The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-12
RAMSAY TALKS TO
K|WAN|ANS ON THE
COAL MANS STATUS
Urges Cooperation of All
in Working Alabama's
Raw Materials Up Into
Finished Products

An address by Erskine Ramsay on THE
Industrial Situation was the feature of
the weekly Kiwanis club luncheon yes
terday. Mr.. Ramsay. who is vice presi-
dent and chief engineer of the Pratt
Consolidated Coal company, is regarded
as one of the best informed men in the
United States on coal, and his remarks
were listened to with unusual interest.
at is generally agreed" said Mr. Ram
say. that the country which produces
the most coal is the most prosperous,
for coal il really the basis of the world s
Industrial activity The United States
has now reached the point where it pro-
duces about half the coal tonnage of the
world.
Pennsylvania produces about one-half
'of the $50, 900 tons production of this
country. West Virginia, Illinois. Ohio
and Indiana have made great strides in
production in the last 10 years. but Ala
bama has failed to keep up proportion
ate Increase.
There is an unjustifed feeling that the
coal man has been having fine time of
it, but l assure you that he now faces
and will continue to face some very Sc
rious problems and here in Alabama es-
peoiall,' it is going to be very important
IDt an Ol us 70 WOIh tOScLiCl W Be-
the share of the nations prosperity to
which we are entitled.
In the past we have boosted much
of our great resources and this was not
improper. We should be proud of these
resources But we must also recognize
that both our coal and iron ore are in
ferior to the northern product. and the
cost of mining them is greater here than
in the north An advantage which we
L.. f- 10 40 n
that our coal and ore are so close to-
Gether and we have not the freight
charges that the northern man has On
the ether hand, however, we have con-
siderable freight item to reach the chief
markets after we have manufactured
our iron The thing we should all work
for now is to get our raw materials
worked up into finished products right
here at home. so that we will not have
to nav freight to get raw materials to
ma rket.
"Our ore averages So to IS per cent iron
content as compared with so per cent of
the Lake Superior ores With inferior
Goals also confronting us we should be
very careful not to add further burdens
to these industries than those which have
already been placed upon US by the Al
mighty"
Mr.. Ramsay also described interesting
iy mining conditions in Europe. as he
found them few years ago when ne
went abroad to make study of the sit
uation as member of special COM
mission.
In England" he said I'VE found them
mining a seven-foot seam 1900 feet below
the surface and four miles out under the
bed of the ocean. They take out all the
coal and leave no pillars. The mine was
so dry that they have to use the sprink-
ling system constantly to keep the air
moist
I'm Silesia we found them mining out
the coal and pumping sand and water
into the mine. the sand filling In the
space left by the removal Of coal. and
DONG away with the necessity OF timners
or props. This system, by the way
was first introduced in Pennsylvania
"In northern France we went into the
mines destroyed last year by the Ger
mans These mines are peculiar in that
in digging the shafts it is necessary 10
go through a great deal of sand which
is heavily watered. The Germans de-
stroyed the mines by turing this watery
sand into the mines, and engineers have
estimated that it will take them 10 years
to get the mines into condition for work
inr again