Evening star., 1918-02-03
United Sa eHaf the Entire Worlds Supply Great War Asset

proach and conceal from the enemy
the dense clouds of black smoke emit
ted by his ships. Nevertheless at the
critical moment one of his vessels
spouted up blasts of flame and drew
upon her the fire of the great guns
on Corregidor Island. at the mouth Of
the bay. This was the little McCul-
Tough, which was at the rear of the
feet. 1t was fortunate that she had
that position and that all the fighting
ships had passed beyond the range of
the fort before she hung her fiery
warning out in the skies.
And this brings US to the coal
are using. today. Our consumption has
rapidly increased since the war began.
and to supply the demand of next year
we ought to mine and ship half again
as much coal as we mined in 1914. The
amount we should have for ourselves
and for export is said to be 15o,oo0.0oo
tons. We mined more than 6O0,0o0.ooo
tons last year. and. Notwithstanding
output is now greater than ever be-
fore. Not only do We need more coal
for our factories on account of the
day and night speeding-up for the war.
but something like $50. 900. 900 tons of
coal could be profitably used by our
allies. and especially Italy and France.
which are now in the throes of a coal
famine. We need more tons for the
Navy and great deal is required for
the ships which carry supplies from
this country to France.
1t is interesting 10 see where our coal
goes. Only about one-ffth or one-sixth
of the whole is used for heating cur
houses, hotels. schools and office build
ings of one kind or other. We now
consume annually about 100, ,00e, 900 tons
for that purpose and this includes both
anthracite and bituminous Goals.
The great bulk of the coal is used for
industrial purposes. About 30 per cent
of it went to the making of steam in
1915, and of this one-third was used by
4 hn m "a
about one-fourth of all the coal mined
for running the railroads. and we burn
ed something like 62,000.000 tons in the
coke ovens to get the materials for
steady increase in the demand for soft
coal since the war broke out and our
output has gone up with the demand.
In 1915 il was 10000 900 tons more than
the year preceding and In 1916 that in
crease had trebled. 1t again increased
in 1917, and there undoubtedly will be
great increase this year. According to
DIR. c. +. Lesher, the coal expert of the
United States Geological Survey we need
a ton and half of coal to make the
coke for every ton of pig iron we pro-
duce. SO that the increased demand for
steel will necessitate the use of a vast
deal more coke.
Indeed. the industrial demands of the
war are increasing our production of
coal as never before. We have mined
almost million ana d half tons of coal
total amount has been in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000, 900 tons, or enough, at
fifty tons to the car. to make sixteen
solid trains of coal reaching from San
Francisco to New York and thence
across the --tlantic ocean to where our
soldiers are fighting in France. with
thousands of miles OF coal cars
to spare. OF that coal 550.000.000 tons
were bituninous. the greater part OF
which was used for our industries and
the railroads About 90.000,000 tons of
it was anthracite. some of which was
employed in manufactures, but a great
deal for heating our houses. The most
Of the coal was used in industrial cen2
ters. and more per square mile in Penn
sylvania, New York, Ohio and Maryland
than anywhere else.
The coal experts say that the cues.
ton of famine in coal IL largely one
of insufficient transportation facilities.
We have enough mines open and new
mines could easily be brought in if
necessary SO as to keep pace with our
needs. We have an industrial army OF
coal soldiers of almost three-quarters
Of a million, and it is important that
his force should not be further reduced
by the draft
FRANK G. CARPENTER.