The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-12-28
WASTE OF MONEY
And MAN POWER
New Capital Warned Away from
Bitunlinous Coal Mines.

The studies recently made by the
United States Coal Commission all
point to the fact that the bituminous
coal mining industry is overedvelop-
ed. TOO mahy soft coal mines and
too many miners" decribes the situa~
ton in plain English. In these coal
mines more capital is invested and
more miners are employed than are
needed to produce the coal the country
requires. This condition, of course.
involves waste on countrywide
scale.
How great is the present initiation
Of the industry can not be stated ex-
actly at this time but uaqucstionably
the imitation is excessive. Estimates
Of the excess mine capacity range
from 30to fully 60per cent above the
country's normal demand which for
the last fveyears has averaged about
$50 million tons a year. Figured on
the basis Of their actual output for the
best week in 1918, the capacity Of the
soft coal mines was then 685 million
tons. Since 1913, unfortunately, the
mine capacity has been further en-
larged and another estimate of it can
be made from the average daily out
put last year: 300 days work at the
rate would have resulted in $40 mil
lion tons being mined, OF fully 60 per
cent more than the normal needs Of
the country.
How to debate the coal industry is
one Of the many problems of Hard
ing's Coal Commission, and its reports
may be expected to present facts bear
ing on this question. It seems plain
enough, however, that that industry
should not be further inflated bv
opening new mines. The facts al
ready presented furnish valid ar
gument against continuing to enlist
new capital in the business. thereby
opening new mines that are worse
than unneeded, for they further
spread and thus overtax car supply
and shorten the possible working time
OF mines in the vicinity that are al
ready well equipped to ship 50 to 100
per cent more coal than they ship
now. Indeed, the rating of mine ca
pacity reported to the railroads for
the purpose Of obtaining cars would
indicate that the bituminous mines OF
the country have total annual capa
city of not far of a billion tons, in
stead Of the half billion tons needed
Exceptions may possibly be made
here and there to the ban which the
investing public should put on coal
mine development. A local market
not well supplied with coal may war
rant the opeHing of a nearby mine,
which would thereby help to relieve
the burden on transportation facili-
ties, but it is believed that such ex-
ceptional conditions are rare. In the
public land States of the West. unfor-
tunately, the Federal Government
itself has not been able to discourage
coal mine development, for, under the
leasing law, the lessee Of Government
coal land is required to open the mine
and to produce coal on~a scale pro-
portionate to the acreage leased.
There seems to be no legal warrant
for refusing lease to a boni-fide ap-
plicant, even though the public in
terest does not seem to indicate the
need Of more coal The result will
be that the West will soon find its
coal mines and coal miners as badly
off as those in Indiana and Illinois,
where the working time is too short
to pay adequately either owners or
workers.
If the public can appreciate the
strength of the evidence already a
valuable on this subject of overdevel
opement, refusal to invest in new coal