The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-04-09
COAL ECONOMICS.

COAL ECONOMICS.
The price Of coal, either bituminous or anth- |
racite, i not going to decline much from tho
present level The probability u prices never
again win Be much below those Of today.
An economic paradox has been presented TO
the American people In relation to coal in the
last six months. The production in 1918 Was
monumental The stock on hand It the begin
ming Of the winter was huge. The prospectsl
seemed to be for record breaking consumption.
Then, suddenly, came the armistice with shut
ting down Of the forced draft under which many
industries were operating. Coincident with the
closing OF many great plants. there came the
mildest winter in many years and the smallest
consumption Of coal. proportionately. in q de-
cade. Ordinarily over-supply and lessened de-
mand result in pronounced decline in prices.
Instead. America witnessed the phenomena Of
prices being maintained generally. and now, in
the case Of anthracite, they are being advanced.
No wonder there is protest from many quar-
ters. New England manufacturers demand
cheaper coal Suppliers say they cannot reduce
prices at the mine without inviting bankruptcy.
To reduce stocks, mine owners are working only
. few days . week.
| Unable to make any impression on suppliers,
the eastern manufacturers are calling for lower
| transportation rates by rail and water. They
may get some concession, but not much. Manu-
facturers of the middle west are protesting also,
but not 50 vigorously, but they will later on.
| Internationally, there is some element Of
combination pooling still in the coal trade, but
it Is not sufficient to control such situation as
there is at present and overcome the law Of sup
ply and demand. You must look farther for the
explanation. The answer is found in the fact
that all costs in connection with coal have In
creased so much that there is no probability Of
tribution charges are reduced radically, and
there is no likelihood of such thing coming to
pass
It is no use to cuss the coal man. There Is
no profit in that. There is profit in finding
way to reduce coal bills. And there is q way.
| No people in the world are more wasteful Of
coal than Americans. They do not get the pow
er out Of it that is possible If they use common
sense methods They do not understand COM
bustion and seemingly have desire to do SO,
They proceed on hit or miss plan without re-
gard to the cost Of the fuel they are burning.
| This Is as true Of the locomotive or stationary
appreciate the magnitude Of this waste unless he
understands combustion.
j Coal and oil are the two leading elements Of
power today. America has both Of them in
abundance, II used properly. They win be the
sources Of power for generations to come, per-
haps. II they are not conserved, their cost viii
mount higher and higher year by year. There
can be no real thrift in nation that Is wasteful
| Of coal. In Europe = housewife gets more heat
out Of : scuttle Of poor coal or briquettes than
the American does out Of an equal amount of
i good coal.
/ Americas production Of coal has reached
100 600 tons year. It would be possible, If
proper stocking methods were employed, to make
coz, 100000 tons do the work that zoe, 900 900
do now.
i Study cal economies. You vim have to do It
sooner or later. It Is wisdom to begin now.
Rotary RECONSTRUCTION WORK