Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines Communication (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines: Communication
In submitting the report of the mine Inspectors for the year ending December 31, 1895, it seems proper to call the attention of the Legislature to some of the defects that exist in the present mine laws of the Commonwealth, at least so far as they relate to the Department of Internal Affairs. The acts of 1891 which regulate the mining of coal in Pennsylvania, provide for the appointment of mine Inspector's in both the anthracite and bituminous regions, and prescribe their duties. Among other things they are required to make annual reports to the Secretary of Internal Affairs to be published by him as soon after their receipt as may be convenient By virtue of existing laws there are eight mine Inspectors in the anthracite region and ten in the bituminous region.
So far as is provided by law these mining districts are independent departments connected with the Department of Internal Affairs and the Inspectors are not accountable to any one in particular for their acts to the extent they should be. To state the case in another form, there is no State official who has general supervision over them or who can give directions as to how they shall discharge the numerous duties imposed upon them by law. It is true the Secretary of Internal Affairs is to receive and become the custodian of their annual reports, but he is without power to prescribe how the reports shall be made or the form that shall be used in collecting and compiling the information which it was the intention of the Legislature should be annually gathered and published. While the mine Inspectors, as a rule, acknowledge that they must be responsible to some State official, and very generally comply with the suggestions made by the Secretary of Internal Affairs, as to the making of reports and the discharge of their duties, it is entirely due to their sense of propriety. There is an entire absence of law that would enable the Secretary to require any general or specific action on the part of the Inspectors, and it therefore seems highly proper, and indeed necessary that the Legislature should either clothe the Secretary with additional powers relative to the mine Inspectors and the execution of the laws now in force, or provide another State official who shall have such powers and authority.
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