of coal mines within a radius of 150 miles of Pittsburgh and the great industries of the district made the location particularly suitable.

On July 1, 1910, the investigation of structural materials, which had been transferred to the Bureau of Mines by the act establishing the bureau, was transferred by Congress to the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

EQUIPMENT OF MINE-RESCUE STATIONS AND CARS.

In order to facilitate investigations of mine explosions and to render prompt aid after a mine disaster, stations equipped with rescue apparatus were established in the various coal fields. The first was established at Urbana, Ill., in 1908, in cooperation with the State geological survey; the second at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1909; and the third at Seattle, Wash., in the same year. Also several railroad cars were purchased, equipped with apparatus, manned, and used as means of quickly giving aid after disasters and of instructing miners in first-aid and rescue methods. The bureau now has seven minerescue stations and eight mine-rescue cars equipped and ready to respond to a call for aid at a mine disaster.

ESTABLISHMENT OF BUREAU OF MINES.

The great importance of the mine-safety and fuel investigations undertaken by the Geological Survey, and the widespread demand for a separate bureau or department to pursue these and other mining inquiries, resulted in Congress passing an act, effective July 1, 1910 (36 Stat., 369), which established the Bureau of Mines. J. A. Holmes was appointed director of the new bureau by President Taft. On February 25, 1913, a new organic act (37 Stat., 681) for the Bureau of Mines was approved. This act, which widened the scope and enlarged the purpose of the bureau, is printed in full on page 98. It has not been possible for the Bureau of Mines to meet from the appropriations made by Congress the demands from the Government and the public at large for investigations that would increase safety in mines and efficiency in the production and use of mineral resources. Inadequate facilities, especially at the Pittsburgh station, have hampered its work, and the use of even those facilities available at Pittsburgh has been hampered by the need of returning the buildings to the War Department. As a result of representations made to Congress, certain Government grounds adjoining those used by the Bureau of Mines were transferred to the city in exchange for a tract of land near the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Pittsburgh, on which buildings for the bureau are now being erected from an appropriation made at the last session of Congress.

CHIEF FEATURES OF THE WORK OF THE BUREAU SINCE JULY

1, 1910.

In the five years since its establishment, from July 1, 1910, to June 30, 1915, the bureau has given chief attention, under the wording of appropriations made by Congress, to investigating the causes and

methods of prevention of coal-mine explosions and to safeguarding the lives of coal miners. In addition, coals and other mineral fuels belonging to or for the use of the Government of the United States have been analyzed and tested with a view to increasing efficiency in their utilization. Also, within the past two years investigations have been undertaken looking to greater safety and the prevention of waste in the metal-mining and miscellaneous mineral industries, and general examinations of several oil and gas fields of the country have been made with a view to eliminating or greatly reducing the large waste of natural gas in those fields. Finally, during the past year a preliminary organization for the purpose of investigating some of the urgent metallurgical problems has been effected. In addition, various problems incidental to the investigations mentioned have been attacked.

STUDY OF COAL-MINE EXPLOSIONS.

As the most urgent work before the bureau at its establishment concerned investigation of the causes and the possible prevention of gas and dust explosions in coal mines, the bureau attacked this problem in different ways-by mine investigations, by chemical and physical tests in the laboratory, and by large-scale tests; also, it took up the study of such preventive measures as experience had suggested.

For conducting the necessary large-scale tests with inflammable gas and with coal dust, an experiment mine consisting of two drifts or entries, each now 1,300 feet long, with branch entries and rooms, was made in a tract of land underlain by the Pittsburgh coal at Bruceton, Pa., 12 miles south of Pittsburgh. This mine was equipped with suitable apparatus for recording the speed and the violence of explosions, and has been used to determine the explosibility of different coal dusts under different conditions, and to ascertain how mine explosions may be checked or prevented.

INVESTIGATION OF EXPLOSIVES USED IN COAL MINING.

As the use of improper explosives has caused many mine explosions, the bureau has examined and tested the explosives used in mining, especially coal mining, and has caused manufacturers to compound explosives that are less dangerous or are better adapted for doing certain work. Some attention has been given to explosives for use in metal mines, where the health and efficiency of miners may be seriously affected by powder fumes. Much needed investigations of metal-mine explosives have been held back by lack of funds.

INVESTIGATION OF USE OF ELECTRICITY IN MINING.

Another problem that has been studied intensively by field investigations, by laboratory tests, and by experiments is the danger attending the use of electricity in mines, especially the danger of dust or gas explosions in coal mines, and the possibility of safeguarding

the use of electricity so as to lessen the risk of workmen being injured by shock or burns.

