New Britain herald., 1920-03-12
WHY THERE IS NOW
 LACK OF SOFT COAL
Due Mainly to Uneven Demands
 Consumer at Fault

During the past two or three years New England has had it's periodical trials q ' result of a soft coal short age. Just now it is going through one of those agonies and the sufferins 5 public is blaming the trouble various ly on the miners on the railroad ad- ministration, on the suspected covet- ousness of the mine operators and on the weather. Apparently, however. none of these is fundamentally re- sponsible for the situation and, ac- cording to pr. George Otis Smith, director of the United States Geologi- cal Survey, the consumers may re- proach themselves to some degree as being at least contributory to their own dilemma. pr. Smith and F. cf. Tryon, of the Survey. have lately given considcra ble thought to this problem, for New Eil...ld is not the only section of the country that every now and again finds itself in straits and it has become d matter for na- tional concern. In their opinion, the main difficulty centers in what, to use term common in electrical engineer ing practice, amounts to the bad load factor" of the mines. In other
 
 put a terrific strain on the mining in- dustry and on the carriers during cer- tain seasons and fail to provide busi- ness enough during the remainder of the year to enable the mines and the railroads to reasonably distribute the burden of the rush.
 Taking the soft coal mining indus try of the country as a whole it is found, upon analyzing the statistics of the past 50 years that on the average the mines have been idle 93 working days in every twelve onth. Fifteen days of this lost time is at trioutcd to general business condi- tions, but the remaining 7S days are charges ble partly to fluctuations in car and labor supply, but chiefly to the summer slump in demand. Elm phasis is laid upon the effect of the unevenness of the winter and sum- m CT demand as contributing to the inefficiency of the mines and the rail- rffioads, inasmuch as it makes inevit- able a period in which the capital and labor involved cannot work more than 80 out of the IS hours of the week, Who makes up these losses due to idle days at the mines? No one but the consumer. and he does not. in the long run, appreciate this fact. : These seasonal fluctuations in the mining industry necessarily af- feet the railroads. Since coal makes up about one-third of the freight tonnage of the country the invest ment in equipment is of necessity large, and someone has to pay for it's whether it is busy or idle. Again the consumer comes in. He pays the freight. He pays resu- larly. therefore, for something that he does not receive, and simply be- cause he will persist in indulgins in 8 hand to mouth practice in buying.
 Arc Bigger Bins the Remedy?
 A more equitable distribution of the Toad factor is what the en- gineers hope to bring about. so that there may be steady production of coal and a steady flow of the product on the rails. Unless the consumer will consent to change his habits to the extent of buying coal in summer. when he does not require it. or. at least, when his demand is far less than it is in winter. there is small chance that this waste can be eli1n- mated And the consumer. on his part, probably figures-in some cases, at least-that it is cheaper for him to pay the extra price charged for the coal in order to cover these losses than it is to tie up his money in q com m odity that he cannot use for some time to come and, what is quite as controlling a factor with him in making provision for storing that eX- tra supply, which necessarily involves @ further investment of precious space. Perhaps the mines and the railroads can afford to make it worth the while of the consumer to take his coal when it is more convenient to deliver it to him. It is suggested that liberal discounts on the price of the coal and in freights might be worked out which would make for the ad- of all concerned
 To those who are familiar with the industry it is well enough known that there is a good deal of lost time n- evltable under the conditions and practices that have obtained to date, l but the authors of the report seem :o believe that this loss is greater than 1 Is generally realized. In only seven 1 of he 30