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CLOSING OF GERMAN COAL
MINES REGULATED BY LAW.
The Prussian diet on May 29 passed a law forbidding
owners to shut down coal mines unless in
cases where it can be proved that the mines have
been operated at a loss. The law is the outgrowth
of conditions which arose about a year ago, when
the coal syndicate was reorganized and a number
of the smaller mines where the cost of operation
was relatively high were shut down. This caused
a considerable loss of employment in some districts,
compelling the miner to migrate to districts
where the most powerful companies were
situated. The new law empowers the employers
board of mining inspectors to order resumption of
work at any mine, which has been idle for six
months, provided it can be shown that the mine
can be operated profitably. If the owners refuse
the board can institute compulsory process. The
owners have the right to abandon their property
to the state if they are unwilling to continue operations,
or the state can, as a last resort, dispossess
the recalcitrant owners.
TO TEST AMERICAN COAL IN ITALY.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
An effort will shortly be made to introduce
American coal, in considerable quantities, into
northern Italy. Hite & Rafetto, of Philadelphia,
have loaded a vessel with 2,800 tons of bituminous,
and upon the reception that it meets with in Italy
rests the fate of an experimental order for 50,-
000 tons from the same firm. The initial cargo
is to be of mixed coal, part to be used for gas
production purposes and the rest for steam coal.
Upon its arrival in Naples, the discharging point,
it will be pitted in a thorough test against the
Welsh varieties, which have so far pretty well
held the field against American invasion, as is
evidenced by the fact that the present shipment
is about the first in over a year to southern European
ports from Baltimore. The result of the
test will probably be known in about a month's
time, and Hite & Raffetto are confident of filling
the balance of that 50,000-ton order. They base
their faith upon a similar test between the American
products handled by them and Welsh coal
sent to Brazilian ports. Recently the firm sent
out the steamer Dana with 2,750 tons for South
America, and will shortly send out about 4,000
more tons.
The anthracite coal tonnage in May was 6,005,-
158 tons, the largest in the history of the trade,
against 5,285,079 tons in May, 1904, the increase
for the month being 720,079 tons.
DEAD WORK SCALE DISCUSSED.
A conference of miners and operators was held
at Pittsburg, Kan., recently to discuss the dead
work scale and try to reach some agreement as
to what the provisions of the contract really call
for. The dispute pertains to the payment of work
where the rooms are not of the necessary width.
The contract provides as follows:
"That in all cases where miners are unable to
secure necessary width in rooms, being prevented
by horseback or other unavoidable obstacles, the
prices to be paid for such work shall be the same
as stipulated (that is, the dead work scale in the
contract). Where the width obtained in rooms
is less than 12 feet and over six feet the price
shall be determined proportionately."
The miners claim that where the width is over
12 feet, but under the necessary width, the miners
should be allowed extra compensation for dead
work, and that a bad roof is an unavoidable obstacle
the same as horseback. The operators hold
that 12 feet is a necessary width, and that where
work is over that- width the miners can claim
nothing extra as compensation, that the contract
provides only for cases of 12 feet or less. The
dispute came up from mine No. 10 of the J. R.
Crowe Coal Co. The conference adjourned wuout
a decision being announced.
PUSHING SHIP CANAL WORK.
The engineers employed by the Lake Erie &
Ohio River Ship Canal Co. are making a thorough
inspection of the territory through which the projected
waterway is to pass. They will be occupied
for several months in completing their location
surveys, and when this is accomplished there
will be a choice of routes available. It is the
expectation of the management that the surveys
will be completed and the necessary financial arrangements
made so that contracts for the excavating
of the canal can be let and the work of
digging be begun early next year, or as soon as the
frost of the coming winter is out of the ground.
A new device for removing the dust from breakers
has recently been put to test in one of the
breakers of the Pennsylvania Coal Co., near Pittston,
and has proved to be a sueoess. By the new
arrangements the dust from the breaker is drawn
into the pipes and is carried some distance from
the breaker before being allowed to get out into
the air. In order that the pipes may not be
blocked, the exhaust from the engine is forced
through them and water also flows through the
pipes.