savage, are sent down in the mines, a danger to themselves and to others. Who is then the guilty party, the gaping peasant boy from the Balkans, the half-wild Mexican, or the wily millionaire who hired them?

The Babel of tongues spoken in the mines is just as dangerous there as it is on board the ship where inexperienced paint-scrubbers of a dozen nationalities, called seamen, understand neither one another nor their officers. But who is at fault? The poor fellow who takes any kind of job, in order to get a morsel to eat, or the fellow who hires him because he can get him cheaper than the experienced man?

Instead of striving to get an intelligent and enlightened crew in the mine the operator trafficks in the ignorance and the poverty of his slaves. The more ignorant they are, the less they are able to control illegalities in the operation of the mine, the less they are able to know their rights and to defend them, and the poorer they are, the greater chances they will take in order to live and get bread for their families.

The whole mode of operation should be revolutionized. Each and every cause of accident enumerated above could be obviated. This is not the place, however, to enter into the technical details. We will only say that if we were able to put overalls on the operators and the technical help and the managers and the government officials concerned in mining, and send them down to work daily in the mine, together with their sons, they would very soon revolutionize the mode of operation, so as to reduce the number of accidents to practically nothing.

But the workers will in due time solve these questions of safety to their own satisfaction. When it is no longer a question of digging coal for profit but for the satisfying of a public need, coal-mining will be made as safe an occupation as any other.

If human life were valued more and profit less, there would be no falling roofs, for there would be no defective timbering. There would be no haulage accidents, for there would be more manways, non-haulage roads, greater clearance on one side of haulage ways, shelter holes at regular intervals. There would be no electrocutions, for the trolley and feed wires would be properly guarded. There would also be better brakes and better blocking. And there would be systematic rules for signals, etc.

The accidents in handling explosives could all be avoided if the men handling them were not driven by the unseen power of poverty and fear of discharge for slowness, to disregard certain details which may cost them their lives. Further, if only permissible explosives are supplied, and if more energy and genius were expended on making the explosives safe, there would be still less chance of mishap. But crowding the mine with ignorant and inexperienced men who cannot talk to one another—all for the sake of profit—will make the most "permissible" explosive as dangerous as naked T N T.

Every fire-damp explosion or coal-dust explosion is a crime. There never yet was an explosion in a coal-mine that was an accident.

The inflammable gas, chiefly methane (CH₄) or marshgas is found in nearly all coal-mines, except the shallow ones. This is the deadly fire-damp. If it is allowed to accumulate anywhere in the mine, and if it happens to be ignited by a flame or a spark, there is an explosion. But there is absolutely no excuse for allowing such accumulations of the inflammable gas to take place. When they do take place, it is because the operator is seeking to get rich quick by saving money on ventilation and inspection.

The same applies to coal-dust explosions. There are dozens of well-known methods of decreasing the rate of accumulation of coal-dust, f. i. by having tight cars and never loading the cars higher than the side boards. There are numerous methods of making the dust harmless by wetting it or mixing it with non-inflammable materials. There are also methods of lessening the danger of ignition by the use of safety lamps, permissible ex-plosives and barriers. If all these known methods were lived up to by the operators, and if only properly trained and instructed workers were sent down in the mines, the "accidents" would stop as if by magic.

But the fatalities will continue to hover around the 2,000 mark until the workers take matters into their own hands and run the mines themselves through their union. For where is the worker who would willingly and knowingly neglect to take steps to save his own life, as well as the lives of his fellows, if only given a semblance of a fair chance? But as long as the mines continue to be operated for profit they will remain death-traps.

On to Chapter 9