The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-19

lit to annex it, until coal was discovered
ON it, and then mutual jealously prevented
any such attempt, so that today 1t is
still no mans land, and property
titles are in a curious condition. Even
at least 9o00 million tons of fairly good
coal
The Coalless Countries
The only coal-less country of any size
that has been explored at all appears to be
Egypt and the neighboring Soudan.
Northern Africa, however, in general, is
very poorly endowed with coal British
South Africa has plenty, and fortunately
good coal in some quantity has been
found near Katanga in the Belgian Congo,
SO that fuel is provided for the smelling
of the enormous high grade copper de-
posits at that place. Australia is well pro-
vided with coal Of good quality, though
the southern continents as a whole do
not rank with the northern ones either
in quantity or quality of deposits, South
America apparently possessing very little,
so far as exploration shows. Panama has
some, of poor quality, while Ignite oc-
ours in Trinidad Mexico. so prominently
in the public eye of late, has not been
favored like her northern neighbor. For
her size, her coal areas are small, and
the best of them occur along the Texas
border. Indeed coal for the Mexican
National railway is obtained from Texas.
Notwithstanding that Mexican coal of
equal quality exists across the line.
The material basis of Great Britain's
prosperity, like that of Alabama has been
coal and iron and the British public has
ever been sensitive to the danger of an
early exhaustion of the Former resource,
a fate which has actually happened to
Switzerland. Two raoal commissions
have reported on the coal reserves of
Great Britain, one in 1871, the other In
1905 The estimates of the latter, much
more favorable than the former, by the
way, give to England Wales and Scotland
reserve of 135,000 million tons. Ireland
poor in coal as in other minerals, has
only 1sO000,o00 tons. Some of the English
Goals, especially those in Wales, are prob
ably the finest steam Goals known.
Since the present rate OF coal production
in Britain is 26i,00o.0O0 tons per annum.
the Englishman will have to wait only
some 500 years for the exhaustion of his
supply, assuming again constant rate
of production.
Germany Rivals Britain
On the continent the only rival of Great
Britain is of course Germany. whose re-
serves are greater though her present
production is less. Four hundred and
twenty three thousand million tons is
the amount the German empire has to
draw upon, while her present production
is only 222,000,00O Her coal life, therefore,
should be almost 1000 years. Further, the
general impression so widely prevalent
that the German coal is of poor quality
is far from correct. While not of the
highest grade it is still good bituminous
coal, quite satisfactory for general and
metallurgical purposes. The other Euro
pean nations follow at a respectful dis
tance, and among them we find some
names that appear more often in the war
news than in Industrial notices When
Turkey reoccupled Adrianople she recov-
cred what is probably the best coal field
in that part of Europe, while Servia
Bulgaria and even Montenegro are not
without the fossil fuel Greece alone of
the Balkan allies is practically devoid
of coal. The Russian reserves are disap-
pointingly small, when you consider the
vast area of the country, 60,000 million
tons comprising it all.
, Future for China
| If large reserves of coal necessarily in
ojcate a. bright and prosperous future for
a nation, China should stand hereafter in
the first rank. The immense continent OF
Asia possesses 1,279, ,5S6 million tons Of coal.
and of this enormous total China prac-
| tically has 1000,000,00O or four-fifths.
Moreover, the Chinese coal is very
largely of the highest quality, her anthra-
cits beds equalling in size some of the
large bituminous areas of the United
States. Few of these coal areas have been
developed as yet, the annual production of
China with her 800, 600 inhabitants being
but little greater than that of Canada
with eight, about 100000 tons. No other
country however. possesses a deposit of
anthracite to be compared with those of
China. If the Chinese empire, or rather
the Chinese republic, is ever dismember-
ed and divided up among the powers
there will be rich picking for all, ana
some to spare.
10 in, Asia or 6;
IBERIA, is a poor second to China among
the Asiatic countries, with a reserve of
l74,0O0 million tons, while India with SO,-
900 is third. Japan is a poor fourth with
5000 million tons. Japan has little coal
and less iron ore, and what she has is
of inferior quality The Philippines like
wise are deficient in coal beds, the work
able area hardly exceeding 20 square
miles, all of brown coal
Coming back to North America we may
notice first that though Canada's produce
ton is SMALL some IL, 900 COO tons a year,
her coal reserves are greater than those
of China. though the quality is by no
means so high. In fact Canada stands
second only to the United States in coal
reserves, with a. 1,250, 100000 tons. New
foundland, which is not a part of Can
ada, but a separate colony, has only 50O-
o00,d00 tons. Alaska, whose inhabitants
are forbidden through official and con-
gressional stupidity to mine the coal under
their feet, Importing it instead from
Vancouver Island, has nearly e, 900 million
tons. Now that the hysterical outbreaks
over Ballinger and the Cunningham cases
have subsidized it is beginning to dawn
upon the American public that coal
claim in Alaska is not a guarantee of
fortune. There is good coal in Alaska as
the United States geological survey, re-
ports show, but there is likewise a much
larger quantity of inferior stuff which
the average Alabamian would not like to
have to burn. With good transportation
facilities and favorable leasing terms coal
mining in some of the better fields of
Alaska would doubtless be commercial
success, but change from the present
dog-in-the- manger policy of the author
tiles will have to be adopted
Quality Declines Westward
In examining the coal mining statistics
of the world, one is tempted to inquire
whether the marvellous growth of the In
dustry in the United States has been duo
to exceptional natural advantages or to
exceptional industry and energy on the
part of its inhabitants. The answer is
probably BOTH The United States has
been favored by nature to an extraor-
dinary extent in coal resources as may
be seen from the figures given above,
China and Canada alone approaching u.s.
Curiously enough, however. the quality of
coal steadily declines as one goes west
ward across the continent. Probably the
best coal in North America, excluding the
anthracite of Pennsylvania, is to be found
in West Vagina, while good coxing coal
is confined almost wholly to the east