'I.
. . .,.. _. “mum. .. M... m...
Outof the Pit Mouth Comes the Story of Why There
Was a Coal Fondue -- Millions of tons of Coal
are Locked in the UndergroundCbambers,
And the Key is Cars.
‘ OMEWHERE in Pilllyl'm‘h-e
I am a Coal—Mine: .
My sole product is Coat! 60:!
(or which all America is clamoring,
fund which all the world must have:
You know what coal is. Coal is the
gout-cc of Energy.
For the want of coal a tow weeks
Ito more than a hundred mine loaded
with supplies for our armies and our
Allies rode at anchor in New York
harbor alone. Waiting for Coal!
A year ago i vvns producing 1,600
tons of superior bituminous cool a
day. As last as I produced it, it was
loaded in cars and hauled away. A
great amount of it went to supply
energy for plants making munitions
of war which already have been
hurled against the Hun, .
That was a year ago when America
was merely a spectator ot the mite]~
ntrom Over There. Today America.
is a belligerent. She is spending her
lmoney and her blood in the struggle
'to make the World Sale for Democ-
‘ Cy.
: What am I doing?
I am producing less than half the
Mount of this vital commodity—coal,
that I waS'producing last year! To
be exact, l am producing 750 tons of
coal n day—some days.
And where is this coal going? Ah.
that is a far different story! It is
«Itanding here in my yards for days
mod for weeks, waiting for power to
mom it. Locked up in :ny chambers
there are ten million tors of bitumin-
ous coal. sufficient to provide poxver
to transport all the soldiers America
needs Over-There. Sufficient, also.
to provide power to‘opcruie many of
the large steel mills near me that are
running only port time or not at all,
(or the/(lock oi Coal. ‘Corkmezi and
operators of some of these steel mills
firs feeling the pinch. The work.
men's wages are part time wages: the
bperators are falling behind in filling
brders.
N0 CARS. NO COAL.
Millions suffer by my inability to
flelivcr the goods which 1 have in
ouch abundance and which 1 would
so freely give it it were in my power.
But 1 have been at the mercy of
transportation conditions. And when
I needed the railroads most. they
Vere almost hopelessly crippled by
blizzard conditions unlike anything
ithey had faced in decades. There
Here even times when men left my
Forks at my request and went out
Ind shoveled drifted snow trom the
tracks. the. switches and the mouths
bf tunnels until trains could move
anin.
I have been given a car rating by
the railroads. Unable to provide cars
do take all my products away. the
Indiroads have told. me i should have
bnly so many cars a day and l have
to fix my production accordingly.
Ind after having fixed my car‘rating,
the railroads have not been able to
provide, me with tho cars that they
love silt! T im entitled to.
They say I am entitled to littesn
urs orday. and thereby my produc.
tin. . merly 1,600 tons a day, is
cut t0‘ 0 tons a day.
Letwmc go back again into last
mr'srecords and make some com-
.orlson's: At the beginning of last
thrillers were 290 men working in
outliers. They worked steadily,
ey made full time. They worked
t hours a day and they produced
‘ 00 ions of coal at day. '.Toduy there
ate 149 men employed. During Janu-
lfiy those 149 men made on average-
01- three” and a half hours a day and
m'produeed'iust a little less than
3.1 tons a day on the average.
Mos: you can begin to see what is
finishing to make my men leave
.steek other places to work. Let
is show you some figures that talk.
[butterflies happened in "Jenny,
”18:, Qaanusry 2, I received eleven
firs: they were loaded quickly and
filled down into the yard. On Jan-
wy 3.] got eight cars. In about half
I day they were loaded and rolled
”EX-I W7 rag Ms 1
/
The Coal is Here; the
Men are There; the
Equipment is ‘_
There; Bub-the
Railroad Cars‘
Are Not.
no cars today. We cannot ‘turn I
wheeL'” Nor can I tell them-late
this afternoon whether i can give
them a day's work tomorrow or my
part of a day’s work tomorrow.
What has become 0! the men that
left me? To begin. twelve of them
are at Camp Lee in the service of the
United States army.
drafted. Others'volunteered. Holt
0! the rest are in the muniticn punts
and steel mills.
money than I could otter them but
tthey have token the work becluse
down. Then I received no more cars Jhey know what to .flgure on when
until January 7—iour days later-
when i got nine cars. it took little
more than half a day to load these
and they were rolled down into the
yard.
0n the 8th, business picked up. I
got my full rating of fifteen cars and
I worked all day. Then the bottom
fell out and the next time i saw an
empty coal car was January 14, six
days later. That day 1 got eight
cars. The next day, the 15th. I got
nine. Then for a period of seven
days coal cars were conspicuous by
their absence.
