CHAPTER 210 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5051 A Concurrent Resolution urging the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring America's coal miners.       WHEREAS,  The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the United
States Postmaster General is urged to recommend for issuance as soon
as practicable a United States Postal Service stamp commemorating the
vital role of coal miners in the history and economic productivity of the
country. The stamp would commemorate a class of American laborers
who in their immigrant origins reflect the melting-pot ideals of the nation,
who with their manual labor make possible the technological conven-
iences of modern American life and whose contributions to the nation's
welfare are generally unknown to the public. A stamp commemorating
coal miners holds the promise of illustrating a colorful and historically
rich segment of society for the benefit of schoolchildren, stamp collectors,
educators and the public; and

      WHEREAS,  United States coal miners perform a unique and vital
service for the nation because without a man or woman at the controls
of a dragline or working in a darkened mine shaft, coal would not tumble
into the trucks and barges that crisscross the country to power the boilers
that generate over 50 percent of the nation's electricity; and

      WHEREAS,  Coal miners keep the nation supplied with an energy
resource that produces electricity for the lowest cost, when compared to
fuels other than nuclear, and which makes possible the country's un-
matched productivity and prosperity; and

      WHEREAS,  Coal miners provide a vital pool of labor with the exper-
tise to produce energy supplies from vast national coal reserves which
serves to buffer the country from a dangerous dependence on foreign
energy fuels; and

      WHEREAS,  Several hundred shaft mines were constructed and op-
erated in southeast Kansas giving employment to thousands of immigrat-
ing, European-born and native-born miners and their descendants,
thereby establishing a cultural diversity that remains to this day; and

      WHEREAS,  Underground mining was instrumental in the historical
development of the Cherokee-Crawford coal field, impacting employ-
ment, demographic movements, transportation networks, commerce, and
settlement patterns in the region; and

      WHEREAS,  The coal mines developed in southeast Kansas stimulated
industrial activity in an otherwise largely agricultural state: Now, there-
fore,

      Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
the Senate concurring therein: That the Legislature of the State of Kan-
sas urges the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative post-
age stamp honoring America's coal miners; and

      Be it further resolved: That the Secretary of State send an enrolled
copy of this resolution to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, c/o
Stamp Development, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant S.W., Room
5670, Washington, D.C. and to each member of the Kansas legislative
delegation.

 Adopted by the House March 29, 2002.
Adopted by the Senate
April 11, 2002.
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