Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-11-02
Coal Exports from United States.

TO think about in the fuel SITUATION
1t affects every part of the countr,
but we can understand it best here il
Maine. Coal at retail in Augusta i
IS per ton. We are on the river ant
have the advantage of water ship
ment. Coal barges do not go up th'
Androscoggin and Lewiston has loca
coal monopoly. We are informed thai
coal is retailing there at $40 and
| $1O.25.
Is it probable that it costs 81 ton
to freight coal from tide-water to
Lewiston?
Lewiston and Auburn dealers saF
that they cannot get coal. they are
counting on large shipments right
| away. to relieve the apparent panic
Coal operators and their agents and
the coal railroads and those connect
ed, are telling the people of this coun-
Try that labor difficulties and eonse-
! quent shortage in the amount mined
by a few hundred thousand tons are
to blame for thei panic" and present
panic prices"
Rather hard to believe isn't ii, when
we consider that The American coal
sent to foreign countries the past year
has reached the tremendous total of
So. 100000, and at prices which are
amazing TO us even at tidewater-
$3.50 for bituminous and Soil for an
thracite.
wealthy Philadelphia merchant
spent the summer at a Maine sporting
resort. He employs 225 hands and
huvs coal for his places of business
and home and the homes of some OF
his employees under a yearly contract.
He lives in the coal producing region,
of course but his contract last year
was $1.60 per ton. The difference
between that and what we have to pay
is eaten up in freightage and prohts
for the various hands through when
=ssRm one of the strangest points FOR
consideration, perhaps, Is the dlrtS
trickerv of pretended shortage III
many parts of the country, to drive
consumers into paying eXofpltaht
prices for a time because OIL
shortage" While at the same tiihe
millions of tons were being SOLD IN
foreign countries, to say nothing Oh
sa3. 900. 600 worth of bunker, OF luei
ooo1 Golf to vessels engaged in foreign
trade.
II is also interesting to note that
while approximately $75.ooo,oOo worth
If coal was sent out of this country IN
the year just passed Fiscal year Oh
1919, and operators and dealers are
talking shortage and panic pe-
cause of labor troubles, we are e&por'-
ing seven times as much coal this
year as in 1892.
Ard, more remarkable still, while
we are exporting SEVEN times as
much coal as twenty years ago, the
returns for it are only SIX times as
large.
And Americans are paying nearly
twice as much per ton as ~ years
ago!
For exact information, read the fol-
lowing just sent out by the oniteu
states Bureau of Statistics, Depart
,,ant of Commerce and Labor, at
Washington:
coal is rapidly becoming an important
factor in the export trace OF Iiie e,t To
States The value of the coal ,s seht ~
foreign countries last year was oat2 mn IA
lion dollars against q million IN ~ s.'su
ia million in 1892, having thus ny g
ed over 500 per cent IN t NE i ia decade
Years and $50 per cent in the last a 1e sleH
I1ven these large figures OF over oV I'M I'm
lion dollars worth of coal sent 70 to,o "a A.
eign countries in the fiscal year lsl@ ~
not include the value of that passing ou ;,
Of the country in the form of bunker,
or fuel coal laden on vessels ehBaSeu III
the foreign trade, which aggregated me- neai =
ly % million dollars IN value, Ihahihs q
total of over as million dollars as tne
value of the coal passing out OF the o Ill
ed States in the fiscal year lslI. 81, ne
quantity sent to foreign countries IN ~.
was, according to figures complied ny
the Statistical Division of the Bureau OF
Foreign and Domestic Commerce, la12
million tons, against 7 million in the l9oz
and 2ik million in 1892 Thus the quantity
exported in 1912 is seven times as much as
In 1892 and the value over o times as
much, in. 1912 as in 1882. 5t
Coke exports also show. a decided
growth, the value in 1892 having been but
1l2 thousand dollars and in 1912 pracu-
cally',3 million dollars. A comparison OF
the quantity and value of coal placed for
fuel purposes on board vessels engaged in
foreign trade in 1912 can only be made
with comparatively recent years, the fig
ures of bunker coal laden on vessels in
1912 being 7,093212 tons, valued at ST.
s02, ST6, against 6,003, l94 tons, valued at
$1967l IT'S in in the fiscal year 1909, the
earliest date for which complete figures
OF bunker coal movements are available.
The fact that the coal sent to foreign
countries has increased $50 per cent, both
in quantity and value, during the last ten
years, that the total value of exports to
foreign countries plus the value of that
leaving the country as bunker coal now
aggregates over Is million dollars suggest
that the total value of the coal passing
out of the United States in a single year
Will soon reach the 10 million dollar line.