SEC. 5. That in all coal mines in the Territories of the United States the owners or managers shall provide at least two shafts, slopes, or other outlets, separated by natural strata of not less than 150 feet in breadth, by which shafts, slopes, or outlets distinct means of ingress and egress shall always be available to the persons employed in said mine. And in case of the failure of any coal mine to be so provided it shall be the duty of the mine inspector to make report of such fact, and thereupon notice shall issue, as provided in section 4 of this act, and with the same force and effect. SEC. 6. That the owners or mangers of every coal mine at a depth of 100 feet or more shall provide an adequate amount of ventilation of not less than 55 cubic feet of pure air per second, or 3,300 cubic feet per minute, for every 50 men at work in said mine, and in like proportion for a greater number, which air shall by proper appliances or machinery be forced through such mine to the face of each and every working place, so as to dilute and render harmless and expel therefrom the noxious or poisonous gases; and all workings shall be kept clear of standing gas. SEC. 7. That any mine owner or manager who shall continue to operate a mine after failure to comply with the requirements of this act and after the expiration of the period named in the notice provided for in section 4 of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not to exceed $500. SEC. 8. That in no case shall a furnace shaft be used or for the purposes of this act be deemed an escape shaft. SEC. 9. That escape shafts shall be constructed in compliance with the requirements of this act within six months from the date of the passage hereof, unless the time shall be extended by the mine inspector, and in no case shall said time be extended to exceed one year from the passage of this act. SEC. 10. That a metal-speaking tube from the top to the bottom of the shaft or slope shall be provided in all cases, so that conversation may be carried on through the same. SEC. 11. That an approved safety catch shall be provided and sufficient cover overhead on every carriage used in lowering or hoisting persons. And the mine inspector shall examine and pass upon the adaquacy and safety of all such hoisting apparatus. SEC. 12. That no child under 12 years of age shall be employed in the underground workings of any mine. And no father or other person shall misrepresent the age of anybody so employed. Any person guilty of violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not to exceed $100. SEC. 13. That only experienced and competent and sober men shall be placed in charge of hoisting apparatus or engines. And the maximum number of persons who may ascend or descend upon any cage or hoisting apparatus shall be determined by the mine inspector. SEC. 14. That it shall be lawful for any inspector to enter and inspect any coal mine in his district and the work and machinery belonging thereto at all reasonable times, but so as not to impede or obstruct the working of the mine; and to make inquiry into the state of the mine, works, and machinery, and the ventilation and mode of lighting the same, and into all matters and things connected with or relating to the safety of the persons employed in or about the same, and especially to make inquiry whether the provisions of this act are complied with; and the owner or agent is hereby required to furnish means necessary for such entry, inspection, examination and inquiry, of which the said inspector shall make an entry in the record in his office, noting the time and material circumstances of the inspection. SEC. 15. That in all cases of fatal accident a full report thereof shall be made by the mine owner or manager to the mine inspector, said report to be in the writing and made within ten days after such death shall have occurred. SEC. 16. That as a cumulative remedy, in case of the failure of any owner or manager of any mine to comply with the requirements contained in the notice of the governor of such Territory or the Secretary of the Interior, given in pursuance of this act, any court of competent jurisdiction, or the judge of such court in vacation, may, on the application of the mine inspector in the name of the United States and supported by the recommendation of the governor of said Territory, or the Secretary of the Interior, issue an injunction restraining the further operation of such mine until such requirements are complied with, and in order to obtain such injunction no bond shall be required. SEC. 17. That wherever the term "owner or manager" is used in this act the same shall include lessees or other persons controlling the operation of any mine. And in case of the violation of the provisions of this act by any corporation the managing officers and superintendents, and other managing agents of such corporation, shall be personally liable and shall be punished as provided in act for owners and managers. SEC. 18. That the mine inspectors provided for in this act shall each receive a salary of $2,000 per annum, and their actual traveling expenses when engaged in their duties. SEC. 19. That whenever any organized Territory shall make or has made provision by law for the safe operation of mines within such Territory, and the governor of such Territory shall certify said fact with a copy of the said law to the Secretary of the Interior, then and thereafter the provisions of this act shall no longer be enforced in such organized Territory, but in lieu thereof the statute of such Territory shall be operative in lieu of this act. A. COAL-MINES INSPECTION ACT. 1. VALIDITY OF ACT FOR MINE INSPECTION. 