INVESTIGATION OF MINE LIGHTING.

As many coal-mine explosions and many disastrous mine fires have been started by the lamps or candles used underground, the bureau has been making an investigation of safety lamps, both flame and electric, for coal miners, in the course of which it has made thousands of tests. An investigation of lights for use in metal mines has been started and should be carried out with equal thoroughness.

USE OF RESCUE AND FIRST-AID APPARATUS.

The relative merits of different types of apparatus for use by miners in rescue and first-aid work after mine disasters have been carefully investigated, and much work has been done toward the development of more efficient types. In order to demonstrate the use of such apparatus and to train miners in approved methods of rescue and first aid the bureau has established mine-rescue stations convenient to different mining regions, and has in operation eight minerescue cars and two mine-rescue trucks.

STUDY OF SAFETY AND HEALTH PROBLEMS IN METAL MINES.

Certain safety problems in metal mining have been examined in a general way in connection with similar coal-mine problems, and during the past year decided progress has been made in a study of the relation of tuberculosis among miners to silicious dust in mine air.

INQUIRIES AS TO WASTE OF METALS, ORES, AND MINERALS IN TREATMENT AND USE.

In efforts to lessen or prevent enormous losses of metal in the concentration of ores and in the making of alloys and to bring about new uses or to increase the utilization of different mineral substances, the bureau has conducted some general inquiries and a few detailed investigations in the fields of metal mining, metallurgy, and miscellaneous mineral technology, giving especial attention to the extraction of radium and the prevention of smelter-smoke damage.

PETROLEUM INVESTIGATIONS.

Investigations to ascertain the causes of enormous losses in the production of oil and natural gas have been started, and work to bring about the use of less wasteful methods in the recovery of oil and natural gas is in progress. Also methods of utilizing oil and gas to greater advantage either for fuel or for other purposes are being studied, and especial attention is being given the development of methods of obtaining a larger proportion of gasoline from petroleum and of producing valuable compounds, such as benzol and toluol, from it.

COMPILATION OF MINING LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

The bureau soon after its organization began the compilation of the mining laws and regulations of the United States, of the several States, and of foreign countries. The purpose of the bureau in this work was to emphasize the particular laws and regulations that have proved most effective in increasing health and safety in mining. The bureau has now issued several bulletins giving brief and intelligent abstracts of the decisions of the various courts of this country in cases involving National and State laws relating to the mineral industry, and during the year has published in a two-volume bulletin, a complete collection of all mining laws enacted by Congress with copious annotations showing the construction placed upon these laws by the Federal and State courts, and the Land Department.

SOME BENEFITS FROM THE WORK OF THE BUREAU.

The extremely high death rate among the workers in the mineral industries in the United States, and especially among coal miners, was seen to be the matter most urgently demanding investigation by the Bureau of Mines at the time of its establishment. Consequently the early activities of the bureau centered about investigations to determine the causes of explosions in coal mines and methods by which such explosions could be prevented or checked, and safer and more healthful conditions in the coal-mining industry developed. It follows that the most notable result of the bureau's efforts during the past five years has been the development of a general public interest in greater safety and better health conditions in mines and metallurgical plants, and the gaining of the cooperation and active aid of all possible agencies in the progress of this movement.

The Bureau of Mines makes no claim to having been the first agency to call attention to the high death rate among miners; nor does it claim it was the first to urge the need of safer methods. It has gladly welcomed the aid of all agencies that have sought to better conditions, and it freely concedes the credit that is due them for what they have done. The bureau does claim, however, that its work has served to stimulate a nation-wide movement for greater safety in all industries and that the value of this work has been great and can not be measured in dollars. In its efforts to increase safety and efficiency in the mining industries, a general plan of cooperation has been adopted by the Federal Government and the larger agencies working for the same end. This plan is as follows:

1. That the National Government conduct the necessary general inquiries and investigations in regard to the mining industries and disseminate, in such manner as may prove most effective, the information obtained and conclusions reached.

2. That each State enact needed legislation and make ample provision for the proper inspection of mining operations within its borders.

3. That the mine owners introduce improvements with a view to increasing safety and reducing waste of resources as rapidly as the practicability of such improvements is demonstrated.

4. That the miners and mine managers cooperate both in making and enforcing safety rules and regulations as rapidly as these are shown to be practicable.

That this plan of cooperation is working to the public good is shown by the results already obtained in the saving of miners entombed by explosions; in the alleviation of suffering and the saving of life among miners who have received first-aid treatment; in the enactment of State laws to increase safety, prevent accidents, and lessen waste; and in the tendency to demand more efficient inspection in mining and other industrial establishments.