COAL By F. G. TRYON and L. MANN INTRODUCTION SPECIAL WORK BY COAL UNIT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY With the publication of this report the continuous statistical record of coal production maintained by the United States Geological Survey reaches its forty-second year. The 1923 report, like its immediate predecessors, has been delayed by the pressure of other duties laid upon the Survey staff engaged in this work. Since the issue of the 1922 coal report the energies of the staff have been largely devoted to correcting and editing the report of the United States Coal Commission, the five volumes of which have recently appeared. The senior author of this chapter had been statistical adviser to the commission, and from January to July, 1925, the editing of the commission's studies absorbed most of his time. Further, the necessary proof reading made serious inroads on the regular work of his assistants. The sacrifice of the Survey's immediate interest was felt to be in the larger interest of the public and the coal industry. Opinions will differ as to the wisdom of the coal commission's recommendations, with which the authors of this chapter are not concerned, but there will be little dispute that the statistical studies of the commission form the most comprehensive source of data concerning the industry so far published. The fact that the Government had spent nearly $600,000 and the industry probably a much greater sum in preparing and tabulating the statistical schedules justified the greatest care in checking and correcting the tables and in so annotating and indexing them as to make the mass of material reasonably accessible. For these reasons the present report appears many months late. In the meantime, however, the need of prompt publication of the fundamental figures has been met by releasing them as soon as completed in the Geological Survey's weekly coal report. In this way the principal statistics were made public in mimeographed form between September 1 and December 31, 1924. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report is based on the voluntary cooperation of those engaged in the coal industry, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge the courteous help of the thousands of individual producers, railroad officials, and consumers who have supplied information. Special mention should be made of the assistance of the secretaries of local coal operators' associations and the traffic managers of the principal coal railroads, who have not only assisted in collecting facts but have contributed much essential information through their familiarity with local conditions. The State geologists of Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington; the State mine inspectors of Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia; the Pennsylvania State Department of Mines; the Department of Industrial Relations of Ohio; and the United States Bureau of Mines have cooperated in the collection of reports. The compilation of the annual statistics of bituminous coal, the principal task underlying this report, was conducted by Miss L. Mann, of the United States Geological Survey, with the assistance of Miss J. M. Corse. The statistics of anthracite were compiled by Mrs. H. L. Bennit. The weekly and monthly estimates of production are prepared by Miss R. M. McKinney, under the supervision of W. F. McKenney. The canvass of wagon mines in 1923 and the tables of shipments by originating carriers were handled by Mrs. E. E. Finn under the supervision of Mr. McKenney. The tables of exports and imports were compiled by J. A. Dorsey from the records of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. F. G. Tryon was in charge of the work and in collaboration with L. Mann wrote the text of this report. The manuscript and proof have been critically reviewed by James E. Black, to whom the authors are deeply indebted. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF COAL MINING IN 1923 SALIENT FEATURES The salient features of the statistics of coal mining in 1923 for the United States as a whole are given in Table 1. Table 2 gives the primary data by States, with comparable figures for 1921 and 1922. Table 3 is a summary of production and consumption for the 11-year period 1913 to 1923. TABLE 1.-Salient statistics of the coal industry in 1923 Annual capacity (308 working days) of mines with present labor force do.. 1,882, 000 518, 993, 000 970, 000, 000 4,545,000 268, 000 77, 601, 000 (0) Average number of days worked. Average days idle: All causes.. Allowing for an increase of 1,460,000 tons in the stocks of producers in 1923. • Net tons. Average number of days worked TABLE 2.-Summary of coal produced, value, men employed, and days worked, by States, 1921–1923 [Figures for 1921 do not include product of wagon mines] 166 496, 000 6.46 104 1, 174, 584 79 19, 477 33, 716 218 401 244 1, 227, 777 5, 360, 000 4. 37 19, 015 13, 305 2,315 848 6, 525 453 3,616 112 38,845 181,000 4.66 8,408, 613 35 18, 755 399, 816 373 48 58 253, 718 60, 613 141 1,979 12, 708 9, 122, 760 33, 815 149 64, 174, 112 3, 371, 482 26 2,057, 169 51 136 183 69, 602, 763 190,986,000 2.74 19, 116, 259 60, 466 25, 043 610, 620 592, 630 9, 922 20, 319, 509 95, 431 152 52, 269, 000 2.57 3, 891, 368 20, 472 521, 465 118,559 8, 460 3,755 32, 687 128 4, 531, 392 17, 256, 800 3.81 3, 250, 299 7,597 111, 448 Kentucky. 104, 894 2,815 974 11, 386 3,466, 641 148 30,096, 762 13, 333, 300 3.85 802, 744 5, 453 Maryland. Michigan. 527, 257 1, 538 1,216 161, 507 31,588, 270 8, 207 137 85,092, 600 2. 69 1, 743, 710 56, 734 28, 737 12,996 27, 296 8, 788 50, 521 152 1,827, 740 6, 602, 000 3. 61 1,058, 789 11, 354 2, 964 978 726 Missouri. Montana.. New Mexico. 71, 572 4, 668 120 2,326, 034 34, 754 62, 259 30, 435 3,438 1, 120 722 4,577 135, 550 28, 403 23,438 864, 903 31, 942, 776 3,362, 623 116, 013, 942 7,553 150 135, 000 5.76 38 7 15 60 300 2,329, 500 2.69 566 209 289 1,064 194 84, 686, 500 2. 65 33, 143 11, 555 7,087 51, 785 134 |