AMERICAN COAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 August 1919, Page 7

AMERICAN COAL.

SHORTAGE OF SUPPLIES. GREAT DEMAND IN EAST. Following is an extract from an article on the coal‘ supplies of the United States which appeared in the, latest issue of the Exporters’ and Importers’ Journal:— The United States of America is the largest coal—producing nation in me world. We mine the carbon jewels by millions of tons annually. Th.o=usandS of hardy men pass the be.tter part of their lives in the coal miles, delving :flqr their precious contents-. Tlmus-_ ands more are engaged in the equauy important work of distributing lthc Coal from the mines to the markets of the world, where it finds a sure and steady sale, and thousands, if not mil. lions, in handling the precious article in factories and workshops. It is an article that must be had, not only by the business man, but in the. family. Last year there was a distinct shortage of coal, caused by insufiiieent production, and poor handling and distribution. =FzLctol'ies needed it, shops were cold in its absence, and families shivered in their homes. The nation was threatened with .3. genuine coal faniine, and the panic caused by fear of the "consequences was such that the government stepped to the froht‘ and created a new department, that of Fuel ‘Administration. Its! ,Qh'e.a7<T, Mr Garfield, set to work to secure the utmost economy in the use of coal, and the result. was that We weathered the storm. It is still in commission, and is doing what it may to prevent a return of the trouble this winter’, and the indications are that it will succeed, though mining is still behind the point hoped for, in spite of the increased efforts of the companies.

Speaking broadly, the west is far behter supplied than -the east_ Indications are .’chat the railroads will consume this year approximately 160,000,000 tons of coal. Reports of increase. in production of War supplies, ranging from 25 to 50 per cent or more were made during the sTl'innler in the east, but very few such reports were received from the Mississippi Valley or western points. ;The result, from a coal standpoint, was that the demand for fuel is‘ mainly in the east. This demand cannot be fully supplied. In /the middle west, however, because. the factories have less to do, they are using less coal, and the demand is easily satisfied. F

The -report from the largest coal corporatiton in the world is that the corporation~ is employing every available man to mine the coal on its properties, and at the present time, 16,000 men are on its piy rolls alone. It would employ 24,000 men if they could, be procured, and suffieient railrvoad cars could be obtained to haul the coal to the markets. The full capacity of the mines of this company is said t-o be 31,000,000 tons annually. It has pro-cu-red more than‘ 24,000,000 tons in a given year. but. lits output .-at ‘this time is about 19,000,000 tons. No other coal company in the world produces more than half this amount». It controls approximately 160,000 acres of “coal land, and at one time had more than -one hundred mines operating on its property.