The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-08-01

Breaks ALI Records.
TIA pso0nue3on OF coaa in the United
9esees has as1An broken al previous
Fsorvd4 chS output Dor 1913 being $780,
~, fBS short toms. which Is consider
aAay more x1an double the production
e ne and more than eight times
the gaoanctAon Of 1880, according to a
st1kamenx 5ust issued by the United
DtAtso Geological Survey, from figures
ouanUflsd ~ Inward W. Parker. coal
a1nk1gG1n1An- The value Of the coal
uinsA m 1s1s b given - $3.50. 4ss.7s
Cunparsd win tbs previous year the
entput fur 1s1S shows an increase Of
8kS0 54S toms or nearly per cent.
The tncssassd activity Indicated by
these figures was vei1 distributed
t1ruughcof ths 10 ooal-producing
stnEeA % ck which showed increases
and only 9 decreased production. the
docDeaao IN one OF these-Colorado-
he1ug due solely to labor trouble OF
those showing increase, Ii made record
yfsads. and Pennsylvania, the leading
coal state. broke records In both btu
states which broke all former records
In coal production were Alabama. Ini-
nois. kentucky. Montana, New Mexico.
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania Texas.
Utah. Virginia, and West Virginia. The
largest increase in tire production Of
bitunnnous coal was in Pennsylvania
where 11.915,729 tons was added to the
output OF 1912. West Virginia showed
the second largest gain, 4,522.2 tons,
and Kentucky the third largest gnin.
3.126,o7s tons, which was also the
Ing to 10 per cent. Of all the i'm
5portant coal-producing states. Indiana
was fourth, Illinois fifth. Ohio sixth
and Alabama seventh. While the total
Increase was very largo as figured in
tons, the percentage Is what may be
considered normal and Indicative of
healthy Industrial activity throughout
the country.
Coal mining. like all other industries
in the Ohio Valley states, was seri-
ously interfered with by the great
floods during the springs Of 1913, and
Mr.. Parker estimates that from to 10
added to the years output but for this
disaster. With no violent fluctuations
In the demand by the blast furnaces.
steel works. and other manufacturing
industries. the demand for coal for
those purposes shows only q normal in
crease. The continued decrease in the
use Of fuel oil In the MID Continent oil
field and the strike in the Colorado
coal mines resulted In an increased
output OF GOAL in the Central and
Southwestern states. With a few ex-
ceptions. notably in Illinois, Indiana,
and Oklahoma, values ranged higher
than in former normal years, so that
from the producers standpoint the
conditions In 1913 were fairly salts
factory.
The development Of our coal mining
industry with reference to population
presents some interesting comparisons.
In 1850 the coal output was 7.o1s,1S1
tons, or o.S ton for each of the $751;
SIS inhabitants: in 1880 the popula-
ton had Increased to about 10000, 900
ard the production OF coal to about
III ,O0O, 900 tons; an average Of 1.42 tons
per CHplLd- Az tue ClOSC OL lIlc L1luC-
teenth century the population was TO-
900, 1877, an increase OF a little over SO
per cent as compared with 1880, while
the production Of coal had increased
nearly 400 per cent in the same period
and averaged 3.53 tons for each person.
In 1918 the per capita production was
figured at 5.s5 tons. In addition to this
increase in the consumption of coal.
the use in recent years OF petroleum
and natural gas should also be con-
sidered.
The coal mines of the country gave
employment in 1918 to an army Of
nearly three quarters Of a million men
-747.644. The average number of days
worked by the bituminous miners In
1918 was 23s, against 223 in 1912. while
TIE average time made in the anthra-
cite mines in 1913 was the best on
record-257 days for each man. The
average production per miner in the
sbituminous mines increased from $50
tons in 1912 to S3s tons in 1913, both
being record-breaking averages, while
anthracite miners increased their av-
erage from AS tons in 1912 to 532 tons
in 1917.
The first hint of serious damage
from freezing weather during July