New-York tribune., 1903-03-15
FUEL HIGH n C0REA.
Large Proportion of Earnings Must
Be Paid for 1t.
HOW COAL BALLS ARE. MADE.

tFron an Occasional Correspondent Of The Trihune)
Seoul. Corea, February L.
The arrival of The Tri-Weekly Tribune is
OF the bright in the life of the American
condemned I" spend his life i'll this far corner OF
tn" world. Fur many months We have been read
ns the accounts Of the coal difficulties in the
| home country. Now. Coreans would scarcely al-
preciate outcry that is made in NewYork Oyer
| the high price of coal. 1t may interest some of
! your readers and may afford them some consol-
tien know for hundreds of years the people
of Seoul have been accust orned to pay aver
age one-tfrd of their entire salary for fuel alone
during least five months in the year. and an
average of orefourth of their salary or wages the
year around. We venture to say that this would
be considered pretty steep even III New-Iork TO-
day But then il must be remembered that the
Corean little else pay for except his re
and fuel When viewed in this light the diS'I' p
ancy is not so great The amount OF common
scrub pine wood that can carry on his back
costs three Corean dollars landed Seoul. and Il
load OF fuel grass pine twie;s and IlIIr needles
costs 81.
OF course foregners 90 not | Sc such fuel : this
except in emergency. To feed three OF lour
stoves in weatae" with light pine ""e' at
that figure would be simply ruin"uS- Cnfort'nate-
Iy for Coreans their frepiaces are SO out t'i'
they no other fuel
The foresner uses either soft coal imported from
Japan Of sl3 ton, or Corean anthraete
from vicinity Of Pyengyans, in the north at a
of SIS a Now and th' n some on" puts his
hand deep down into his pocket and buys American
er than any other. even at the price. \" foreign
house In Seoul is heated for much less than s-"
a winter
In batch of Triblnes to hand by this mail We
find a description of briquettes made III Europe
from coal dust. and suggestion that the same '-
tried in America We have not got so lar S''' -
to make briquettes. but make coal balls Inc
anthracite coal Corean mines Is Simply
scraped off the surface Of the ground. where II mas
become so disntegrated by the weathe that long
before il reaches Seoul the Jumps have been pull
verized and nothing but fine black dust remains
This is handed over the Corean coolies 70 make
into balls. A huge pile of it is deposited in the
centre Of the yard hole dug In the centre and a
fine quality Of red clay is added In the proportion
Of one four. The clay and the coal dust are
thoroughly mixed by the coolies. who roll up their
trousers and perform sort OF Indian war oanc''
in the dirty to which enough water has beeh
added TO act a fux between the clay and the
coal. When the mixing has been completed the
coolies sit down the ground about the mixture
and begin rolling portions OF 1t into oas with ther
hands Each ball is about two inches in diam
eter. When a cooe has piled up twelve or n1teef
OF tile ct his side. he carries them to one sioe
of the yard and deposits them evenly over the
ground to dry in the heat of the sun BY night the
ward presents curious scene II there had been
q big bomba rdnent and all the cannon balls hah
struck in the same yard a path Is left from the
gate to the front door for the occupants OF tn
AS the coolies are paid by the bag. of course it
the owner has set out sample Tor them ID
60 out nan and Tak ssIkef ovsn shaa
the gauge This speedily brings them In to @ e burn nl
only partiaiiy through and the waste is enor-
nous. 1t l. j marvel how much OF suGh cuai 20 i,
saure pephaps eq afa' four of
for wntsr burned sixteen tons OF tins coa b buit. r.
EvarY Gtove becomes clogEed with ashes At least