• Value given is value at which coal left possession of producing company f. o. b. mines and does not include margins of separately incorporated selling companies.

SPOT PRICES AND AVERAGE RECEIPTS F. O. B. MINES

For purposes of reference, the current prices of company and independent stove and buckwheat No. 3, f. o. b. mines, as quoted by Coal Age in the New York market, are charted in Figure 30. The average receipts on all sizes are shown for each region in Table 130.

TABLE 130.-Average value per gross ton of anthracite shipped, local sales, colliery fuel, and total production, by regions, 1918-1923 •

• Value given for shipments is value at which coal left possession of producing company f. o. b. mines and does not include margins of separately incorporated selling companies.

LABOR STATISTICS

No significant change in the average number of employees in the anthracite mines occurred during 1923. The total number of men and boys, excluding officials and office force, was 157,743, against 156,849 in 1922 (Table 131). The average number of days worked in 1923 was 268, slightly less than in 1921. The working year was shortened by the brief suspension in September at the expiration of the wage agreement, the effects of which are shown in the time lost because of labor controversies (Table 132).

TABLE 131.-Number of employees and days worked in the anthracite field, 1922–23,

• Operators were requested to give number of "all miners (contract, consideration, and company) and

their laborers."

Formerly presented under caption "Freshly-mined coal." A considerable tonnage of culm-bank coal, however, is handled in the breakers. Includes a comparatively small number of washery employees who could not be separated from breaker employees.