Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-05
KEYSTONE STATE
LEADS IN MINING
Remarkable Record Shown in Re-
port of Chief of Mines
James E. Roderick

Advance sheets of the report of
James e. Roderick, State Chief of
Mines, for the operations of 1912 show
that the production of coal in Pennsyl-
vania broke all record in that year.
The aggregate output touched 245,-
257.361 short tons. of which 160,83O,-
492 were bituminous and S4,426,S6
anthracite. This tonnage, says Mr..
Roderick, is about one-half of the
whole tonnage of the United States
lor that year and about one-fourth of
the tonnage of the world. The best
previous record was 235,615,459 tons.
made In 1907. striking comparison
is made OF the output of 44,538,972
tons In 1880.
Inc section of the report just made
pubic deals chiefly with the soft coal.
Just ESQ of the 458 mines in the State
are in the bituminous belt and in the
year covered by the report Vesta No.
mine, of the Vesta Coal Company, led
with 1,555,420 tons. The best anthra
cite mine was Prospect of the Lehigh
valley Coal Company, with 1152690
tons, Woodward of the Lackawanna
being next with 1,012,329 tons. The
coal output was worth $500, 900, 900 at
the mines and the consumers probably
paid $700,0O0,O0O.
In the bituminous trade there is
the usual complaint regarding low
prices, says the Chief. Put this is
condition that Is unavoidable as
long as the output is unrestricted and
the present cut-throat methods are
followed. Without some cooperation
between the producers to stop cutting
or prices no improvement in this re-
spect can be hoped for, and although
the output may be very large the mon
etary returns are frequently very un-
satisfactory This condition does not
apply to the anthracite region. The
coal produced by the great anthracite
corporations is regulated in quantity
and price, with the result that the
profits are large"
The Chief says car shortage and in
ability to obtain miners and helpers
aided to keep down the output. The !
conditions of the two-year bituminous
region contract with the men will
probably increase somewhat the cost
of production, but to offset this phase |
of the trade there will be two years
of peace In the bituminous and four
in the anthracite region"
The Chief notes a big gain in the /
export trade and hopes that it will |
be permanent. He also says: 'The |
question of safety of mines and the |
protection of the employees, along with
flrst aid training, took a prominent |
place among the incidents of the |
year" He declares that Pennsylvania |
has taken the lead in the matter of |
proposed mining legislation. Incl |
dentally he notes that the coke pro-
duction for 1912 aggregated 24,6S2,-
474 short tons and made a record.
Mining institutes and vocational
schools are highly commended for the |
work they are doing to promote intel |
ligence among miners; the safety lamp |
development is praised and in regard |
to accidents 1t is said: "If the acci- !
dents resulting from carelessness and
disobedience of rules could be elimi- |
mated, the fatalities In the mines would |
not be greater than In many other vo-
cations In the cities. So |
much has been written regarding the |
accidents in the coal mines of the |
United States that a foreigner might |
think we had no mining laws in this |
country or that If we had any they
are not being enforced. A compari- |
son of accidents in Pennsylvania with |
thos eof Great Britain, however, dis |
closes the fact that we are conducting
our mining operations with as great |
care as they are in that country. The
total number of fatalities in this coun- |
try, while deplorably large. is not as
large as In Great Britain, notwith-
standing the fact that we produce
three times as much coal per en-
ploye."