South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-12-04
EUROPE DRAINS
j. s. COAL SUPPLY
Three Great Piers are Rushed
With Demands Hitherto Un-
preCedented But Supply
Holds Out.
Nv victor Elliot.


WASHINGTON, Dec. There will
be very little coal extracted from the
European coal mines this winter. The
miners are rugged men and they are
needed ia the armies OF the rival ma
tons
Europe must have coal for her
ships, her factories and her cities
dwellings. American coal viii be IN
great demand. Ways viii be found 70
deliver coal to Europeans, despite the
rules OF war. All OK this means that
there IS possibility of a coal famine
in this country this winter That
means higher prices and suffering.
Therefore the subject is OF timely in
terest.
Most OF as know something about
the mining of coal Many Of us are
not so familiar with the shipping OF
coal from Uncle sam S great coal
ports This article viii be confined L,
that topic.
At present the United States boasts
Of three great coal piers along his
coasts, one at Philadelphia. one 1T
Baltimore and another at Norfolk.
Sixty years ago the only one in ex-
istence was at Norfolk, but in those
times the ships that needed coal were
fewer than quarter OF 4 )se demand
ing il today.
Last year 10 million tons Of coal
were shipped from the piers just
mentioned. Some Of il was used by
coastwise vessels. More of l. was eX-
ported.
II has been predicted that nature,
so far as the United States is con-
cerned, will be severely taxed in the
near future TO keep up with the in
creasing demand for coal.
Endless Lines of Cars.
Just at present, however, appear
ances indicate that she is delivering
the goods" There seems to be no
end 10 the lines of cars from the coal
fields to tidewater. So Ions as the
endless chain of cars from the coal
TO and from the coal piers remains
unbroken the exporters will do no
worrying.
When one compares the present
day methods OF handling coal at these
great piers with those of the earlier
days, the magnitude of the present
strikes one with remarkable force.
There are engineering feats per-
formed today that were unthinkable
in those days. one of the larger coal
piers OF today has a working capacity
of is million tons a year. Twenty-Five
years ago it would have taken Is
years TO handle the same amount Of
coal IN the same place and with the
same number Of men.
Then some enterprising engineer
built an elevated track and devised
the car that dumped its contents
through its floor To the chutes.
1t worked we'll for a time, but as
the demands rapidly increasing the
number of men and the number Of
cars had to be increased also.
In many cases there was not space
To Increase the piers and the crowd
ed conditions, necessarily increasing
the force of labOrerS caused confusion
and loss of time.
More Efficiency.
The only solution was a different
and more efficient equipment. II was
rot labOr-saving equipment that was
designed. 1t was the igCnuOus scheme
hundreds of men then employed do
hundreds of times more labor because
there was more work to be done.
1t seems almost incredible. but ito
day the contents of 50-ton car can
be transferred from the receiving
yard TO the hold of a ship in two min
utes.
Going back still farther in the oper-
alton, il can be transferred from the
mines to the hold of a ship 44S miles
away in fewer than - hours.
A marine coal yard presents a very
busy scene. There is always some
thing mOvins. Just rs soon as train
arrives at the tideWater yards the
cars are selected and placed in class
*, according To the grade of coal they
carry.
When a ship arrives and calls for q
particular grade OF coai that class Of
cars are put right on the job"