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COAL TRADE COMPARISONS
BASED ON ILLINOIS REPORT.
The following excerpt from the Illinois coal report
for 1904, besides presenting some interesting
comparisons, shows that conditions in the state
were much better last year than this, and that some
of this year's important events in the trade, particularly
in the matter of legislation, were at least
partially foreseen:
As one of the basic industries of the country.
the business of coal mining continues strong and
active. The year just closed has been in every
respect the most prosperous for the Illinois miners.
This state maintains its lead, notwithstanding the
wonderful development of the past few years, as
the second largest coal producer in the country.
Figures for 1904 indicate an aggregate tonnage in
excess of thirty-seven millions. This total, divided
by the number of coal miners, gives an
average per capita product of but a fraction less
than 1,000 tons, an amount relatively greater than
during any previous period. This showing is the
more remarkable when compared with the per
capjita product of foreign countries. For the
United Kingdom it is 287 tons; Germany. 242 tons;
France, 198 tons; and Belgium, 166 tons. The
disparity in these figures shows that the miners employed
in the United States are vastly more productive
than are their European competitors. The
difference in favor of the miner in America is not
due, it is fair to say, to superior skill as a workman;
on the contrary, it is but just to admit that,
considered from the point of handicraft, the
foreign and particularly the British miner is the
better workman, in fact the best class of pick men
in American mines today come from the British
Isles. The American miner's superiority as a producer
is explained in the fact that better and easier
conditions of mining prevail here; besides, machinery
is utilized to a greater extent in the mining
of coal, as in other industrial departments in this
country, than anywhere else In thicker coal
seams of this state the necessity for the pick miner
seems to have entirely disappeared. Even the
physical exercise formerly required in drilling has
been obviated through the introduction of machines
for that purpose.
The immediate commercial effect of this is shown
in the diminished value of the output, which is most
important when the nation's manufacturing power
is considered. The country having access to the
greatest supply of cheap coal is destined to lead in
the struggle of nations. To this fact more, we
believe, than to any other, can be justly ascribed
the constantly increasing power of the American
nation.
There are employed in the coal mines of Great
Britain nearly 900,000 men. and they produced
last year fully fifty million tons of coal less than
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 43
the 525.000 miners employed in the Uuited States:
while the cost or value of the product, there was
nearly $100,000,000 more. We select Great Britain
for the purpose of comparison because it is the
most advanced of European countries, and until
quite recently was first in the list of manufacturing
nations. Those who have had experience in
both countries know that investments in coal properties
yield very much larger profits there than
here.
Aside from those that are pecuniarily interested
in the coal business, the chief concern of the
humanitarian is the loss of lives incident to the
operation of the mines. Mortality from different
causes seems to keep pace with the volume of production.
The year covered by this report exceeds
all others, the number killed being 157, or 2.S7
per 1,000 employes. This is more than one-half
over the fatal accident rate in the British mines.
The number of non-fatal accidents was 507, an increase
of ninety-seven over the previous year.
According to the table of classified causes, onehalf
of the fatal and non-fatal accidents resulted
from falling coal and rock. It is impossible to
determine the per cent, of accidents listed under
this head, due to the use of powder. Although the
majority of them accrue in the districts where the
method of blasting off the solid prevails. Whatever
the causes, whether they result from the lack
of knowledge in the preparation of blasts, the drilling
of dead holes, the adulteration of explosives,
the accumulation of dust on the roadways, blasting
off the solid, or the indifference or carelessness
of men accustomed to the dangers of the miner's
occupation, the death rate particularly is entirely
too high and some other measures should be tried
to reduce it. It was hoped the law passed by the
last general assembly, limiting the quantity of
powder to be used in any one blast, would diminish
the fatalities heretofore due to that source. The law
has been in force nearly two years and the number
of fatal accidents, instead of diminishing, has,
in fact, increased. Either its requirements have
not been observed by the miners, or the facts are
strangely out of joint with our expectations. Of
several propositions that have been offered, two
are worthy of some consideration. The first, proposed
by representatives of coal operators, is that
the present run of mine system be abolished and
the miners required to under-cut or shear the coal.
To require that all coal be undermined would.
to a very great extent, dispense with the necessity
for powder and naturally avoid the accidents due
to the use of explosives; and that regardless of
whether the present system of paying for mining
coal is to be continued or not. The objections
urged to this plan are two-fold: First, that the
mine run system of this state is provided for by
contract, presumably satisfactory to both interests