Secretary Callbreath read Resolution No. 9 as follows: Resolution No. 9. (Introduced by Congressman J. G. McHenry, of Pennsylvania.) Whereas, Notwithstanding the ceaseless efforts upon the part of mine operators to equip and operate their mines with every known modern and scientific equipment for the protection of their employees and property, the frightful loss of life to mine workers continues unabated. Whereas, While we are pursuing our scientific investigations for the prevention of future mine accidents, and which should continue without interruption, and an earnest effort to secure uniform and effective legislation, we believe that some steps should be taken to alleviate the suffering due to unavoidable mine accidents. Therefore, be it Resolved, That we recommend to the favorable consideration of the legislatures of the various coal mining states, that a tax not exceeding one cent per ton on bituminous coal or one and one-half cents per ton on anthracite coal, be levied and collected for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of injured miners and their families. Resolved, That we respectfully request the governors of the various coal mining states to urge the prompt enactment of their protective legislation. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the governors of the coal mining states. Thereupon an adjournment was taken until 2:00 o'clock p. m. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1908. FORMAL OPENING OF THE GOVERNMENT STATION FOR INVESTIGATION OF MINE EXPLOSIONS. The session of the American Mining Congress convened at the government arsenal ground, Fortieth and Butler streets, Pittsburg. HONORABLE JAMES R. GARFIELD, Secretary of the Interior: Gentlemen: As you know, the United States government has established this station for the purpose of beginning this great work of experimentation. You here in Pittsburg and the surrounding district are, it is needless to say, intensely interested in this kind of technical and scientific work. We fortunately have this area here, owned by the government, which we can use for this purpose. I have no doubt but that with the co-operation of the War Department we will be able to extend the use of this ground in accordance with the needs of this growing service. Just how that may be accomplished I do not now know, but I am confident from the conferences I have had with the Secretary of War we will find no difficulty in making the best use possible of this ground, which is so well adapted for these purposes. I wish at this time to express our appreciation of the hearty co-operation which all of you gentlemen engaged in the mining industry have given to our work in the development of this new station. We need the heartiest kind of co-operation. We want this station here to be used by all those who are interested in the mining industry, and when I say that, I mean those who are laboring as well as those who own the mines. We can only accomplish the best results by having the earnest and intelligent support of men engaged in all branches of the mining industry. This technical work more than ever will be found to be the basis of industrial prosperity. We can no longer in competition with the other nations of the world attempt to carry on any great industry by the rule of thumb. We must know the facts. We must understand intelligently the conditions by chemical and physical analysis, by careful and painstaking experiment; we must find out what the conditions are under which the thousands of men in our country are working, and it is for that purpose that this station, starting small, will become one of the great experiment stations of the world. We need here and now to understand that many mistakes will be made in the early days, upon which criticism will necessarily follow, but I ask that unfriendly criticism be withheld until our men have the opportunity of finding cut what the problem is, and how it best can be studied. We need helpful criticism of every active opérator, and we need helpful work and suggestion and criticism of our representatives in Congress, to the end that they may understand that these hundreds of thousands of dollars which have been appropriated, and the money that will be appropriated, are not frittered away in idle experimentation, but we desire to make every dollar count for some practical good in the development of the mining industry. (Applause.) And so, my friends, I simply now formally declare this station opened, and I trust that it means many years of useful endeavor for the mining industry. (Applause.) DR. HOLMES: I introduce Mr. John Mitchell-who really needs no introduction. (Applause.) MR. MITCHELL: The formal opening of this station marks an epoch in the mining history of this country. It is the beginning of a new day. It is the point from which we start to diminish the number of accidents in the coal-mining industry. It is my hope and my belief that from this time forward the country shall not be shocked by a recurrence of these terrible catastrophes through which thousands of men are hurled into untimely graves. Gentlemen, what is needed to supplement this work is a bureau of mines at Washington. (Applause.) And if we who are interested in the preservation of human life will give our aid, I feel confident that the coming Congress will pass a bill creating a bureau of mines, under whose supervision the mining industry may be relieved of accidents and death. (Applause.) DR. HOLMES: I now introduce Mr. Dempster, the dean of the coal operators of this Congress. MR. ALEXANDER DEMPSTER, OF PENNSYLVANIA: This historic ground that was once made sacred in the preparation of war materials for the preservation of our Union, is now dedicated and consecrated to the arts of peace, (Applause) and not for the killing of men, but for the preservation of life. There are no persons in this country who are more interested in the success of what may be produced here than