Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1914-07-04
What West Vryinian Coal
Suggests TO The Record

price Of 13l 2these would have
brought s2O6, ,346. The total value
CT coke and by-products would have
been $2S3,2O5,04G, or nearly four
times the amount actually received
for the coal sold outright or in the
form Of coke $67, 745,644 for coal nd
$6,874,250 for the coke. The average
increase of "a cents ton for all coke
in 1913 over 1912 must have been re-
Elected in increased value of by-pro-
duct coke, SO that several millions
Of dollars would have been added to
the total.
1t Is hardly necessary to state that
such desirable result, implying an
output Of coke in West Virginia t.
100000 tons greater than the actual
output OF the country this year, is 10
be approached ouly by having coke
using plants close to the by-product
ovens. Edward Wheeler Parker,
whose figures for the United States
Geological Survey are the basis for
this discussion, has long urged some
policy OF the kind. lie has pointed
out that West Virginia suffers both
in coke making and in coal mining
because Of having relatively little
home consumption for the products,
about four-ffths of the coal mined
and nearly all Of the coke made 60
ing to other States, and two or three
years ago he Sid:
'In the quantity OF coke produced
West Virginia has for several years
held second place among the States,
but is outranked by Alabama in the
value Of the product. The reason
for this lies in the fact that the out
put Of Alabama has in the iron-man-
ufacturing center of Birmingham
and vicinity a local consumptive
West Virginia coke is shipped to fur,
naces outside Of the State. In reach
ing for these markets the coke Of
West Virginia not only has to meet
in competition the product from other
States, but one district in the State
becomes a rival with other West Vi
gina districts, and the result is ex-
Inhibited in the statistics Of prOduc-
ton and value. Next to Penn
sylvania, West Virginia possesses
more wealth in supplies Of cokilG
and other h:gh-grade Goals than any
other State in the Union, but as long
as both the coal and the coke are
continued to be shipped out Of the
State West Virginia will not attain
the position she should occupy as a
manufacturing State, nor will the
miners Of coal and makers Of coke
receive a just return for their pro
ducts"
1t is conceivable that twenty-five
years from now West Virginia can
be making 46,OOOOOO tons f coke.
Since 1880 the output in the country
has increased fourteen times, with
the share Of West Virginias coal
in the production rising from nothing
to one-sixth Of the total. There is no
reason why in the next twenty-five
years West Virginia's share should
not be at least one-half of the 100-
100000 tons Of coke required for the
country's industries. I. is hardly
likely, though, that in that time
West Virginia would be using within
it's borders 46,0OOOOO tons of coke.
But it can be making all the coke
made from it's coal, and it can be
using certainly as much coke as the
100000 tons now made from its
coal. Toward such a situation look
ing to the full utilization Of it's natrr-
al resuorces within it's own borders
West Virginia should strive.