Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-06

Washington. D. c.. Aug. "a plan
for the conversion Of coal into electric
power at the mouths of coal mines and
transmitting the current 10 the indus
trial centers has been called to the
attention of the president, Secretary of
Commerce. Hoover. and other high of
ficials of the government.
In proportion to its value. both in
money and In heating power. coal is in
ordinately bulky. More than one-third
of the total railroad freight Of the
United States is coal. On some roads
in coal producing sections. coal amounts
to so per cent Of all the freight hauled.
A very large portion Of this coal is rail-
way fuel. that is. coal to fire the engines
which haul the trains.
Louis Brandeis, now an associate
justice of the supreme court Of the
United States, in his brief in the Five
Per Cent case before the Interstate
Commerce commission, estimated that
when all items of cost to the railroads
of buying and hauling their own coal
were added, the total would be $3.50
100000. Since that estimate was made,
prices and costs have increased and
the railroad coal bill has amounted to
500, 10000. To transport coal to
meet the American demand. $4,000, ZOO
cars are employed annually and of these
100000 cars are employed in hauling
coal for the railroads w use-coal
TO be consumed in the locomotives that
haul the coal and other traffic. These
figures have been filed with the Inter
state Commerce commission.
The commission has found. in one of
its investigations into the coal traffic.
that approximately 81 per cent of all
the coal cars return to the mines empty.
These figures give an impression of
the extent to which the transportation
system is burdened with the movement
of this bulky material and show how
much more railroad equipment would be
available for general freight if the pow
or which springs from coal could be
handled In another manner.
The General Plan
In general outline the new plan would
provide for the erection at the coal
mines of gigantic power plants. The
coal would be brought up just fast
enough to be put into the furnaces and
maintain a steady head of steam to keep
the dynamos turning.
One OF the underlying reasons for dis
content among coal miners and there
fore one of the main causes of the coal
strike Is the intermittency in the indus
try. The big demand for coal come in
the winter time; in the summer months
IL falls off Coal is mined as the mar
ket calls for it. Therefore, when the
demand is light. there is little mining
10 be done. The men are thrown out
of employment. The result is hat coal
miners work but from l6o to 30 days
a wear. While their wages are regarded
as good their work is not steady and
therefore their earnings for the year
are not large.
II is the opinion of experts that the
coal industry is overmanned. There are
some 700. 900 men engaged in if. Under
the power plan, the intermittency in the
work of coal miners would be elimin-
ated The coal would be feeding ma
chimes running steadily and not an ever
changing open market demand. The
requirements Of the power generators
could be reckoned in advance with a fair
amount of accuracy and the coal could
be kept coming above ground regularly
all the year round. Fewer men would
be required TO take care of this produc-
ton and while the change would throw
many thousands out of work, it would
be gradual and ultimately would result
In a clear economic gain. it is claimed.
Fewer men would be doing one branch
of the worlds work. The remainder
would become engaged in other produc-
tive labor.
The first step In the plan for the
electrification of the nation is the
changing over of railroads from steam
to electric power. The railroads cross
the country in every direction and the
cities and industries which consume
power are built up along their tracks.
Power cables would parallel the tracks
but would carry so much more power
than would be required for the railways
that the surplus would be ample for
diversion of the cities en- route. This
would run the mills and factories, light
the cities and furnish power formuni-
cipal traction lines.
When William G. McAdoo was direc-
tor general of railroads during federal
control in the war time. he said that
If government control were to be per-