The New York herald., 1872-09-14

Great Britain and tho Unitcd states
I'm the Future.
All the news of late from England with
regard to the supply, production and
price of coal shows that the coal ques-
ton in all its bearings ON the present and
future is becoming deeply interesting
There is no subject which engages the
serious attention of the statesmen and political
economists Of England at the present timo
more important than that of the coal supply
of the United Kingdom. The consumption
has been SO enormous of late years and the
yearly ratio of increase in consumption has
been so great that it has become evident the
time is approaching when the limited area OF
the coal fields must be exhausted This
gloomy prospect, with its probable distressing
consequences, was brought to the notice OF
the British public in an able speech delivered
by Mr. Gladstone a few years ago. Others
have spoken and written on the subject, but
the note of alarm sounded by this statesman
awakened England from her slumbcr OF
fancied security and perpetual commercial
supremacy. Parliament saw the necessity OF
investigating the question of coal supply in the
British isles and appointed commissioners for
that purpose. Reports have been made by
these Commissioners which show that this
prime source of England's manufacturing and
commercial greatness is in process of rapid
exhaustion. and that within little over CEN
tury all the coal of the United Kingdom will
be consumed. The report of the Commission
has been severely criticised by scientific men
and able WRITER'S who argue that the coal OF
Great Britain will be exhausted in much
shorter period than that calculated by the Com
missioners of Parliament.
The Commission reports that the probable
quantity of coal in the ascertained coal fields
of the United Kingdom is 9O,2O7, 900
tons. This estimate includes everything of
the nature of coal that has q seam of more
than twelve inches thick and to depth of
four thousand feet One able writer, in an
alyzing this estimate, shows that tho quantity
capable of being extracted at working depth
is not over 81, 1000, 100000 tons-that is, at q
depth above the limit of blood heat. Then it
is calculated that %, ,0OO, 900, 900 can only be
extracted at a cost that at present prices would
not pay. Thirty-nine thousand millions of
tons, then, this English writer says, is all the
coal of the existence Of which, within the limits
of available working means, there is any evil
dence. Some sanguine geologists are specu-
lating upon larger supply from possible un-
discovered beds; but there are no facts to sus-
tain such an assumption. The conclusion is,
therefore, that So, ,OOO, ,OO0 900 of available and
22 OOO 00O 600 tons Of less available coal, con-
sidering the amount already extracted, are
largely in excess of the probable actual
quantity. If the present rate Of increase Of
consumption be continued the last ton of the
available 1000, 600, 900 tons would be ex-
tracted in seventy-three years. In the year
1869 there were taken from the mines
los, ,O0O, 900 TONS The amount in 1871 was
estimated at nearly 118, ,000, 900 tons. The in
crease in the year 1869 was equal to that of the
two preceding years. The annual increase,
one year after another, is, at least, from three
to four per cent, and at this rate the consump-
ton would reach in twenty-five years fully
22O, 200, 900 tons year
| 1t must be remembered too, that tho best
coal is generally mined at first. England,
consequently, is not only rapidly exhausting
the amount of supply, but must depend more
and more upon ON inferior quality as time ad-
vances. Then the additional cost of mining
as greater depths are reached, and the newt
able increase of wages with the progress of the
age and improving condition of the working
classes, must in time seriously affect the
manufacturing and commercial facilities and
greatness of England. It is admitted that
the coal fields Of the United Kingdom are in
area but four per cent of those already known
in the world The wonderful growth and
present magnitude of English manufactures
must be attributed chiefly to the coal fields Of
the British Isles, and, as consequence also,
Englands vast commerce and wealth. Steam
power, evolved by the valuable mineral, has
given production that all tho labor of the
teeming millions of the British Empire could
not As the supply of this material gives out
in quantity ond quality, and as the cost Of ex-
tracing it increases, England's manu-
featuring and commercial supremacy will
probably decline. England cannot import
coal in such vast quantities as she will
need it, and compete with the countries which
have it in abundance and from which she
must obtain it. Nor will the cheap labor upon
which she has depended in great measure for
success continue to be available. The English
working classes have reached tho starvation
point-the point of lowest wages and endur-
ance-and with their political ameloration,
which comes with the enlightened progress of
the times, the laboring people aspire to a
better condition, and will have it. Unless
some other motive power than steam evolved
by coal, and some other substance for furnaces
and forges can be found, it will not be many
| wears before manufacturing and commercial