Trends

FOLLOWING- the major explosion disaster in the Orient No. 2 mine of the Chicago, Wilmington and Franklin Coal Co., West Frankfort, Ill., on December 21, 1951, resulting in the death of 119 miners, an investigation was made by the U. S. Bureau of Mines under the direction of J. J. Forbes, Bureau director. The subsequent report concluded that the disaster. was caused by the emergence of a-large body of explosive gas from an abandoned area and simultaneous short circuiting of the ventilating current; the gas was ignited by an electric arc from nonpermissible electrical equipment and the flame was propagated throughout a large part of the affected area by coal dust and possibly by gas from other worked-out and abandoned areas. An immediate repercussion of the disaster was the opening of hearings by the. Senate Labor and Public Welfare Subcommittee on the Neely Mine Inspection Bill (S. 1310, introduced April 11, 1951) which would give federal coal-mine inspectors power to enforce safety recommendations by ordering the withdrawal of all employees where conditions constitute an imminent danger to their safety. Two days of testimony, January 24 and 25, disclosed that coal operators were not in agreement on the bill, although John L. Lewis, speaking for the UMWA, and J. J. Forbes, for the Bureau of Mines, were advocates.