New Safety Laws for Washington Coal Mines
The state legislature passes a radical bill requiring better ventilation and air quality to prevent mining disasters.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The most important measure passed by the legislature at this session is the Rogers bill, governing coal mines, passed by the house today. It amends section 2 of the present law on that subject, and aims to better protect the lives and health of coal miners. It provides that each level in any coal mine shall be furnished with separate splits of pure air, increasing the number of cubic feet per minute required at present. The temper of the present legislature is evidently to give better protection to miners, as the experiences of the last three years, attended with great loss of life and property owing to mining accidents, have shown the present law to be inadequate.
“The temper of the present legislature is evidently to give better protection to miners.”
This 1895 legislation reflects the early, deadly struggle for industrial workplace safety in Washington. Today, while the coal industry has largely vanished from the state, the tension between corporate profit and worker safety remains a core theme in Washington's labor politics.
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