Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-15

the magnitude of the coal resources of
the United States and the utter depend
ency of national welfare upon their
proper development. Yet with more
coal than is found in any other coun-
try. or indeed on any other continent.
this country has long been dependent
upon foreign sources for such essential
products made from coal as dyestuffs,
nxeo nitrogen and many important
drugs, and Is today, with the first pinch
Of war stress. uncertain whether the
fuel needs of the American home can
De met even during the coming month.
To explain the present coal shortage by
transportation congestion or labor diff
culties Is to offer superficial cause The
trouble ID not that insufficient coal is
mined and transported, but that the pres
emit output is inadequately used--its full
commodity value is not obtained. In gen
eral our coal could be made to 70 a third
further in meeting the nations needs.
Inc domestic fuel stringency is only one
angle or the coal problem, but a very
distressing angle for the average person.
The trouble here is the fact thar the de-
mand put upon anthracite, or hard, coal,
which is practically limited in Occurrences
to few counties in Pennsylvania, is out
OF All proportion to the size Of the de-
posits. The homes OF the country must
begin to turn aside from the luxurious and
costly anthracite and look more to our
vast bftuminous resources, which are
Widedly distributed, favorably situated
concerted strikes or so easily held
down BY trafilc congestion
But bituminous coal is dirty, and its
widespread utilization as such would be q
ione step backward, retarding progress
N civic better1nent as well as involving a
~ Per cent waste in commodity bulk.
Tnis waste, however, which appears in the
guise OF smoke. is In reality convertible
less number Of other by-products, such as
ayes, medicines and explosives.
Progress Too Slow.
These desirable results are already IN
course of natural development. but
progress is disastrously slow, impeded
excess OF misdirected pressure. The
advance SO far has been solely In the
metallurgfca1 field. For converting iron
ores into metallic iron a substance
known as coke is needed. This is made
volatile portion, its smoke; 30 to speak.
Almost seventh Of our coal il made
into coke. so great are the demands OF
the iron Industry, but two-thirds of
this coke is produced without regard
to saving the valuable products driven
on during its manufacture. Therefore
We face the alarming conclusion that
only about per cent of the coal mined
in the United States yields its full
value to society.
Progress in coal utilization depends
fundamentally upon the production of
more coke. At present the situation is
limited by the needs of the iron indus
try. The quantity and type Of coke
thus far produced has been determined
by It's metallurgical use. Sporadic at
tempts to apply metallurgical coke to
household purposes have met with
failure and placed coke in an unfavor-
able light. Coke must be made of such
kind as to be suitable for domestic use
This can be done; and the accomplish
mont 10 an urgent necessity. Domestic
coke. IN reality. will be artificial
anthracite.
There is room in our Industrial sys-
tenn for a greatly changed utilization
OF coal: in short. for coal to be used
In the form of anthracite, artificial
anthracite domestic coke and steam
engine coke). netallurgfcal coke. gas
for Illuminating and power purposes.
benzol for automobile engines. and at
the same time made to yield a sufi-
cheney OF nitrogen, dye-stuffs, ex-
plosives and other coa1-product chem
icals. There is present need for all
these products. The problem is to
make the necessary establishments
such as may be done through the de-
velopment of domestic coke, the appii-
cation of coal-gas to power plants, the
adaptation of benzol to automobile en-
gines and so on. When this Is accom-
plished the fuel efficiency of our coal
supply VIII be rs per cent greater.
transportation difficulties for domestic
fuel will be iessened. and in addition
the country will be cultivating a wide
range of industries, giving employ
ment to labor and using the part now
wasted of our most important single
resource.