The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-10-01
In our industries especially In those

! In our industries. especially In those
| basic industries which depend essen
TALLY on iron and steel for their prod
ucts, all manufacturers and all work
! men are more than perturbed, except
! in those fields where government con
| troll of those materials for war puT
poses has assured suttlciency or sup
ply; and even there varied uncertain
! ties complicate calculations. All
! trades and industries dependent upon
! the basic industries from the carpen
ter's hammer to the builders l-beams
share in the common dislocation OF
supply and operation.
Multiply all of these dislocations
discomforts and anxieties by one hun
dred and, so far as concerns coal, our
imagination may be able to appreci
ate what Is the condition OF the neu
| trail populations and OF some. If not
all, among the belligerents in Europe
! Multiply them by ten, and, so far as
concerns steel, we have the plight OF
some. II not all. among tho belliger
ents, except for the relief AFFORDED
by the United States to those that are
our Allies.
In Sweden. the past summer. wood
cost SIS per cord; with the thousands
of acres OF forest being cut down to
provide for the increasing needs IN
fuel. German coal brought $24 per
/ ton. Some little British coal that was
brought in sold as high as $S4 per
ton The situation reflects that OF
Europe at large, Germany not exclud,
, ed because. Notwithstanding the coal
mines Germany OWNS and those it has
thus far stolen. lack OF labor has re-
| duced the coal output 10 the level
where the most necessary public util-
tiles are on the shortest of short ra-
tions. Predictions have been made
! that before the winter is past, coal
will rise to $3.50 per ton in Europe
and will not be pTocurable even at
that price.
Here. then, is vision. not Of dis.
! comfort, not Of any mere hardship
comprehensive to US Of the United
States, but of universal misery and
untold tragedy awaiting the European
continent.
We may comfort ourselves with the
reflection that these are temporary
conditions only. They are. But un-
less the war map as 1t has been drawn
by Germany's armies shall be restored
BY the armies Of the United States
and It's Allies TO something approx
mating the map OF August l, 1914, II
will lie within Germanys power TO
make them. or an approach 10 them
implying the economic and political
servitude Of Europe 10 the kaiser per-
manani for all future intents and
purposes.
During 1914 Great Britain's coal
production was o97.69S.617 tons: Ger
many's was o70594. s52: Austria-Hun-
gary's 59,6t7.957; while the normal
coal output Of the occupied area OF
France was 4500n,Oo0 tons and the
Belgian production for the year was
25.l96.000 tons. Germany. retaining
ONLY the coal lands she has seized,
holds Europe under her heel
Coal, united with iron. makes do
minion indisrutable. Germany today
holds, with French-Lorraine. consid-
cradle more than onc-half Of the iron
ore reserves of Europe Holding the
Lorraine taken from France in 1870.
Germany was supreme in Europe In
steel and the manufactures Of steel.
Germany's unparalleled preparations
for this war-industrial. commercial,
military-wcre all made on the
strength Of that Lorraine ore. supple
mented by Lorraine and Belgian coal,