My next our day was the 22nd,
when 1 received thirteen cars. almost
enough to let me work another full
day. On the 23rd i got ten cars; on
the 24m. twelve; on the 25th two.
Then 1 went without again for three
days until the 28th, when i get twelve
cars. On the 29th 1 received eleven
cars and on the 30th, six. The total
for the month was 116 cars. 1 should
have received and could have loaded
and shipped 390 cars of coal which is
the our rating that has boeu fixed for
me but I didn’t get the cars.
What is the reason for this condi-
tion? Two words tell the story—-
Car Shortage! ’
Then there is n secondary cause.
labor shortage, which comes almost
entirely from the car shortage. If i
can get the cars i can get the labor.
Most at the 141 men who have leit ms
in the last yetr haven't gout: very (or
away. They are in munition plants
and steel mills almost within sight of
my tipple. Some of them pass my
tipple in going from their homes to
the plants at which they have found
their new work. They have left me»
because in their new work they find
steadier employment. They have
families to support. They must have
work. in the steel mills and runni-
tion plants they are pretty sure gen.
orally of study work six days a week.
One time I could give them that use
suranco and they got better pay from
me than they are getting now.
WHAT or THE’ MINERS?
Those men would rather work in '
the mines than in those other indus-
tries. They are accustomed to the
working conditions in the mines and
there is no other industry that of-
!ers them ‘similar conditions to those
I have. In the coal mine there is an
oven temperature or sixty degrees
the year 'round. No matter how cold
01' how hot the weather outside. a
flew yards inside the pit month they
strike that oven temperature. The
weather is the least of their wor-
ries. You very seldom see a minor
with would. ‘ . ‘
But. with my present condition. I
cannot assure them of any deflnwo
period of work. I can otter them no
assurance or a day's work on any
particular tiny. I cannot guarantee
them xenon a part of every 'dny.
Some of them come a distance or two
or three miles to the pit mouth with
their dinner pails ready for a day's
work. According to my our rating‘l
should hove [idiom cars standing
above my ilppievrnd-y to receive the
product of the day's work or these
men. '
Day in and day out I‘ must say
to them something like this, “Here
are five cars. you may work two and
a. half or three hours. It's the best
the railroad will let me otter today."
Many days I must say. “There are
pay day comes.
There are other days when the
railroads bring a. few empty cars to
the mine and they are placed in the
yard but as the loaded cars have not
been moved for days. the empties
cannot be brought to the “pole. Then
.. am faced with the tantalising sen.
cation of having cars in sight but
,
(0A L AWA [TING
FEE/G V 7 .
CAP.‘~
W3“—
‘ , -3 4-411'” _
out of reach. Again 1 must stand
idle until the railroads and a way to
move out enough cars to allow the“
empties to be placed. That is what
we speak of in “shop terms" as
blocked loads. During memento 0!
January. 1918. i lost a production or
1.25010“ from this com 0101“.
During the some month 1 lost Iron
car shortnxe 8,446 ions. 1 produced
8,606 tour. I lost 11.700 tons—more
than '1 produced—from causes all
arising from this fine m
shortage.
WHY ‘THERE WAS FAMINE.
'i‘bose losses are based on the co-
molly of "(50 tons a day 19"“ I
sun limited because of my eermut.
l have actually lost 82.!“ landm-
lngithe mouth-bits“ uponute'udm
which my normal capacity “le.
mt is, it,l could have the our: end
the number «when l lint "inertia;
I could produce nearly 88.000 tons 3
month more coal. ’
I say I lost this, but I am only
speaking from my viewpoint. As a
matter of fact. It is America tint is
losing this source or energy. America
and hen-nines.
um ‘ a “mummy mum”... . *
Some were ~
Those in the other '
|industries are working for less
n... W m»... ...._ ._..
vmwmm Ww .. .W
BIOGRAPHY or AOAL
looms, m 8. mat
M
.an.
u.....__ *
”0W '7”! Y DRILL 7/45 COAL. o
‘ a V" ‘ t as it feet thick extending over so am
3:: fiffimcfuw woumm. I of 1,400 acres, and they were work.
not to produce it. My owner vents in: full time In 311116.19!!!»th due
to produce no Amen“ aged. 1L “38.593 to“ of 00“. A 30‘. of It want
But the'railroad ours are not there
and America doesn‘t get the cool.
Now. I am just one cool trains. m
conditions are no worse on no -
ier than hundreds of my neighbors 81131"; it drove ENDS that can-led
in this great field; no worse and no moses-pollen across the voter. Some
better than “1°11an of- mm of '1! mm in the bottom 0! the At-
mlues in the ethereal! fields of the Mile when the submarine!“ in it!
