July 15, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



69 



the users of the mineral resources of the 

 state and of the nation will pay for them 

 such prices as will make profitable their 

 mining and preparation without serious 

 unnecessary waste of resources or loss of 

 life. 



The very abundance and cheapness of 

 our resources have developed an American 

 habit of waste which is the greatest menace 

 to our future welfare. This waste of the 

 past and present, and the rapidly increas- 

 ing needs of the present and future entail 

 on us a still greater obligation to strive 

 for the highest possible efficiency in the fu- 

 ture mining and use of these resources. 



This building and the work of Dr. 

 Smith which we celebrate here to-day are 

 definite evidence of the fact that this new 

 purpose has already taken hold of the 

 people of Alabama, and that they propose 

 to support both the university and the 

 geological survey in such future investi- 

 gations of the resources of this state as will 

 bring about not only larger development 

 and greater present and future prosperity, 

 but also such investigations as will, by 

 diminishing the waste in the mining and 

 use of these resources, aid in perpetuating 

 their supply for the future well-being of 

 her people. 



All unscientific or inefficient use of re- 

 sources is waste; and the most important 

 element in the movement for rational con- 

 servation is the fact that the seemingly 

 necessary waste of to-day, through inquiry 

 or research, or through changes in eco- 

 nomic conditions, may become the avoid- 

 able waste of to-morrow. 



CONSERVING THE LIVES OP MINERS 



Having called attention to the growth 

 of the new purpose in the development of 

 the state, the perpetuation of its essential 

 resources, let me call attention also to 

 another phase of this new purpose, namely. 



the conserving of the lives of the miners — 

 the men connected with mining industry. 

 One of the facts that stands to our na- 

 tional discredit in comparison with the 

 records of other countries, is the fact that 

 of the men employed in mining operations 

 in the United States the percentage of 

 those that are killed in the mines is three 

 times as great as that in other countries. 

 In this respect, Alabama's record is bad, 

 but no worse than that of many other of our 

 mining states. In the mining and quarry- 

 ing operations of all the states, the record 

 is bad — in some much worse than in others. 

 But all along the line there is an awaken- 

 ing not only as to these facts, but an 

 awakened determination to remedy the 

 evil. There is no better illustration of this 

 than may be seen in the admirable move- 

 ment for greater safety and efficiency in 

 mining in Alabama, led by the Tennessee 

 Coal and Iron and Railway Company. 



The investigation into the causes of 

 mine accidents by the federal government, 

 the enactment of better mining laws among 

 the different states, the increasing co- 

 operative activity of the state mine in- 

 spectors ; and best of all, the increasing 

 safety precautions by the operatoi-s, and 

 the development of a strong, earnest spirit 

 of cooperation between the mine owners and 

 the miners, gives promise of a serious gen- 

 eral effort to make mining safer in the 

 United States, and more creditable from 

 the humanitarian standpoint as well as 

 from the business standpoint. 



APPLICATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES TO COAL 

 MINING 



But if we are going to attempt seriously 

 to reduce the loss of life and the waste of 

 resources in coal mining, the greatest of 

 our mining industries, we must carry on 

 investigations and inquiries to determine 

 the causes and to devise preventive meas- 



