Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-03-01

FROM paper TeaU UcIOre tnc fh1iOs0pnl-
cal Society of Hyde Park Pa, by HEN
RYJ PHfLLIPs, NJ. f. Translated for the
JOURNAL from the Bansr America
The Utility Of Coal.
BY QuIx.
1t would be difficult matter to
estimate the benefit that is derived
from coal, because it is found in great
abundance in all countries 1t is used
in all business in some shape or 9th
er. For that reason we can give but
brief history of the facts inconnec-
tons with its usefulness. There are
but a few implements manufactured
in which coal does not assist in some
way, if not the chief cause. There is
but little improvement in countries
that are totally bereft of this valuable
commodity Of all the multitudes of
ores that were prepared by nature
for her children and that were stored
away in the secret places, in the cav
erns of the earth to satisfy onr neces-
stiles. We do not forget the corn or
the cotton and the different animals,
neither do we depreciate the fruits of
the forest or the produce of the vine
yard the game that is on the mount
ain, the beasts that are on the plain !;
the produce of the land, and the rail-
roads of all the countries contribute
heavily to the riches of all the nations.
But in the present condition of our
society, coal and iron are elements more
indispensable to the constitution of
our wealth and our general success in
the world, than any that we can think
of. What would Great Britain be to-
day but for her coal and iron Pa
country poor and without trade !;
without half her present population
And in the same condition we would
find Americans far as her trade and
population are concerned Any coun-
try that has to go from home for the
necessities Of successful existence,
must be poor and improsperous-
Without coal in America we would
be compelled to burn the production
of the soil for fuel, for the scarcity of
the working population with the ex-
ception of agricultural would coun-
teract every effort to populate the
country to consume the production of
the soil. But through the instrument
telity of coal-we have hundreds of
thousands to draw the precious metal
from the bowels of the earth to smelt
after that and shape into instruments
suitable to be used in every trade and
profession tighten the burdens of the
workman give speed to industry in
every direction providing things with
more ingenuity and speed than man
ual labor can do Coal is the chief
instrument in the productions of he
pen and the press and the good that
is derived from them. 1t assists in
the manufacture of the type and ma
chinery. We can say with perfect
Justice that coal carries coal over rail
roads and canals, ri:ers and oceans
Steam. that great power, is produced
by coal that in these later days serve
us SO well-by driving forward our
steam boats and locomotives, work
shops and manufactures heats our
homes, and makes them so comfor-
table for us in the cold winter-that
which the diamond, the red, green,
blue, or yellow gems or the jasper
SAPPHIRE, surdonvx, or the most pre-
cious stones in the world, have never
done nor ever will do. One coal field
is more precious than the diamond
mines in Golconda and Peru; one ton
of coin silver is worth SO, $50 or SAT, :
6S432; one ton of gold coin is worth
el39,3 32, or $675, 1872. For all that
they are but dead matter, good for
nothing. As a circulating medium in
business and its scarcity are the only
things that can increase its value
But it is not so with coal the more
of it that is sold, the more bene-
fit d ,rived from it. One ton Of coal
priced at about S., or one part Of 1885,
$50 of the price of ton of gold, for
all that, it will do more good and do
more real service than ton Of gold
will, Notwithstanding all its great
value in our money markets. Coal
transports the produce of different
parts of the country, with the great
est dispatch, to all parts of the earth
such as iron, cotton grain, and ev-
cry article that can be produced or
manufactured from the metals exhum-
ed from the bowels of the earth, to the
different nations But for all its
strength and its readiness to serve
men, steam is not any stronger to-day
than it was a hundred years ago
But it is confined at present with a
dress of iron strong enough to gather
it into powerful body, aud it is made
to serve u better purpose.
There were many learned men &C.
quainted with the strength manifested
in the expansion of steam since it was
first discovered forcing itself through
the spout of teakettle, &c, and
they were acquainted also with the fact
that valuable treasures were rotting
in Michigan, Minnesota, and other
Western and Southern States, in the
shape of grains and provender Of ev-
cry description, for the want of some
power stronger and faster than auimal
power, to transport it, 1t was not long
before they began to stady how to
bring this great power into subsection.