Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-04-24
Coal In Argentine Hard to Get
At$35 Per Ton In Gold Money

BUENOS AYRES, April 24.-Coal for
ordinary consumption in the Argentine
is now $50 gold per ton, and hard to
purchase even at that figure. To pre-
vent the reduction of the present me-
agre supply, the national government
has ordered the principal steamship
companies not to put on board any
outbound vessel more coal than nee
essary to carry it to the nearest Bra
lillian port of call This coal is the
property of the steamship companies
stored here as precautionary meas
ure and the fact that the government
has been obliged to place an embargo
on this private property is indicative
of the seriousness of the fuel prob
lens in this country.
The railroads liwekise have been
forced to economic by cutting down
the summer timetables of trains, and
il the meantime they have placed ord
ers for 100000 tons of hald wood for
fuel. But even wood has gone up to
s. ton within week, and is now
quoted at $33 paper, or $14 gold. Char
coal which is largely used for domes-
tic purposes is also S. ton dearer.
The situation is such that even the
ships of the Argentine navy are de-
clared to be impotent owing to the
lack of coal. The American built bat
tleships Rivadavia and Moreno were
constructed to burn oil, but apparently
the oil problem is nearly as serious as
the coal situation. Crude petroleum
from the Argentine wells is being Of
fered in limited quantities at $50 pa
per, 1874 gold, per ton. Although re-
ported inferior only to the best Rum
anian oil, the Argentine government
and people have displayed skeptical
attitude toward the native oil.
The deposits have been said to be
unlimited, but despite this the output
has been small and neither the navy
or manufacturers generally avail
themselves of the native product. The
German Electric Light and Power
Company, which supplies this city
and suburbs, and which formerly used
coal exclusively, began to use the Arg
entina oil after the outbreak of the
war but has lately discontinued that
and is now burning the Mexican pro-
duct. This Notwithstanding the recent
grant by the government of SIS 900, 900
t. develop the Argentine oil regions.
An official report of conditions pre-
vailing in and around Comodoro- Riva-
davia oil area shows some inefficient
conditions under which the develop
ment of the field is being undertaken.
Water is lacking in that region and
has to be brought from a place more
than thirty miles away, and labor is
also scarce. Being a government
monopoly, and heavily fiscalized, the
operations have been elaborate and
costly, but it is charged, extremely
Inefficient 1t is said to be doubtful
whether the oil fields will ever re-
srond to elaborate hopes based upon
the casual discovery of them in 1907.
A government inspector just returned
from the district, expresses his sur
prise that the locomotives playing to
and from the petroleum zone are still
being fired with costly coal.
The peat deposits of TERRA del Flu
ego are declared to contain inexhaus-
tible supplies of that fuel, but with
scarcity of coasting vessels and the
difficulty of securing labor for that
bleak region, it is more that doubtful