Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1860-04-12
Will the Coal Folds Hold OutP

When VIC look at the enormous amount of coal
now annually consumed, especially when we oh.
serve the ratio in which TINT consumption has in
creased within the Inst third OF q century. and
reflect on tho certainty that, nt every stadium of
human progress in population, arts, and general
culture, thnt increase must 20 on Mt an nccelern-
ting ratio that question inevitably presents itself
will the coal fields hold out
The produce of the American fields during the
wear 1889 has been computed ut 0,000.00O Of tons.
The produce Of Great Britain during the same
year was 6s 00O,0 600. The entire produce of the
c)nl fields of the world ia estimated at the same
time at 100 100000. Those figures are startling
enough But when we rccollect tho rapidity with
which they have been reached from comparative
y small amounts the vista they dis close IL lncom-
parahly more so.
The British conl trade has heretofore doubled
itself in about twenty-iour years This, howev.
| er, is slow rnte Of advance compared with that
which has been pade in cur own trade. We
take tho produce OF the anthracite mines Of Penn
sylvania, rs it is exhibited in the tables of Pro-
fessor Rogers, nm example In thiriycight
years from 1920 to 1853, it advanced Mt the rate
Of $4,000 tons per annum, nd from 1889 to 1919
the produce doubled itself in each five years. while
it has again doubled itself in eight years
We hive seen that the American eoal trade be-
gan in 1920 with $50 tons, and hal reached. in
1859, 100000 And then, with the inerense Of
health and the consequent increase If wants I;
with the constantly multiplying appli atoms and
If coal la the aris; with the opening ot new
mincs uf the varions metals. nil of which must he
worked Ly HE abundant consumption Of coal
with the rapid exhaustion Of what remains of The
forests with the progressive exploration and ci-
vilization Of npncoa. producing countries, and the
grow ing demand for closer connection nnl more
frequent intcrcourse between remote nations it IL
difficult To predict or conceive the extent which
the use of mineral fuel may reach in the next
twenty five years.
Gradually bat rapidly coal has fer the last gen.
Grafton beca establishing itself us the universal
motor If the social mechanism. 1t warns and
lights our houses, cooks our food, spins, wcaves,
DIVES, and washes our clothes, illuminntes our
streets hears our letters and ourselves swiftly
land and sea, makes our paper prints our books
and iournals-in II word what does it not do for
us? What movement, in tho vast and complica-
ted machinery ut modern society is not dependent
on coal? Should this III tive force be now or Mt
any future time withdrawn, what would ho the
effect on the world? L,cono;ion and the trans
mission Of letters would instantly return to the
rate of fifty years ago. Our ocean and river
steamers would speedily he roting at our wharveS,
and our rai cars stand motionlcss and useless on
their tracks for all the accessible forests would
speedily disappear under the immense demand.
New Orleans would again DO n fortnight from N.
New York. England n month from Americn and
California be almost lost sight of. Here and there
through the streets of old. instead of the bril-
liant aud abundant light afforded by gas Books
and newspapers would forthwith rise to n cost
entirely beyond the reach Of the million. Even
that primary element Of home comfort, and in
fact Of nll cultivated and pleasurablc existence
warmth-would o wholly unattainable by the
great mass Of mankind, and before long beyond
the reach of all. As for that extensive system
.f enlightened and benevolent effort by which the
Scriptures and the blessings Of Christian civilian
ton are in the process Of rapid diffusion among
distant and barbarous nations, what would be-
come of that If tho facilities of communication
and of the rapid and cheap multiplication of
books. which are wholly dependent on coal-fed
steam we're withdrawn? Every interest OF soeic
ty and of humanity would undergo disastrQus
revolution. The lack of coal wond operate like
paralysis on nll human energy.
That one hundred millions Of tons have been ta-
ken annuslly out Of tho mines, with the certainty
judging fron the past, that the amount will be
doubled and trebled. and still 90 on 10 increase,
as time and the world advances, is q startling
fact to contemplate. VIII the mines strnd the
immense drain? Will the Coal fields hold out
Science started this,inquiry about the beginning
OF this century, and gave unproptious and alar-
ming answear to- it, Eminent geoioser4 however
gave some comf,rt TO mankind by gradually post
poning the period VI exhaustion. Mr., Bailey pre-
dicted the supply of the Durham and Northnmbef-
land coal fields would only last two hundred years
DR.. McNab named three hundred and sesenty-h, Q:
years. Dr.. Buckland conceded four hundred
! wears Professor Thompson extended the period
Of oneAhousand years. Mr.. Hugh Taylor (more
liberal than previous caculators) grained seven
teen hundred and twenty seven years
There are men NOW living in Philadelphia who
remember that panic once created there bv the
announcement that the wo-kmen had reached the