2. COAL MINES-POWER OF STATES TO INSPECT AND REGULATE, 3. DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OF MINE OWNERS AND OPERATORS. 4. VENTILATION OF MINES- DUTIES IMPOSED. 1. VALIDITY OF ACT FOR MINE INSPECTION. A statute providing for the inspection of coal mines at least four times a year is not unconstitutional because of the fact that a discretion is vested in the inspector permitting an inspection as often as he might deem it necessary and proper. St. Louis Consol. Coal Co. v. Illinois, 185 U. S. 203, p. 207. 2. COAL MINES-POWER OF STATES TO INSPECT AND REGULATE. It is within the power of a State legislature to provide for the appointment of mine inspectors and for their payment by mine owners. St. Louis Consol. Coal Co. v. Illinois, 185 U. S. 203, p. 207. A State legislature may make its mining regulations applicable to coal mines where more than five men are employed at any one time. St. Louis Consol. Coal Co. v. Illinois, 185 U. S. 203, p. 207. The regulation of mines and miners, their hours of labor, and the necessary precautions that shall be taken to secure their safety and health are within the police power of a State. St. Louis Consol. Coal Co. v. Illinois, 185 U. S. 203, p. 207. 3. DUTIES AND LIABILITIES OF MINE OWNERS AND OPERATORS. This act makes the duty of the mine owner absolute and not relative, and makes the test and measure of duty the command of the statute and not what a reasonable person would or would not do. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 420. By this statute Congress has prescribed duties that can not be omitted, and the lives of miners are not intended to be committed to the chance that the care or duty of someone else will counteract the neglect and disregard of the legislative mandate. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 420. Where an occupation is attended with danger to life or limb, it is incumbent upon the promoters thereof to employ competent persons and to take all reasonable and needed precautions to secure safety to the employees, and for any neglect in this respect from which injury follows to such employees, such employers may be held responsible to the extent of any injury inflicted by reason of such neglect. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 415. Occupations which can not be conducted without necessary danger to life and limb should not be prosecuted at all without reasonable precaution against such dangers afforded by science. The necessary danger attending them should operate as a prohibition of their pursuit without such safeguards, and in all occupations attended with great and unusual danger there must be used all appliances readily obtainable known to science for the prevention of accidents and injury, and a neglect to provide such readily obtainable appliances and to keep the same in proper and suitable condition is regarded as proof of neglect. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 416. If either of the requirements of section 6 is omitted or neglected, the owner or operator of the mine is liable for any resulting damages. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 419. 4. VENTILATION OF MINES DUTIES IMPOSED. This act does not give to mine owners the privilege of reasoning on the sufficiency of the appliances for ventilation, or leave to their judgment the amount of ventilation sufficient for the protection of the miner. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 420. Section 6 requires: (1) Ventilation of not less than 55 feet of pure air per second for every 50 men at work, and in like proportions for a greater number; (2) proper appli ances and machinery to force the air through the mine to the face of the working places; (3) keeping all workings free from standing gas. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 419. Section 6 prescribes the amount of ventilation and the machinery to be adequate to force that amount of air through the mine. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 420. It is made the duty of the owner or operator of a coal mine at a depth of more than 100 feet below the surface to provide an adequate amount of ventilation of not less than 35 cubic feet of pure air per second for every 50 men working in his mine. This air must be by proper appliances forced through the mine to the face of each working place, so as to dilute and render harmless and expel therefrom the noxious or poisonous gases, and all the workings of such mine must be kept clear of standing gas in dangerous quantities. Any owner or operator of a coal mine failing or neglecting his duty in this respect is liable for any resulting injuries to the miners. