CHAPTER IX

In the Life Saving Business

The saving of human life placed in jeopardy has always won the praise of lovers of their fellowmen. The world applauds a hero. The story of what our nation has done in saving life through the heroes of the surf, the men in the Life Saving Service, is recorded in twentyseven volumes of greater interest than any fiction, for these records tell of brave men who through dark, stormy nights patrol the bleak, inhospitable coasts, ever alert for shipwreck or stranded mariner.

It was in 1837 that an immigrant bark went ashore on Hampstead Beach, Long Island, the residents of the neighborhood being able to rescue but eight persons from the crowded ship. Although this incident aroused intense interest throughout the nation, it was not till ten years later that the matter of life saving was brought to the attention of Congress. The first appropriation was only $5,000, but as the years went by this amount was steadily increased, new and better equipment was se

cured, and yet until the old political spoils system was overthrown in 1876, the Service was too often made the dumping ground for men appointed without merit by local politicians. Since that date the Service has become really non-partisan and thoroughly trained men have been employed whose sole work is to save life. Mere figures as to the number of lives saved from a frightful death can never tell the story of the surfmen's labors with lifeboat or breaches-buoy, for his work is not the sailing of a pleasure craft on a summer sea, but the pushing of a heavy boat through breakers, often thickly filled with mush ice, in the teeth of a gale, to reach an ice-coated ship pounding dangerously upon the rocks. Scores of trips must be taken before the last survivor is landed safely on shore. The care of the nearly drowned calls for as great knowledge and tenderness, as the working of the breaches-buoy and the manning of the life boat call for courage.

The government is actually in the business of saving life and when we consider the value of a human soul, we must judge it to be an honorable business. It is well to notice that life saving is not confined to one bureau of the

government. Attention is now being given to the rescue of men after the great mine disasters and the even more important work of safe-guarding the mines, thus preventing the disastrous loss of life and limb. A report by the Geological Survey states that in no country in the world are the natural conditions so favorable for the safe extraction of coal as in the United States, and that in spite of this fact the number of lives lost* per one thousand

*The number of persons killed in coal mines per 1,000 employed in the United States, as compared with the number killed in Great Britain, Belgium and France according to government report:

United

Great

for every 1,000 employed.

United States average death rate for 15 years is

Great Britain's average death rate for 14 years is

for every 1,000 employed.

Belgium's average death rate for 12 years is

for every 1,000 employed.

France's average death rate for 5 years is

for every 1,000 employed.

.3.11

..1.36

.1.06

... .91

men employed is far higher than in any other coal-producing country, and further the number of lives lost per million tons of coal produced is exceeded by only one other country. Unless energetic means are taken to counteract this prevailing tendency not only will the death rate in proportion to men employed and tons produced increase as it has done in the last few years, but it will increase at a much more rapid rate.

With the depletion of the thicker and more favorably mined seams of coal, thinner and less regular seams must be worked. This factor will undoubtedly be of the greatest importance within a comparatively few years, and the natural result would be, to greatly increase the death rate. The rising price of timber will have the effect of decreasing the number of wooden props used in mining, and probably will increase the chance of accidents. from falls of roof and coal. Another important factor in the mines of the United States is to be found in the nationality of the miners. Most of the men are foreign born, a large proportion of them are unable to understand English readily, and a still larger number are

unable to read or write that language. Some of them are inexperienced and do not take proper precautions either for their own safety, or for the safety of others. This ignorance and neglect become a most serious menace unless they are restrained by carefully enforced regulations.

With the mining of the smaller beds of coal and the gradual development of properties worked with more difficulty, mining conditions in the United States will more nearly assume a position of equality with those abroad, and a great increase in the number of accidents must be expected unless proper steps are taken to remove the causes that have brought about the present remarkably high death rate in the coal mines of the United States.

As a natural result of President Roosevelt's Conservation Congresses, the thought is now turned to the conservation of American men. Said Mr. John Mitchell, at the Governors' Conference:

"In our mad rush for spoils and profits we not only waste and destroy those material resources with which God has so bountifully endowed us, but we press forward in the race,