The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-04-04
IVES {! VIRGINIA | |.
COAL ENDORSED
British and German Navies Find
it Excellent for Their Use.
TO DEVELOP VIRGINIA FIELDS
Writer in Manufacturers Record Pre-
diets Big Future for Coal Prop.
ertyin Southwestern
Virginia.
7(special Dispatcn to tt. Times. }

Especial Dispatch to I.s llmeSl
BALTIMORE, MD, April s.-Ons OF the
strangest condistton which now confronts
foreign operators in coal. is the change
which has taken place in the past two
years in the American coal trade. For
this the South is largely responsible, ard
the South would be interested in phases
Of the change traced in this weeks Manu-
facturers' Record by Mr.. F. p Saward,
the American authority on the coal trade.
Regarding the rapid pace of this country
in the trade, he writes::
'Is 1t not largely due to the fact that
our labor has been free from the general
Interruptions which prevail abroad? Inc
men have had good wages and employ
ment was never up to the pace it is at
the present time. In the bitnminous dis
triCts Of the country there has been a
continuance Of the same rate OF wages
for two years, and with the current year
1t will begin upon the third year. 1t IS
that jery steadiness to affairs I'M this
line which aided and assisted so greatly
in the expansion of this industry, SO
that it now amounts to 225, 900, 900 tons. a
total that is the more remarkable wnen
one looks back over the period OF but
ten years. With our anthracite the tot1l
production in this country Tor the last
year was 2?0,00o,0o0 tons, far away ana oe-
J-ond that OF Great Britain. our nearesl
rival, and twice that Of Germany the
third i'll the list Of coal-rI oduclng eoun-
tiles in the world.
NAVIES ENDORSE TT.
zone Of our conslls recently sent to the
State Department a report thatea Trieste
coal dealer placed with a, New York firm
an order for 5000 tons Of prime steam coal.
The dealer, however, refused to accept
it, because it was found upon its arrival
to contain so large a percentage OF
screenings as to render it unstable as
standard steamship coal. Inasmuch as the
foreign lines of steamers running out OF
New York alone take 2,500,000 tons of this
coal annually and the Southern ports fully
as much without finding any fault on the
score of what this foreign dealer calls
screenings the coal is good: the tine
gives a steam-raising power equal to the
Jumps. After making a thorough test
Of a West Virginia coal, the Navy De-
partment of the German Empire has
placed it on its list of admiralty Goals &C.
ceptable to that department for supplying
the requirements of its men-of-war. The
Government of Great Britain also en-
dorsed it. a MARYLAND concern is to load
the British bark Launberger with car
80 OF bitu1ninous coal for South Africa
bituminous coal into the British steamship
Michigan for the use of the ship as
bunker coal during a voyage to South
Africa and return. And so it goes. Our
coal is good, and it is being taken IN
increasing quantity. We are taking the
West Indian trade. 1900.
VIRGINIA COAL FIELDS.
1.-THE immense supply in the great Flat
Top region of Southwestern Virginia, the
talk Of coal shipments from Port Royal
S. c., and of the scheme for a road from
the Tennessee coal fields to Southport. N.
c., all these things tend to the mag
nificent empire upbuilding in the hitherto
purely agricultural States of the South.
The land that is now being acquired for
a few dollars per acre will be worth hun
dreds; the present movement is but a
modest one compared to what it will be.
The one feature that is making to this
end is that foreshadowcd in the opening
paragrapll-steady labor, well satisfied
at good wages for .the service rendered.
Compare conditions in the Fair1nont Kan
,wila. Pocahontas, Birmingham and coal
producing districts where the sole effort
is to get out as much as possible (for
it is all salablc) with the friction that
prevails abroad ana in some western coal
fields of the United States. Contented
labor brings prosperity to any country"