The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-07-30
COAL BREAKS ALL RECORDS.

COAL BREAKS ALL RECORDS.
The production of coal in the Uni
ted States has again broken all pre-
vious records, the output for 1913 be-
| ing 570,04S,125 short tons, which is
considerably more than double the
production of 1900 and more than
eight times the production of 1880,
according to a statement just issued
| by the United States Geological Sur
vey, from figures compiled by Ed
ward w. Parker, coal statistician.
he value of the coal mined in 1913
is given as $760,4SS,785.
Compared with the previous year
the output for 1913 shows an in.
crease of 1851 ,545 tons, or nearly
per cent. The increased activity in
dictated by these figures was we'll
distributed throughout the 29 coal
producing states, % of which showed
increased and only 6 decreased pro-
duction, the decrease in one of these
-Colorado-being due solely to la
Dor trouble. OF these showing in
crease, II made record yields, and
, Pennsylvania, the leading coal state,
broke records in both bituminOus and
anthracite productions. The states
which broke all former records in
coal production were Alabama, Hi
nois, Kentucky, Montana, New Mex
leo, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Vir-
ginia. The largest increase in the
production of bituminous coal was in
Pennsylvania, where 11,915,72S tons
was added to the output of 1912.
West Virginia showed the second
Largest gain, 4,522,295 tons and Ken
lucky the third largest gain, 3,126,079
tons, which was also the largest per
lcentage of increase, amounting to 10
per cent. of all the important coal
producing states. Indiana was four.
tn, Illinois fifth, Ohio sixth and Ala
bama seventh. While the total in
crease was very large as figured in
tons, the percentage is what may be
considered normal and indicative OF
healthy industrial activity through
out the country.
Coal mining, like all other indust'
ries in the Ohio Valley States, was
seriously interfered with by the great
floods during the spring of 1913, and
Mr.. Parker estimates that from to
10 million tons of coal would have
been added to years output but for
this disaster. With no violent tiuc
( tuatiOns in the demand by the blast
!; furnaces, steel works, and other man
! ufacturing industries, the demand for
, caol for those purposes shows only
. normal increase. The continued
| decrease in the use of fuel oil in the
, IMid-Continent oil field and the strike
, in the Colorado coal mines resulted
, IN an increased output of coal in the
! Central and Southwestern States
With a few exceptions, notably In
Illinois, Indiana and Oklahoma, val
ues ranged higher than in former
normal years, so that from the pro
ducers' standpoint the conditions in
1913 were fairly satisfactory
The development of our COal-min
ing industry with reference to pOpu
latiOn presents some interesting
comparisons. In 1850 the coal out
put was 7,01S,181 tons, or 0 2 ton for
, each OF the 23,19I,S76 inhabitants; in
1889 the population had increased tC
about 50,C00,000 an dthe production
. of coal to about 71,O0O,OOO tons; al
. average of | 40 tons per capita. Al
the close of the nineteenth century
; the population was 76,303,3S7, an in
crease of a little over so per cent as
compared with 1880, while the pro
duction of coal had increased nearly
400 per cent in the same period ant
) averaged 1853 tons for each person
In 1913 the per capita production was
figured at 5.S5 tons. In addition tC
this increase in the consumption OF
coal, the use in recent years of pet
roIeum and natural gas should also
be considered.
The coal mines of the country gave
! employment in 1913 to an army OF
nearly three-quarters of million
men-747,644 The average number
, of days worked by the bituminous
miners in 1913 was 1872, against 22G
in 1912, while the average time made
in the anthracite mines in 1913 was
the best on record-257 days for each
man. The average production per
miner in the bituminous mines in
creased from 800 tons in 1912 to S3S
tons in 1913, both being recordbreak
ing averages, while anthracite mi
ners increased their average from
ass tons in 1912 to 532 tons in 1913