coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 25
OHIO COAL MINING COMMISSION MAKES REPORT TO GOVERNOR AND j
DRAFTS LAWS TO CARRY OUT ITS RECOMMENDATIONS \
The Ohio Coal Mining Commission, appointed
by Gov. James M. Cox, under the terms of the
Joint Resolution adopted by the last session of
the Legislature "to investigate and report an
equitable method of weighing coal at the mines
when the employes are to be paid for their labor
on the basis of weight, measure or quantity and
that will at the same time be to the best interest
of the consumers and protect the coal measures of
the States," submitted its report recently.
The report is an exhaustive one, covering all
told 70 pages. In Part I the Commission goes
into the origin of coal, the coal resources of Ohio,
coal seams of Ohio, methods of mining and the
conservation of coal, and the different systems
of mining, and then reaches these conclusions and
recommendations:
"The conclusions which the Commission has
reached in the study of the present methods of
mining coal in Ohio are that these methods are
extremely wasteful of coal and that in the interest
of conservation they should be changed. Our
description of the panel system has been given
with the view of showing that it Is both possible
and practicable to adopt a system under which,
without any permanent increase in the cost of
operation, a much larger percentage of coal could
be taken out of the mine than is now being extracted.
"It is not our intention to recommend that any
one system of mining be directly required by
legislation on this subject. Any attempt to write
a system of mining into the Ohio laws would encounter
difficulties due to varying conditions in
different seams of coal and in different parts of
the state which would make such laws extremely
hard to enforce. Many mines now operating could
not conform to such legislation, and others which
might be able to conform could do so only at an
expense that would be out of proportion to the
benefits which their owners would gain from the
adoption of the new system,
"What we do recommend is that the whole system
of operating mines in Ohio be placed under
the direct supervision of the Industrial Commission
of Ohio, and that said Commission be empowered
to require that such changes in the
present system of mining be made as shall lead
to the greatest possible
CONSERVATION OF OUR COAL
resources and to the diminution of the number
of accidents due to the present system.
"There should, in the opinion of the members
of this Commission, be created under the Industrial
Commission of Ohio a Bureau of Mines ancl
Mining, made up of men having a thorough
knowledge of mining conditions, including one
or more mining engineers of wide experience as
well as one or more men having a thorough knowledge
of the practical side of mine operations. To
this Bureau should be submitted the maps and
working plans of all mines being operated or to
be operated in the State of Ohio. The members
of this Bureau should make a thorough investigation
of the plans submitted to them and of the
geological and other condition under which the
mines must be operated, and they should submit
plans and recommendations to the Industrial Commission
intended to place every mine under such
conditions as would bring about the greatest conservation
of coal which is possible under given
conditions. Due attention should of course be
given to the commercial conditions under which
operators of Ohio are obliged to operate their
mines owing to the competitive conditions arising
from the operation of mines in other states.
"These plans and recommendations of the Bureau
should be submitted not only to the Industrial
Commission but also to the owners or operators
of the mine affected. Before any order
is issued requiring that a given mine be operated
on lines laid down by the Bureau of Mines and
Mining, the operator should be given a hearing
before the Commission and be allowed to state
fully any objections to the adoption of the plans
proposed or any modifications which he thinks
necessary to be made in such plans. The objections
and possible modifications should be considered
by the Commission before giving its approval
or disapproval to the plans submitted by
the Bureau of Mines and Mining, and its orders
should cover such modifications or changes as it
may seem desirable to make in the interest of all
parties concerned, the operators and niiners as
well as the consumers of coal.
"Such a system of supervision would be no different
from that which is now being exercised by
the Pocahontas Coal and Coke Co. in connection
with the leases granted by that company to mining
companies operating on its lands in West Virginia.
All mines must be
OPERATE. UNDER LEASES
which permit such a degress of supervision by the
leasing company as is necessary to bring out all
or substantially all of the coal underground. In
spite of this supervision, the mines operating
under these leases are competing successfully, not
only with West Virginia mines which are not subject
to the same restrictions, but also with mines