are the operators of Pennsylvania, and of the Pittsburg district. So far, Mr. Secretary Garfield, as the operators of this district are concerned, you will have the hearty support of every one. It is said that "corporations have no souls," but there are men who constitute the corporations whose feelings flow in the channel of sympathy for the suffering, of those who are bereaved by the accidents which have come. And I would say, Mr. Congressman Burke, that we hope to be in communication with you as our channel of communication with the government whereby we may express our thoughts, our opinions and our feelings, and if necessary we will give such friendly criticism to Brother Holmes and his coadjutors at every opportunity as we deem of importance. As Secretary Garfield has said, friendly criticism, criticism in sincerity, criticism with the aim in view to bring out the best that can be done, will be given by the operators and by all those who are really in sympathy with this movement. When those foreign lights were brought over here from Belgium, Great Britain and Germany by our government and came to Pittsburg, we said to them that this bureau would be as a beacon to shine from any depths of the earth to which its investigators would go and would shed the results of their investigation, and the light of intelligent knowledge, throughout this country, so that every state in the Union, and every district that operates mines, should have that knowledge and that information, and then the operators would have the will to apply it, so that from now on it depends on our government to supply the information which Explosives Chamber, Gas and Dust Gallery, Government Testing Plant at Pittsburg, Pa., where experiments are being conducted for the purpose of revealing the mysteries surrounding coal mine explosions. may be disseminated throughout this country, and then it will be for the operators to make the application of the means that are devised and discovered to be the best for the prevention of accidents. For the welfare of the miners of this district, as well as others I speak for, all will be interested in the promotion of whatever may be deemed for the best interests of the miners in their employment. And let me say, in this work there should be no antagonism between labor and capital. There should be no antagonism between the miners, whom Mr. Mitchell so ably represented for so long; but instead of antagonism, there should be the united effort to go forward in the pathway of duty according to the laws of supply and demand, and according to the laws of equal rights of one to the other. We should go on in that harmony of feeling and in that channel of reciprocal relationship that will put the United States, and its mining interests, away ahead of the world. (Applause.) DR. HOLMES: I introduce Honorable James Francis Burke, in whose Congressional district this station is located. MR. BURKE: Dr. Holmes and Gentlemen: I want to say with reference to what our distinguished friend the Secretary of the Interior has just adverted to-that this district, which I have the honor to represent in the American Congress, is making me prouder every day of my life. From the hour I entered Congress it has been my good fortune to come home and see many new buildings erected and new institutions established in the district, and today there are more temples of art, shrines of religion and institutions dedicated to the development of science being created and brought to perfection in this district than in any other Congressional district in the whole United States. (Applause.) It is a happy coincidence, I believe, that the opening of this institution here today, its formal dedication at the hands of Secretary Garfield, should take place at a time when men engaged in a great scientific work and a great industry all over the republic are assembled here in Western Pennsylvania. But there is a great piece of work still to be done. It cannot be accomplished with ease; that which has already been done has not been wrought without encountering the usual amount of criticism. There never was a great movement instituted in the world's history that did not meet with its adversities as it traveled along its pathway, and, gentlemen, I want to say to the members of the American Mining Congress when they go back to the various states whence they came, that they should say to the representatives from those states in the American Congress that it is their duty to insist upon encouraging the men engaged in this work and in the development of this great enterprise. As my friend Mr. Dempster has said, this tract upon which you stand today was dedicated to the arts of war. It has been controlled and is today properly under the control of the War Department of the United States government, but I say to you as a member of the Committee on Military Affairs of the American Congress that while I do not blame the War Department for clinging with the tenacity that characterizes every other department to anything that it has, (laughter). In this particular case my loyalty to the War Department is going to be made secondary to my loyalty to the Department of the Interior in the promotion of this enterprise. (Applause.) And I say that without any fear of working any detriment to the federal government, because I believe now that the dedication of this tract to the development of the science and the perfection of the work of this department of the government will be of far greater importance to this country and to the world than that it should remain dedicated to and be utilized for the original purposes of the War Department. In order to accomplish the desired result legislation will be required, and over that legislation the Committee on Military Affairs of the Congress of the United States will have primary jurisdiction at least by reference to it, and I say with confidence in the intelligence and the patriotism |