Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-08-26
COAL PRODUCTION.
More Than 570,o0O,oOo Tons
Mined in 1918, Valued at
$76O,O00,000. Produc-
ton Vastly Increased.

The production of coal in tn
| United States has again broken all
previous records, the output fol
1918 being SO, ,04S. l25 short tons
which is considerably more thar
double the production of 1900 and
more than eight times the produc.
ton of 1880, according to state
ment just issued by the United
States Geological Survey. from fig
ures compiled by Edward w. Par
ker, coal statistician. The value Of
the coal mined in 1918 is given as
$3.50, 4sS,7S5.
Compared with the previous year.
the output for 1913 shows an in
crease of 35, ,5Sl,545 tons, or nearly
7 per cent. The increased activity
indicated by these figures was we'll
distributed throughout the 20 coal
producing states, % Of, which show
ed increases and only SIX decreased
production, the decrease in one of
these-Colorado-being due solely
to labor trouple. Of those showing
increase, Il made record yield, 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
oama. Illinois, kentucky. Montana,
New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah. Vir-
ginia and West Virginia. The lar
gest increase in the production Of
biluminous coal was in Pennsylva-
MIA, where 1915, 772S tons was add
ed to the output Of 1912. West Vir-
sinia showed the second largest
gain, 4, 522.295 tons, and kentucky
1.-The third largest gain, 3,l25,07S
,Etons which was also, the largest
: percentage Of increase, amounting
70 10 per cent, OF all the important
coal.producing states. Indiana was
fourth, Illinois fifth, Ohio sixth
and Alabama seventh. While the
total increase was very large as tig-
ured in tons, the percentage is what
may be considered normal and in
,icative Of healthy industrial &C.
tivity throughout the country.
Coal mining, like all other in
dustries in the OHIO valley states,
was seriously iuterfered with BY
the great floods during the spring
of 1913 and Mr.. Parker estimates
that from 100000 to 100000
tons of coal would have been added
70 the years output but for this
disaster. With no violent t1uctua-
uons in the demand bg the b'ast
furnaces, steel works and other
manufacturing industries, the de,
nand for coal for those purposes
slows only a normal increase. The
continued decrease N the use Of
ael oil in the mid-continent oil
iield and the strike in the Colorado
coa mines resulted in an increased
putput of coal in the central and
>outh- western states. With a few
.xceptions, notably in Illinois, In
LLAMA and Oklahoma, values ranged
higher than in former normal years.
so that from t;s producers stand
point the conditions III 1913 were
fairly satisfactory.
The development of our coal
mining industry with reference TO
population presents some interest
! :ng comparisons. Ia 1850 the coal
output was 1,OlS,lSl tons, or o.3
ton for each of the 23,l9l,S76 in-
habilants; in 1880 the population
had increased to about 5U,0OO,000
and the production of coal to abou,
! II, ,oO0,0O0 tons, al average Of l.f2
tons per capita. At the close of the
nineteenth ceniury the population
was 1G,303,3SI, an increase or
little over 80 Per cent as compared
with 1850, 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 iig-
ured at 5.S5 tons. In addition to
this increase in the consumption of
coal, the use in recent years of pc
troleum 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 a
million men-14l ,644.