Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-10-23
Statistisisn Of NE Geological
Survey Declares That he IA
on the verge Of Starvation
and IL Much Abused,
PUBLIC May LEARN
ABOUT MINING PROFITS
lEan WAe Should Know Says
That Some Days the Coal
Operator Is Unable to Lay
Up a Cent.


I my Iessed wirc 20 Evening herald
Philadelphia. Oct 2l,~-rnc anihra-
cite coal operator has i hard time
making efen p slender profit on his
inteni meAt. The popular idea that be
nlmply sits back and guides a Roldcn
firtam into. his Golfers is n ociusien.
according a. Kdward r. Parker. stat-
isliclan of the United states geology
ic4i survey And tho hltuminous coal
operator makes even less money. Mr.
Parker said In his address today be-
fore tina American Mining conRreas IN
session here.
Therefore. AR. Parker added, II
anyone 81 robhlng the people on the
pfice OF coal. the robecr i not the
so-called coal baron but somebody
else. In fact. he said, The coal min-
ins industry 81 aimoet demoralizcd in
the United States and the dividing
line between profit and loss o. very
faint Citing statistics 20 uphold his
contention. ny Parker said, Ia part;
There 10 a somewhat general im-
preston that the mining Of coal. both
anthracite and bitumlnOug. "a a high
Isl lucrative vocation and that the
principal occupation Of the so-cailed
coal harons is 10 look pleasant as the
golden stream flows into their golfers.
venture 20 state. taking the indus
try az a whole. that there are few
lines OF Industrial endcavor where
during the last ten years there have
been smaller returns for tho capital
invested and for the energy. mental
and manual. that has been put into "a.
than in the business OF coal mining.
The United states census report for
1909. the only recent official statis-
ties relative 10 cost ana value avail
able, shows that the value Of tho
Pennsylvania anthracite produced IN
that year was slfS.9s7.ssf. The to-
tai nruss expenses amounted 70 $i3a.-
IiO,tf4 from which should be de-
Quoted tt.ss4.Stf made up from
charges TO miners for explosives, oil
ana biacksmithing. making the net
expenses fi3t.ets,G00.
"1'he total production IN 1909
amounted 10 72.et5,27s long tons, 80
that the average value per ton for
The output was 206; the average cost
per son vas SlSG: and the net re-
turns on the operations for the year
were Sl4.7i2.2Qf. or an average OF
twenty cents per tom This al first
aiancc looks like a fair retern. but
attention must be called 10 the met
that the census figures OF cost make
no allowance for interest Of capital
invested or borrowed. and no Offset
ting charges Tor amortization or de-
probation.
According 70 the returns Of the
bureau Of census. the entire capital
! invested In anthracite mining Ia 1903
was S246. roo. 600. n on this capital
ization an allowance OF 4 per cent
be made for interest, tho net returns
I Tor the year amounted IN round num-
beers e. s4.s4f.000. II new breakers
and other equipment are charged into
operating expenses no allowance need
be made for depreciation but surely
the exhaustion from 75.000.000 20
50 zoo .08g tons from the reserves
every year should have some amortl-
cation charged against b and II ave
cents ton De- allowed. the margin OF
$4,000. 900 Is practically wiped out.
Al feast a may De said from the OPP
orators standpoint That there may
have been some reason Tor the recent
advances IN the price of anthracite
me erect az which ] have felt a.
koenly as an yother consumer OF an
thrncitcs.
.The figures covering the cost and
value Of bituminous coal show even
more striking comparisons. The to-
ial value 81 the hltuminous produe-
ton IN the United States ln 1903. ace
cording to the bureau 81 census, was
ftOf.B47ATg. and the mining ex-
penscs Of producing this value, in-
ciudinx salaries or officers was ssIA,-
1B8,2s2. From the figures y appears
that rs per cent oi the total cost was
spent IN wages
'sThe total capital invested Ia the
bliuniinous coal mines Of the United
states IN 1909 was. according 90 the
census bureau. In round numbers
$3.50 900. coo. The difference between
the value of the product and the eN-
pense Of producing ia was sz3,f4o,oVo'
ar fraction over 2.5 per cent on the
capital. Tho Rveraee value per ton
Of all the bituminous coal produced
ln the United states was fi.07, the
cost aseraged fraction Of q cent
over 81. So that the margin OF prohi
10 cover Interest, depreciation ana
amortization was htuc less than
seven cents a ton"
Itching piles provoke profanity but
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