Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-02-27
THE COAL SITUATION
CAUSES Of SHORTAGE
How American People Are Asked
To Conserve Coal
THE LABOR PROBLEM
Conservation Division OF Fuel Admin
istration Enlisls Co. operation Of
Coal Consumer.

The coal shortage is caused by
/. The increased demand for coal
for war activities.
The conSes. ed condition OF the rail
roads and the shortage OF coal cars.
3. A shortage of labor in the mines.
The American people are asked to
conserve coal by
l. Frugality in the use of electric
ity, gas, and coal
q The substitution of wood and oil
for coal when possible.
3 Keeping homes and offices at the
healthful temperature of 68 degrees.
A. Careful and intelligent firing of
furnaces and stoves.
According 10 government estimates,
there are $3.50, 637 100 900 tons of un-
mined coal in the United States. Yet
this coal in the mine is merely po-
tential factor in the problem of pro-
viding coal to meet the tremendously
increased demand caused by the war.
The transportation OF coal energy
from the mine to the power boiler,
stove, or furnace is the task. This
country is short on transportation ia
cilities therefore, il is short on coal
Coal mining is to very large eX-
tent a transportation problem. The
task is not in mining coal, but in
transporting it from the heart of the
mine to the consumer. Modern ma
chinery loosens up the coal in large
volumes Then comes the problem of
transportation Mine cars carry coal
TO the tipple, where it is dumped into
the railroad cars waiting TO carry it
to its destination. In order TO handle
coal efficiently and economically, it
is necessary to have coal car under
the tipple into which the coal can be
dumped.
Coal cars are unfortunately limited
in number. and the increase in pro-
portion TO the number needed is ne
cescarily slow, but if the railroads
had sufficient locomotives the conges-
ton would be greatly reduced Many
old locomotives have been put back
into use While these help to draw
coal, they also are voracious cOnsum-
ers of coal themselves.
The shortage of locomotives Is
Il again aggravated ny iilG tllpA lAlbuo
amount of additional transportation
which the war has brought on the
railroads. New locomotives can be
manufactured only in a limited num-
| Der in an emergency, and a large per
cent of the new locomotives manu-
| featured must be sent to France for
use in transporting American troops
| and supplies at the front.
| The total number of coal cars which
| can be manufactured in this country
| in a year is only drop in the bucket
compared to the number needed.
Back of the transportation short
age lies the labor shortage, The stop
ping of immigration has depleted the
labor market. War industries paying
higher wages have drawn off many
miners, railroad woTkmen, terminal
workmen, and car-shop artisans. The
draft has taken many others.
The Conservation Division of the
Fuel Administration has set itself the
task of enlisting the cooperation of
the consumer in the thrifty use of the
coal shovel The establishment OF
the save-coal habit, as against the
habitual coal wastefulness of Amer
lean people, will prove a great nation
al asset even after the close of the
war
Coal conservation has become a pa
triotic duty. The man who wastes
coal wastes not only coal, but he
wastes labor and transportation. He
stands in a very serious position.
With every shovelful of coal he wastes
he lowers the efficiency of the man on
the firing line, he lowers the tempera-
ture of the environments, he reduces
the speed of the submarine destroy
ers. he diminished the force of the
proiectile, he slackens the speed Of
the munition plant; in brief, he COM
pels the unfortunate use of cars to
carry him another shovelful of coal.