MINERAL RESOURCES OF UNITED STATES 13 



when the laborious and apparentl}^ hypercritical methods of 

 the scientist do not more promptly clear an obscure point 

 for successful new lines of work, but the day has long passed 

 when research was treated with grudging respect, if not with 

 open hostility. No one is now readier to acknowledge his 

 indebtedness to the chemist or the physicist than the manager 

 or the practicing engineer. The fear is disappearing of im- 

 practicable science on the one hand, and of unscientific prac- 

 tice on the other. 



The mining industr}^ has suffered and, unfortunately, will 

 suffer particularly in its relation to labor, from one appar- 

 ently trifling circumstance, and that is the impression which 

 a visit to underground operations makes upon the average 

 layman. To be dropped suddenly into the dark depths with 

 only a flickering candle to guide the uncertain steps, appalled 

 by the dead silence or alarmed by strange noises, the rumble 

 of the distant car, the reverberation of a shot far away, the 

 rushing of unseen streams of water — the visitor is impressed 

 with a sense of insecurity and danger. The bright sunlight 

 has never seemed sweeter to him than upon his return to 

 the surface, and if he happens to have access to the columns 

 of the press he describes in lurid language the awful expe- 

 rience which incidentally convinces him that he is braver 

 than he gave himself credit for in his innermost heart. Min- 

 ing in the popular mind becomes one of the most hazardous 

 of callings, when as a matter of fact, there are many others 

 above ground which involve greater risks. With some excep- 

 tions, of course, the conditions which surround the work of the 

 miner are rather favorable. He is not exposed to the rigors 

 of the elements, and particularly during the last few decades 

 the hygienic conditions have been brought to a high standard. 



It is a fact that progress during the last 50 years has been 

 pushed along lines even more important in their way than the 

 increase in tonnage, the cheapening of product, or the raising 

 of the standard of quality. The captains of industry- in min- 

 ing have, like others, displayed increasing care of their armies 

 of men. 



It has become an axiom with every enlightened manager 

 that every means which shall render more satisfactory^ the 



