Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-07

At joint conference held in Miami
last Spring, the operators proposed
that a commission representing both
parties be chosen. to consist of four
operators, four miners and three me.
diators"-the latter to be chosen joint
ly by the eight representing the two
parties, or il they failed to agree on
the mediators they were to be ap-
pointed by the Chief Justice of the
United States. The miners refused to
let Chief Justice Taft select the me-
diators, claiming that he had not
shown sympathy with union labor
prior to his going on the Supreme
bench. At present the strike contin-
ues in a deadlock.
What is to be the future develop
ment Of fuel for power and heating in
the United States? It has been pro-
posed that the entire system of haul
ing coal from mines to users might be
supplanted by burning the coal at the.
mine mouths and converting 1t into
electric power, which could supply the
superpower of many electric plants
linked together to distribute power as
needed. This appears ideal-eXcept to
engineers who figure out details. They
declare that the heavy wire to carry
such power currents costs an average
of 100000 per mile to install, which
makes q prohibitive Overhead cost.
and that an average of 10 per. cent of
the power is lost in transmission.
Oil has been substituted for coal in
many uses. but within the last five
years the increased demand for fuel
oil has increased it's cost or cents
a gallon. and the day may not be
out of sight when the supply of oil
will become a problem. The sources
of power in the United States, as given
officially In 1923, are as follows:
Bituminous coal, IS per cent.
Oil. IS per cent.
Anthracite coal, 10 per cent.
Firewood, 6 per cent.
Waterpower. 4 per cent.
Animals, per cent.
Natural gas. per cent.
Windmills, OIL per cent.
Yet pounds Of bituminous coal,
converted into energy, is equal to the
work or a strong man. all day, and
10000 miners produce as much energy
for American production as would Al
100000 men working at hand labor.
y X n X
In a joint article written by John
Hays Hammond and F. G.. Tryon,
the latter of the Bureau Of Mines, this
statement Is made:
In the hundred years from Water
loo to the Marne.' the white popula.
ton OF the world increased threefold.
while the use Of coal and oil increased
seventy-five-fold. The growth was
retarded by the war, but it is now in.
creasing again. and although in recent
years there has been a. tendency to
overprOduction in bituminous coal. 1t
IS clear that In our general energy
and oil. gas and cleo
tricity-we must prepare for continu.
ing increase in demand. Our material
civilization is an Oliver Twist, asking
for more and still more energy. and
the possibility Of raising the standard
OF lie turns perhaps more than on
any one thing on making power more
cheap and more abundant. -
1t is a blind optimism that assumes
that this can be done by some magic
formula Of 'wringing power from the
air. for the correct attitude is neither
heedlessness nor despair. but resolute
determination to find the way out.
Especially common is the notion
that all we have to do Is to harness
the waterpowers Of the country. The
great Steinmetz, who had done SO
much to make the transmission Of
uyuIOpOWec possible, remarked, DefOre
his death, that If every drop of rain
falling on America could be harnessed
1t would still not carry the load already
borne by COAL"
In the same article. 1t is stated that
the increased output of the bituminous
miner In America amounts to ca per
cent since 1890. Still more significant
OF American progress in power produc-
ton is cited as follows:
Without going back to the days be-
fore James Watt. when Newcomers
engine consumed 80 pounds of coal per
horsepower hour, we may pick up the
tale with the steamship Savannah, the
first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic.
The Savannah burned 10 pounds Der
hour. That was in 1920.
By 1907 the unit consumption had been
cut to IA pounds on the Lusitania, an
increase in fuel efficiency of 700 rG-
cent. Remarkable as this showing a.
It Is eclipsed by what the electric util1.
ties have been doing since the war.
The consumption Of coal per kilowa$
hour has been reduced from 80 pounds
In 1919 to 81 pounds In 1925, an in.
crease in efficiency Of 81 per cent.
Remembering that the improve.
merlts from the Savannah to the Lusi.
tania were spread out over a period of
s6 years. and that those cited for the
electric utilities were concentrated into
The space OF six years, 1t will be seen
hat general progress in fuel efficiency
has probably never been faster than
{ 10 ct the present day."
tcopxright- 1887. By Panl v, Coliiaal