regions in which interruptions were most pronounced showed a
tendency to become union territory. The presence of the union is
both cause and effect. Wage disputes cause lost time, but on the
other hand, irregular employment is a prime incentive to unioniza-
tion. Full-time operation, if it could be brought about, would reduce
production costs per ton. Careful investigation of many mining
operations disclosed that the cost of mining varied as much as 60
cents a ton from one month to another, depending on the number of
idle hours. A coal-mine differs from a factory, which when closed
needs only a watchman to guard it. In an idle mine the forces of
nature are busy : there are roof and floor movements that change the
haulways; there are gas exudations and inflows of water with which
to contend. An idle mine cannot be left unattended, without heavy
loss. In mining the costs go on even if the coal is not produced.
At the end of 1920 experts agreed that there was no prospect of a return to pre-war prices because of the larger difficulties of mining less favourable seams, more costly equipment, higher wages and increased freight rates. These changes seemed likely to cost the people of the United States upward of a thousand million dollars annually as compared with the fuel bills of 1914. During the period 1900-20, the population of the United States increased 42%, and the consumption of coal 172%. Mechanical means, more and more employed to do work, formerly done by hand, consumed more power, and coal was the chief source of energy. Assuming that the population and industrial growth of the United States continue unchecked, and that the use of coal increases accordingly, by the year 1940 the United States will be consuming 1,400,000,000 tons of coal annually. It would be wholly impossible for the system of American railways as constituted in 1920 to handle any such production and at the same time carry the normal in- crease of other freight. It appeared essential, therefore, that immediate thought be given to the important problem of a national power supply.
There were in 1920 about 8,opo commercial or shipping mines producing bituminous or anthracite coal in the United States, and about 12,000 " wagon mines," or " country banks," supplying local trade. Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio had the greatest number of these small openings. Though the total production of these coun- try banks was less than I % of the total output, the effect of dumping their unprepared and inferior product on the general market was not desirable, and as a miner can produce from two to four times as much coal in a properly developed colliery as in the average wagon mines, the effect on the labour situation was adverse.
The whole American coal industry in 1920 employed 750,000 men in and about the mines. The operations in the Appalachian fields, from the Tennessee-Kentucky line N. into Pennsylvania, furnished the bulk of the bituminous coal used in New York and
New England. The Appalachian region also provided all the bitu- minous coal exported to Canada. Consumers required shipments of at least 28,000,000 tons monthly from the mines. In winter all this output was consumed as fast as produced, but in summer consump- tion dropped to approximately 24,000,000 tons a month. The re- mainder, about 4,000,000 tons a month, normally served to build up winter stocks in New England, the north-western states and Canada. An analysis of coal production in the United States by periods and decades from 1807, and by years from 1908, is given in the annexed table in short tons.
The table illustrates the great increase of American industries, which absorb nearly all of the bituminous production. Gauging the industrial development of the different nations by the per capita consumption of coal, it is interesting to note that in the United States the annual consumption per capita in 1920 was six tons ; in the United Kingdom it was estimated to be 5-1 tons; in Germany 3-4; France 1-2; Italy 0-34; and Russia 0-18. Before the outbreak of the World War in 1914, Belgium was consuming about four tons of coal per capita, which indicated its intense industrial development. While the output of European nations steadily decreased in recent years, the production of the United States increased. American mines in 1918, as shown by the table below, under stress of war demands broke all records, producing nearly 600,000,000 tons of bituminous coal. The average production per man during that year was 1,134 short tons. The closest competitor was New South Wales, where each under- ground worker in 1918 produced 814 tons. British Columbia ranked third with 790 tons, and Nova Scotia fourth with 718.
Mining machines played an important part in the development of coal-mining in the United States in the period 1910-20. In 1918, 18,463 machines were in use in the bituminous mines, an increase of 1,228 over 1917, and 2,265 over 1916. The tonnage mined by ma- chine in 1918 was 323,931,000, an increase of 17,535,000 tons, or 5-7% as compared with 1917. No great change occurred in the proportionate machine output for 1920, because the intense demand called forth a large production by hand as well. In 1916 the propor- tion of the total output mined by machines was 56-5%, in 1917 it was 55-5% and in 1918 59-9%.
Of the annual bituminous production in the United States in 1920, 40% was used for steam or industrial purposes, 27% was burnt by the railways, 15% was used for household purposes and the remain- ing 18% consumed in coking, exports, smithing, gas-houses and bunkering. Assuming that it is possible to obtain the by-products from only 25 % of the industrial coal and from 50 % of the railway coal through establishing control stations and electrifying, also that all the household coal can be coked first (which could be done if modified ranges and furnaces were used), it has been calculated that 195,000,000 tons of bituminous that in 1920 was burned raw in the United States should have been coked. If but two-thirds of this tonnage could have been subjected successfully to by-product coking, the saving would have amounted to at least $238,000,000. In other words, more than $200,000,000 went up in smoke from American plants in a year. Production of coke in 1920 was nearly 57,000,000 tons. Of this quantity approximately 30,000,000 tons were produced in the old-fashioned beehive ovens and the re-
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Years (Inclusive)
Pennsylvania Anthracite
Bituminous
Total
Period Totals
1807-20 . . . . . 1820-25 . . . . . 1826-35 . . . 1836-45 . . . 1846-55 . . . . 1856-65 . . I 866-7 5
12,000
7i,HI 3-007,371 13,393484 51,948,337 98,593-540 198,436,722 309,991,788 486,784,754 612,395,214 851,878,227 Annual Prod 83,268,754 81,070,359 84,485,236 90,464,067 84,361,598 91,524,922 90,821,507 88,995,061
87-578,493 99,611,811 98,826,084 88,000,000* 89,000,000*
3,000 256,040 1,160,778
9,784,153 31,469,490 75,201,474 220,988,382
537,768,531 1,099-313-887 2,220,007,532 4,066,839,056 uction During Period 190
332-573,944 379,744,257 417,111,142 405,907,059 450,104,982
478,435-297 422,703,970 442,624,426 502,519,682 551,790,563 579,386,000 458,063,000* 556,500,000*
15,000 327,181 4,168,149
23,177-637 83,417,827
173,795-014 419,425,104 847,760,319 1,586,098,641 2,832,402,746 4,918,717,283 I-2O Inclusive. 415,842,698 460,814,616 501,596,378 496,371,126 534,466,580 569,960,219
513-525-477 531,619,487 590,098,175 651,402,374 678,212,084 546,063,000* 645,500,000*
End of 1865 284,900,808
1807-1885 1,552,086.231
1807-1905 5.970,587,618
1876-85 . . . . 1886-95 1896-1905 . .
1908 1909
I9IO
1912 1913
lOId .
1915
1916
1917 1918
1919
1920 Total 1908-1920 ....
1,158,007.892
5,977,464,322
7,135,472,214
- Estimated. Bituminous coal in the United States is mined and sold in short or " net " tons. Anthracite is mined and sold in long tons.
The figures in the table for anthracite have been reduced to net tons to make them correspond to the bituminous figures.
NOTE. Anthracite production exceeded bituminous until after the Civil War. After that time it became less proportionately, from year to year. In 1908 bituminous production had become about four times as great as anthracite, and in 1918 it had become nearly six times as great.
