The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-01-12
BUSINESS MEN HAD
ENJOYABLE BANQUET

and Listened to Address on Coal
by w. A. Clark of North
ampton, Mass.
Success was written in large letter
across the enterprise Of the Barre Boar
OF Trade in arranging for series 0
four business mems dinners at Hote
Barre, the first of the get together affair
having been held last evening, whel
about 100 business and professional mel
of the city, together with number o
invited guests, assembled for an o'clocl
dinner and then listened to an iluminat
ing smoke-talk on coal by w. A. Clark o
Northampton, Mass, president of tn
New England Coal Retailers association
and member of the Boston Chamber o
Commerce. For the committee which
brought to a. successful issue the initia
Idnner, the real satisfaction which every.
one expressed who attended was reward
lenough and if the dinner series is some.
thing of departure in the way of EN-
Iphazing the value of cooperation and
good fellowship, there is, nevertheless
plenty of evidence that the Board OF
Trade is doing its pioneering along ap-
Iproved lines.
| There was a man for nearly every
cover set by Manager John V. Rowen
in the hotel dining room. Dinner was
served soon after S o'clock, but it was
nearly 10 o'clock before the diners set
tied back to enjoy the cigars and let
their thoughts linger pleasantly over a
| bill of fare that came in for many fla
vorable comments. 1t was a neighbor-
| ly gathering and one well calculated to
| foster the belief that Barre's Board of
| Trade is cohesive organization capable
of working as unit for the public well
fare. w. G. Reynolds, president of the
board, acted as chairman of the after
dinner program and it was he who in
troduced Mr.. Clark.
Naturally, someone, before the evening
was over, would speak of coal as burn
ing question, but President Reynolds had
the first chance at the little word play
and after that he was happy in introduc-
ing the man who later was to handle the
coal question without gloves. Mr.. Clark
spoke as follows:
Mr.. Clark's Address.
"There is no doubt whatever that New
England would not be what it is If it
were not for coal. Our homes. our fac
tories, our transportation facilities are
all dependent upon coal. Something over
thirty million t30.000000) tons in fact,
is a prime necessity Of our existence. A
technical definition tells us that coal is
fossil fuel, black earthly substance,
which is dug from the ground and can be
burned. Chemically it consists of car
bon, volatile matter, sulphur, and ash,
with a small amount of water.
'sTo the householder in New England
who uses anthracite coal for heating and |
cooking, coal is that substance which |
seems to take large part of his income |
and produces dust and dirt in all parts |
of his house. The L. s. census reports |
show, believe, that the average family |
of five spends more money annually for /
butter than for coal Still the New Eng |
lander's coal bill is a source of much dis |
cussion and controversy. while the cost /
of butter excites little interest outside /
the creameries.
"There are many kinds Of coal. Sta
tisties show that there is billion and
half tons Il 500, ,000,000l of coal produced
in the world and that about 40 per cent
Of this is mined in the United States.
This 40 per cent consists Of speaking in
round umbers, five hundred million tons
If bituminous and ninety million of an
.hraeite Naturally, with the tonnage of
five times as much as an
.hracite. the percentage of newspaper ar
.icles about coal is largely with reference
% the bituminous mineral People gen
rally read the word coal as meaning the
lind down cellar; this causes many mis-
and much unnecessary
controversy.
ut is especially in regard to the ninety
Millions that | intend to enlighten you.
.et me first give you very short his
ory of the coal business. 1t is pretty p
veil proved that coal was mined in China {
thousands of years before the Christian |
ra. Coal is referred to several times in a
he Bible, especially by King Solomon
rhen he writes somewhere about l0l6 9
J. c., Proverb 1921, AS Goals are to u
urning Goals, wood to fire, so is con-
entious man to kindle strife
"Some writers think this refers to I
harcoal. but as Syria abounds in coal of I
certain kind, it is probable that it was
he coal of that country he referred to. e
Coal was first discovered in America
V Joliet and Marquette in 1873, near
hat is the present city of Utica, Illi
ois. The credit of this first discovery A
frequently given to Jesuit mission
". FIR. Hennepin, who found Goals on
he banks of the Missouri in 1859. The n
rst mines that we know about are along r
le James river in Virginia-l750. These Ia
ines were operated by an English com ii
my, who for long time had exclusive re
lie of their products along the Atlantic h,
aboard. Coal was not used for domes "a,
: purposes to any extent being too ex Ii,
nsive wood was abundant and cheap. "a,
"You may be interested to know that Il
me of these mines are still being oper- "A
ed in a small way. Incidentally they ol
2 the nearest TO the Atlantic seaboard ed
tn the possible exception of the Rhode al
land mines. Anthracite coal was first ~.
seovered in Rhode Island in 1850. in 40
yoming valley, Pennsylvania. 1866, mi
zen a sample was sent to William 10
mn in London. In l770, coal was found AZ,
Mahonoy and Shamokin, Penn, in
20. in Mauch Chunk. 10
In l776 the first shipment Of anthra "
@ coal was made when il was taken %,
Harrisburg on boat and from there Re-
uled in wagons to Carlisle. Penn, for or.
. use Of the American troops. In l7S0 Ca