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 415. This act does not permit standing gas, but on the contrary prescribes that the mine shall be kept clear of standing gas, and this duty is imperative, and the consequences of neglecting it can not be excused because some workman may disregard instructions. Deserant v. Cerillos Coal R. Co., 178 U. S. 409, p. 420. 32 STAT. 631, 1 SUPP. R. S. 948–50, JULY 1, 1902. COAL-MINES INSPECTION AMENDMENT. AN ACT To amend an act entitled "An act for the protection of the lives of miners in the Territories." Be it enacted, etc., That section 6 of the act entitled "An act for the protection of the lives of miners in the Territories" be amended by striking out "3,300" and inserting "5,000," so as to read: "SEC. 6. That the owners or managers of every coal mine shall provide an adequate amount of ventilation of not less than 83 cubic feet of pure air per second, or 5,000 cubic feet per minute for every 50 men at work in said mine, and in like proportion for a greater number, which air shall by proper appliances or machinery be forced through such mine to the face of each and every working place, so as to dilute and render harmless and expel therefrom the noxious or poisonous gases. Wherever it is practicable to do so the entries, rooms, and all openings being operated in coal mines shall be kept well dampened with water to cause the coal dust to settle, and that when water is not obtainable at reasonable cost for this purpose accumulations of dust shall be taken out of the mine, and shall not be deposited in way places in the mine where it would be again distributed in the atmosphere by the ventilating currents: Provided, That all owners, lessees, operators of, or any other person having the control or management of any coal shaft, drift, slope or pit in the Indian Territory, employing 20 or more miners to work in the same, shall employ shot firers to fire the shots therein. Said shots shall not be fired to exceed one per day; at 12 o'clock noon in cases where the miners work but half a day and at 5 o'clock in the evening when the mine is working threequarters or full time, and they shall not be fired until after all miners and other employees working in said shafts, drifts, slopes or pits, shall be out of same. The violation of this act shall constitute a misdemeanor and any person convicted of such violation shall pay a fine of not exceeding $500. A. COAL-DUST ACCUMULATIONS. 1. DUTY TO DAMPEN MINES. 2. MINERS AND MINE OPERATORS RELATIVE DUTIES. 3. EXPLOSION OF COAL DUST-LIABILITY OF MINE OPERATOR. 1. DUTY TO DAMPEN MINES. Congress by this act intended, without determining the question of the inflammability of coal dust in the mine, to minimize the danger from the presence of an accumulation of such dust by requiring either its removal or the mine owner to keep it well dampened with water to cause the dust to settle, as the danger of ignition or the deleterious effect of such dust was to be apprehended from the particles deing distributed in the atmosphere, and that this could be reasonably prevented by dampening the deposits of such dust. Bolen-Darnell Coal Co. v. Williams, 164 Fed. 665, p. 667. Under this statute a mine owner is not guilty of negligence where he keeps the coal dust in the mine well dampened with water and so sprinkles the mine as to cause the dust to settle, and is not liable from the mere fact of the accumulation of coal dust in the mine. Bolen-Darnell Coal Co. v. Williams, 164 Fed. 665, p. 667. 2. MINERS AND MINE OPERATORS-RELATIVE DUTIES. The law does not impose upon a miner working in a coal mine the duty of exercising care and prudence to discover the condition of the mine before going to work, but this statute imposes upon the mine owner and operator the duty of exercising reasonable care to see that a mine is in a reasonably safe condition for the miners to work in; but if the defective or dangerous condition is so obvious to the miner as to make it apparently dangerous to work in, and he voluntarily works there without complaint, he assumes the risk of the danger. Bolen-Darnell Coal Co. v. Williams, 164 Fed. 665, p. 669. 3. EXPLOSION OF COAL DUST-LIABILITY OF MINE OPERATOR. A miner injured by an explosion of coal dust in a mine can not recover under this statute on a general charge of negligence in permitting great quantities of inflammable coal dust to accumulate in the mine where the mine owner shows he did obtain water and did in fact sprinkle the mine. Bolen-Darnell Coal Co. v. Williams, 164 Fed. 665, p. 668. In an action against a coal-mine operator for injuries resulting from an explosion of coal dust from the alleged negligence and carelessness of such operator in permitting great quantities of coal dust to accumulate in its mine, it is error for the court in its instruction to the jury on the trial of the case to ignore in its charge one of the principal issues involved in the defense and supported by the evidence, to the effect that the operator kept the mine well dampened with water. Bolen-Darnell Coal Co. v. Williams, 164 Fed. 665, p. 668. MINE-INSPECTION ACTS-APPROPRIATIONS FROM 1892 TO 1910. 27 STAT. 183, p. 206, JULY 16, 1892. AN ACT Making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893. Be it enacted, etc., ** * MINE INSPECTORS: For salaries of three mine inspectors, authorized by the act approved March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1104), for |