Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-01-06
SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION
FOUND MOST WAsTEFUL
State Council of Defcuse Is,ucs
Statement as to Coal
Shortage.
PLENTY OF COAL AT THE MINES
But Problem Is to Get 1t to Con-
sumer Over Railroads, Which
Have Already Broken Down Over
Strain OF Overload.

In statement which tho virginia
Council OF Defense has Just received.
some very startling facts In regard to
the coal situation in tho United State.
arc rnado known.
Tho United States produced In 1917
something like s75.ooo.ooo tons OF coal.
This Is 10 per cent gain ovsr 1915.
ana % per cent gain over 1915.
Tho coal shortage Is a problem OF
transportation. There Is always plenty
OF coal-ao times as much OF IL nnser
tnese united States right now "a we
ana our ancestors have dug out i'm the
last 100 years. And there are coaI
trines enough-7.oo0 mines and 700, 600
miners. Even in the unprecedented
year OF 1916. the productive capacity
ot the mines was 100 million tons above
the actual production. In 1915. a GOOD
year. the $500 soft coal mines Of ~
country worked only eos fun days In :
stead Of 800. and produced two-thIrds
as much coal as they might have pro-
duccd
The difficulty Is TO get the coal TO the
right place. The solution OF this ar
ficufty Is what the consumer is prin-
cipally paying for when he buys his
winter coal. Half OF his coal blu goes
TOT railroad transportation and for
hauling through city streets.
1t Is tho moving of coal. not tho
mining OF 1t. that gives the big new
fuel administration offices most OF their
work to do. Distribution Is the thing.
The State administrators concern them
Selves, directly with nothing else Fro
duction is left for the Washington Of
nee TO handle But the Washington
Office. too. is mainly occupied with get
ting coal from one point-Eenerally a
siding in railroad yard-to another
point-say the furnaces OF q hospital |,
tho coal box of one Of the hundred
Eeediest cases.
SYSTEM OF COAL
DISTRIBUTION IS wASTEt-uL
II the ill and the needy should be
made TO suffer. or the scout cruiser
should make only twenty-five knots
when thirty knots would mean many
lives saved, or IL anything goes wrong
anywhere with heating plant or en-
CINE. suggestion Is likely to reach
the fuel administrator that 1t do some
thing tmmediately-and preferably to
the railroads There has beer sufficient
congestion at railroad terminals to lend
some color to the frequent changes
lFdt tue rallrOaoS are Responsible Tor
the coal shortage. But the real cause
or the trouble goes beyond the rail-
roads.
Our whole system Of coal production
and distribution is wasteful. II is
wastetul. for instance, for the Ne
braska farmer to ship coal from West
Virginia In place OF buying the smoker
and dustier coal that Kansas produces.
Cur national use of fuel is extravasant.
It Is wasteful. not so much Of re-
sources. as of mine labor. and especial
ly OF ton miles Of transportation. But
the coal industry is fundamental.
Railroads and manufacturers have
shaped themselves TO the existing state
Of the Industry. To mako any radical
changes In the coal trade would be
to throw the machinery out OF gear
Hence the fuel administration concerns
itself not with opening new channels
for the coal trade. but with keeping old
channels stretched wide open. In most
cases when the results Ii obtains fall
short OF perfection. IL Is idle to try &c
pin the blame down to the fuel adj
nltnistration, or to the railroads, or tc
any other single element In the situa-
ton. That the fuel administration is
coping with the problem successfully
is shown in these facts: that the navy
and the transports have been getting
all the coal they need, and of the best
quality, that the cantonments and
munition factories are kept we'll sup
piled, and that the railroads in this
time OF the worlds great need arr
carrying much the greatest traff1c OF
their history.