United States. deadly work.
' ”flan, Six months later. December, 1916.
”411% wager-agowoduee to the 333 mu worked-fiend! time—end
Thor
‘ M '1 1m 1 producedm tone. it was rapidly
.‘fl'fmgfinum 0:3“ ‘3‘“ {or moved. Another six months passed.
n. next twenty ”In. , All in. help induction. no men worked. The
1 need min the outside in cm: nine vuvmt'wm mm m but
an.” mm t the mon-muioiflrly goodtime. They
‘Tiie'othor «rm m. to I. . produced that month 14,429 tons nod
-m or when mica; tor wort. “mom furl! rapidly. .
They canto from a new in West Viv. Bullnnotner six months passes. It
stain. with the hope “not I might not is December, “17. The same mine
beds as bad shape as though! they has only 198 men working and-they
whom. Reveals their story: produced“: tons of cool. It was
loud d on the oars. Some of it still
evonv or snort-tun Miss. °
stands in the yard-at the mine.
They came from a mine that has ‘
14.000.000 tops of bituminous coal give actual-ugh of what the min-
stored in its chambers. in June. ers and the operators are up against
4. »_
HANDS . D E
u- / E
IDLE Alli/E
IDLE MEN
the nine way that my'p'roduct used}
\ to to. it helped turn out. munitions;9
u, it moved railroad trains that hauled ,
provisions and supplies to the allied ‘ _
l have the cool; i 1916. there were 890 men dining coal. in that West Virginia field. due again betting the .
have the equipment and I can get the They were digging from a seam eight to Car Shortage. Commute: gusset-eu- shortage.
0
EO“ ._ .
ing mines there have onitheir books
tens ct thousands of dollars pay roll
debt accounts for the month of Jan.
nary. That means that the operators
have advanced to the miners tons of
thousands of donors which they have
not yet earned. This. money wooed-
vancud to the miners because it was
absolutely neoouuy to buy iced.
clothing ond'umlios tori mountains
and thelrhnilles.
in this West “mining-trio: there
are no nutrition plank Metallic
to which the men . go tor other
employment. When “linerstop
the men must-”stop. . mite opera-
tors let then have thegmmey for
food and clothing-before it “earned
and trust in Providence and the all-
roads to providecon'dltions that'wlll
Now here is a matter that will permit. the mines to works“ the
men to earn the money theyrhave
already drawn. 1 might say they are
money against s'iuturo
so mus or ‘
. ‘ ms NINETY~
MILLION‘WIID
-_ awaken
fi‘ medal“.
MORE PROOF OF'OHORTAO‘
in this same district there ore two
mines that had not a‘slngle car at tho ‘
tipple from December 8 to January 3.
almost a month. No cool vvu rained
during thattlrnent those two mines.
Monday has proved to be the best
day in the week for the‘tnlues during
the shortage because thst is the day
the most untrue Mount this be
loaded. One New told of riding
slang a road tor'torty miles on one
mm. He pasted'lnfsigm‘ot the
tipples of tfirty'vtlmve .130]. There
were not 3:»me in'oil'at that.
apples. Them most cars aim
at the tipples oi thirty-three mines to
provide e day's work for one ruin.
my size.
No’w. let's get-back to». the mine
from-which Mimen‘ me. That
mine should have received in Jenn-
arypaccording to its our rating. 890
cars. That's the same rating that l
have. It actually received 136 can.
"That mine should hive produced on
its present rating 19.500 tons. ll
netualy produced 8.720 tons. a loss or
12,780 ions, or a. loss trout its normal
production of a year ago at 21.810
,. tons. i
- tons.
'Aad that's just orienting!
Nolrby that mine is-anothor with
just a little smaller capacity under
normal conditions. Here's its story
in stew words. In June, 1916, it
worked 242 men. During that month
it produced. loaded and shipped 22,615
In June. 1917, it worked 10)
men. produced loaded and shipped
10,187 tons. In January it had ‘a
force of 122 men. working when they
could get ‘cars to" load. It loaded
6,899 tons. As in the other cases"
much of that coal is still in its yard.‘
America needs coal for the prose-
cution oi the wor- more than any
other single commodity. The coal
mines have millions of tons of cod.
Wo'sre just as anxious to procuh
and deliver this coal as the Amofi
eon people and the American govt.
ment are anxious to get it.
i There issonly one why. hung
to produce“ nod to not it to you.
There must be can nt the mine-c
dumb cars to transport my product,
WWI can In 'mm. m
and aplenty. there can bone use!
0W .
mountain-numb“
g..-—.—.
Norwalk Chronicler