Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1918-01-03
S0NE PT AIN COAL FACTS BLEAK WINTERS MIGHT
Virginia Council Of Defense Gives
Our Interesting Information Con-
corning Existing Conditions.

Richmond Jan. 3.--In statemen
which the Virginia Council OF Defens
has just received, some very start
ling facts in regard to the coal stu
alton ia the United States are mad
i. known.
The. United States produced in 1911
Z something like 675,o00,O0O tons o
I coal. This is 10 per cent gain Owe
..916, and o5 per cent gain Owe
1915.
Y The coal shortage is q problem Q.
Transportation There IS alway:
plenty CT coal-400 times as much Q
:t under these United Statea righ
now rs we and our ancestors have
jug out in the last 100 years. An
there are coal mines enoagh-n00'
mines and 100000 miners. Even i
The unprecedented year of 1916
the productive capacity Of The mines
was 100 million tons abo';s the ac
tual production. In 1916, y goo.
year, the 5000 soft coal mines e tn
country worked only 203 full davs in.
stead Of 300, and produced two-thiri'
as rn'lch coal az they might have pro
ducsd..
The difficulty is TO get the coal tc
.he right place. The solut:"n of th'
difficulty is what the consumer i
principally paying for when he buy,
his winter coal. Half c. his coal hii
gees for railroad TRANSFORMATION an:
for hauling through city streets.
It is the moving Of coal, MT tn
mining CT it. that gives the big ne"
Fuel Administration offices NEST Of
their work TO do. Distribution l.
The thing. The State Administrators
concern themselves. directly will
nothing else. Production is left 10
thu Washington office 10 handle
But the Washington office, too,
nainly occupied with getting COG
frcm one point. generally q siding L
q railroad yard--to another point
9say the furnaces Of 8 hospital. or IN
Ebunkers OF a scout cruise o: the Coz
box Of one Of the tiundred Needles
Cases. II the III and TIE needy shoul5
be made to suffer. ol' the scout cralsc'
should ,raka only 81 knots when 3
Knots would mean many lives savcd
Of If anything goes wrong anywhere
with heating plants or engines. !
suggestion is likely to reach the Fre
Administrator, that it do s9methin"
immed;ately-and preferably 10 tn
.silroatls. There has been suftic!ens
suggestion at railroad terminals tf
lend some color 10 the frequcn'
charged that the railroads are re
s,,onsible for The coal shortage. 4u'
the real capse o. the trcuhlc goes h'
gond the railroads. Our whole svster
Of scoal production and DISTRIBUTOR
g wasteful. Il is wasteful, for IN
stance, f~r the Nebraska farmer u
Shin coal from West Virginia II
place of bpvine the smoker and d"s
tier coal tliat Kansas produces. w,
rational i>se Of fuel is eXtrava ~ant
1t is wasteful, not so much OF re
sources, as o. mine labor. AMI ospec
::allv # son-"i!cs . TRANSPORTATION
Bit the coal industg; i Fundamental
Rei!roads ard manu- tcturers haVT
shipped themselves to the eX'Stn
site IF the industry To make an
rpdicol chanres IN the Goa! ira"
would be to threw the machinery a"'
of gear. Hence the Fuel A4m!nl@
tratirn concerns itself not with opan
irp now rhon'els il" tho cool trad"
but with keeping old channels wid"
opep. In most cases when the re
splits it a1.toins fall short Il p"rfa"
tinn, It is ;d'o 80 t'v TO MIN The hlan'~
down to The Fuel AAH'inistrat'"ns o. T"
+he ,a:l..oahe -. - a"v othar cin"'~
eIe,>,an+ m 10 s:t"attor. That -"
Frel Aa">;~ist"ati"n is CONN" VT"
the p"ch'om successfully is shown y
+hosa rsants: Thot ire Now a"' t"
,}~ercro~rs hove h"a7 ~"+t'"o oil ~
c.ai +har woes. ard # the host n''"',
nv tta- +ha can+n"r'"nts "n4 ->'''''
80, Soo+o~:as n~n tanr w'N, S"~"E"a
.ra 49,. !hn re;'-n"As IN ~n'~ +i'""e
3 ~ tSa w-o~lA'a ~~not rhn8 r"n c'~'''-'~ "
>,.,,~', me greatest trAff'c of the''
history
Sp.o,l 49,, S,,nnrots cd