The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-07-27
COAL BREAKS ALLyRE
More Than I so Million Tons Mined
In 1913-Value Of Output Was
760 Million Dollars.

IL Ill 1Jlo--taiuef OF output was
$50 Million Dollars.
The production OF coal In the
United States has again broken all
previous records, the output for
1913 being 57O,04S.125- short tons,
which is considerably more than
double the production of 1900 and
more than eights times the produc5
tion of 1880, according to a state;
ment Just issued by the United
States Geological sureyy, from zig.
ures compiled by, Edward w. Par
ker, coal statistician. t.SThc yaluesof
the coal mined in 1913 is given as
$3.50, 4Ss;7s5. isfF N Il \,
Compared with the previous yeal
the output for 1913 shows an 4 In
crease Of 35,6s1,545 tons, or nearly
| q per cent. The Increased activity
indicated by these figures was well
distributed throughout the 30 coal
producing states. 20 of which show
ed increases and only 6 decreased
production the decrease In one,of
these eblorado-being due solely
to labor trouble. OF those showing
increase, IL made record yields, and
Pennsylvania, the leading coal state,
broke records in both bituminous
and anthracite production. The
! states which broke all former rec
ords, in coal production were Ala
bama, Illinois, kentucky. Montana,
New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma. Penn.
sylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and
West Virginia. The largest increase
in the production Of bituminuis coal
Iwas{in Pennsylvania where N .915,-
729 tons was added to the output
of 1919. West Virginia showed the
second largest gain, .522.295 tons.
and Kentucky the third; largest gain,
3,12G.O79 tons, which was also the
Largest lpercentageisEo fn0y increase.
amounting to. 10 per cent Of all the
important coal-producing states. In.
diana was fonrth, Illinoisu fifth,
Ohio sixth, and EfAlabama seventh.
While the total increase was very
Large as figured in tons, the per-
centage Is what may, be considered
normal and indicative Of healthy In.
dnstrial activity throughout the
country.
Coal mining, like all other indus.
tries in the Ohio Valley states, was
seriously finterfered with by the
great floods during the spring Of
1919, and MIR. Parker estimates that
from 8 Ia, 10 million tons Of coal
would have been added to the years
output but for this disaster. With
no violent fluctuations in the de-
mand by the blast furnaces, steel
works, and other manufacturing in
dustries, tho demand for coal for;
those, purposes shows only a normal
increase. The continued decrease in,
The use OF fuel oil in the Mid CONT
nent oil vficldSand the strike in the
| Colorado coal minis resulted In an
increased output of coal in the CEN
tral and southwestern, states. With
= few exceptions, notably in illinois,
Indiana, and Oklahoma, values rang
ed higher than in 7 former normal
years, so that, from the producers
standpoint the conditions in 1913
were fairly satisfactory. q If l
i The development OF our. coal min
ing industry. with reference to popu-
'ation preaents'some interesting COM
parisons. In 1850 the coal output
was 7,0ls,1S1 tons, or 0.3 ton for
each of the -2S,191.S76' Inhabitants;
| In 1880 the population had ffncreau-
ed to about 50,O00,O00 and the pro=
n fuction Of coal 10 about q 1. 900 900
tons; an average Of l.42 tons per
capita. At the close OF. tho ninet
teentli century the population war
| 7G30s,S87, IN increase of a littls
1ser 90 per cent rs compared with
1880, while The production OF coal
! land increased nearly 400 per cent
In the same period and averaged
1.5s tons for each person. In 1913
be per capita production was figurs
%, at 5.s6 tons: In addition to this
increase In the consumption Of coal
lfheAuse In recent years Of petroleum
and natural gas should also be- cons
4idercd. q, =. 81
\ Tie coal mines Of tho country
gave employment in 1913 to an army.
81 nearly three-quarters OF n million
men-747.G44. The average num-
ber, Of days worked by thetbltumins
Gus miners in 1918 was s232, against
223Einy 191 2, while the average time