New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-12
The Increased
Demands on
the Coal Pile

Coal is scarce. trade reports say, be-
cause not enough miners can be en-
ployed to produce II and because the
railroads cannot furnish . sufficient
number Of cars to deliver that which 10
produced as fast - It Is wsntsd for
consumption. Briefly. the demand. ss-
peeially In the East, has outgrovn the
Immediately available supply.
But this explanation does not fully
satisfy . writer IN The Black Diss
mond." One Of the most important
questions raised by the present s!tus-
ton In coal. he says. lie;
what caused the demand To In
crease"
Then he proceeds TO give some In.
teresting explanations. He states that
the munitions business Is absorbing the az
cess and even Q part OF the normal energy
OF the big industries. As IL does that 10 y
taking coal. Of course For instance, many
the Du Points at Hopewell. Va. That place
did not exist as powder factory before
the war. IL Is to-day housing . great
army of workers. Its coal needs are prob
ably 10000 tons per month. Here 10 jrst
one new plant which has taken out Of the
market for this year the total production
Of two moderate sized Eastern mines.
working under existing conditions And
that plant. with its big coal iced, did not
exist before the war.
Ia ali hA ~
Steel Company. In normal times II burns
1000 tons of coal per day. This year 10
took on some munitions orders, and. OF
course. got more home business. II IL now
buying and using 10000 tons Of coal per
day. That takes, for one big user alone.
5000 tons OF coal out Of the market
The effort being put forth In America
to make those things which before the
war were imported in large quantities
has also tended to increase the con-
sumption Of coal tremendously.
Indeed, the writer has been told that In
the section east OF Harrisburg and Buffalo
and north OF the Potomac River there have
been started enough new factories and
enough old factories of an ordinary kind
have been revived TO create 10 per cent
increase in the demand for steam coal.
between $4,000, 900 and 10000 900 tons Of
coal per year right there. When the hs-
ures begin to pile up that way IL Is not
surprising that there Is q serious shortage
of coal in the East
To show how much the consumption
of coal has increased in a single indus
try, the following facts concerning cot
ton production are cited:
In the Carolinas the cotton mills havU
been depending for some years upon water
power. Last summer there were foods
which either damaged the plants or con-
centrated the fall OF water into such .
short period il could not be controlled AZ
any rate. the water power plants are NOT
sufficient The auxiliary steam plants
have been trying 10 carry all the load.
That load Is far greater now than ever be-
fore. That Is 10 cay. the Caroiinss have
recently been sending their cotton abroad
as a manufactured article. whereas they
used 10 ship il as raw material. We are
told that cotton mills were running. at
this time year ago. to rs per cent Of
their normal capacity. To-day they are
running 10 $50 per cent OF normal ca
pacity: they do this by double shifting.
This means there has been 100 per cent
increased use Of power. But instead Of
that power being produced wholly or In
part by water 1t has nearly all been pro-
duced by coal. Right there we have .
factor which calls for several million tons
Of coal-perhaps 100000 tons will
cover IL.
Also. New England has been doing much
the same thing. II has been doubling up
on cotton goods production. II was de-
prived Of the water power upon which. In
sections. IL depended. II has been trying
TO do q Tremendously bigger Job with coal
That further expands the demand.