{ "system": "GoGuides Verified Text", "api_version": "verified-text-v1", "status": "ok", "response_type": "verified_text_record", "source_key": "britannica_1926", "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)", "license_code": "public_domain", "attribution": null, "license_url": null, "chunk_id": "1926:coal:cf0d0adced0b", "title": "COAL", "section": null, "hash_alg": "sha256", "hash_sha256": "3af63560db2b1ef6ed2ee7ffedae1e368d1fa7aec55af023d67aa15ed72ad5d5", "normalizer": { "name": "ggnorm", "version": "1.0" }, "verified_text": "a considerable advance was made during the period 1911-25 in the scientific knowledge of coal, and the production and distribution of coal were largely changed by the world war and other circumstances. i. composition and character research work as to the composition and character of coal has been greatly intensified in great britain, being carried out particularly in the provincial universities and other educational institutions. the coal owners themselves have promoted it; and, in 1916, the government set up the fuel research board which since has engaged upon important investigations, more especially in regard to the low-temperature distillation of coal. in ger- many, france, canada and the united states much important work on coal and lignite has been carried out. nevertheless little: more has been discovered as to the chemical composition of coal than was known in 1900, . coal, being a complex colloidal organic substance, of high molecular aggregation, requires for the elucidation of its chemi- cal constitution the application of the best trained minds in organic chemistry. again, coals are so varied, from both the chemical and physical standpoint, as to constitute a very wide field for investigation. for years the ordinary black bituminous coal of commerce has been known to be made up of layers of ‘bright coal”? (the glanzkohle of germany) and “dull coal” (mattkohle), the layers being divided by an amorphous powdery substance known as mineral charcoal. of late years, and for no very obvious reason, it has become customary to designate these varieties as “ vitrain”’ and ‘“‘clarain’”’ for the bright coal, durain ” for the dull coal, and “ fusain ” for the mineral char- coal. the exact origin of these substances, which vary in com- position, is not quite clear. com position.—coal is made up of various constituents: (a) woody or xyloid substances which are so characteristic of lignite or brown coal, called by some “ anthraxylon,” from anthrax coal and xylon wood; (8) canncloid material, consisting largely of the spores of cryptogamic plants, of which cannel coal is chiefly composed; (c) resinous matter, occurring largely in ignites but rarely in can- nels; (¢d) macerated material mixed with woody matter and best de- scribed as debris, as it contains all the previous mentioned substances; (e) the ‘‘ fundamental matter ’ of white and thiessen, which is the colloidal ground mass in which the other constituents are embedded and which is composed chiefly of the more readily decomposable parts of the vegetable matter. the vegetable constituents of coal are therefore cellulosic and resinous. chemists employ three experimental methods for the investigation of the coal substance: (1) thermal decomposition, (8) fractionation by a sequence or combination of solvents and (c) oxidation of the coal, hydrogenation, halogenation, etc. the principal facts which have been established by these methods are:— (c-t)—m. j. burgess and r. v. wheeler (chem. soc. trans., vol. 97, 1910; vol. 99, 1911; vol. 105, 1914) by thermal decomposition applied up to a temperature of 1100°c. determined: — (1) that the decomposition of the coal substance commenced at about 350° centigrade; 656 (2) that in respect of the coals examined, whether bituminous, semi-bituminous or anthracitic, there is a well-defined critical tem- perature between 700°c. and 800°c. which corresponds with a marked and rapid increase in the quantity of hydrogen evolved; and (3) that the evolution of methane and other paraflin hydrocarbons almost entirely ceases at about 700° centigrade. they concluded that the coals examined by them contained two types of compounds of different degrees of stability, viz., the “ res- inic'’ or fess stable, which on thermal decomposition yield prin- cipally paraffins and no hydrogen, and the “ cellulosic,” which yield principally hydrogen. the facts hold good, but the interpretation of them as given above is not universally accepted. for instance, messrs. h. c. porter and g. b. taylor, who have carried out re- searches on american coals ( prec. anier. gas inst., vol. 9 [i], 1914), repudiate the suggestion that the “ resinic ” constituents of coal would be less than the “ cellulosic ” and attribute the great increase in the evolution of hydrogen between 700°c. and 800°c. to second- ary decomposition, and they found that more than two-thirds of the organic substance of coal is decomposable below 500° centigrade. their views about the composition of coal are best expressed in their own remarks: — ‘* all kinds of coal consist of cellulosic degradation products more or less altered by the process of ageing, together with derivatives of resinous substances, vegetable waxes, etc., in different proportions, more or less altered. they all undergo decomposition by a moderate degree of heat, some, however, decompose more rapidly than others at the lower temperature. the less altered cellulosic derivatives de- compose more easily than the more altered derivatives, and also more easily than the resinous derivatives. the cellulosic derivatives decompose so as to yield h:o0, co, co and hydrocarbons, giving less of the first three products the more matured and altered they are. the resinous derivatives, on the other hand, decompose on moder- ate heating so as to yield principally the paraffin hydrocarbons, with probably hydrogen, as a direct decomposition product. the more mature bituminous coals, having good coking properties, contain a large percentage of resinous derivatives and their cellulosic constitu- ents have been highly altered. the younger bituminous or sub- bituminous coals are constituted of cellulosic derivatives much less altered than those in the older coals. they undergo a large amount of decomposition below their fusion point, and possibly for that reason many of them do not coke.” professor \\w. a. bone points out (soc. chem. ind., june 19 1925) in his paper on the ‘‘ constitution of coal,” that in most recent coal research work little, if any, importance appears to have been attached to the nitrogenous constituents of coal, and there seems to be at least some room for doubt whether the supposed ‘‘ resinic \"’ constit- uents of coal have been rightly so called. ife is inclined to think that our whole coal-nomenclature might be overhauled with acdvan- tage. though there may be some doubt as to the feasibility of draw- ing a sharp line between the evolution of the various gascous prod- ucts in the case of a highly matured type of coal when under thermal decomposition, it is otherwise in the instance of an immature brown coal or lignite, as bone’s work has shown. the results being: (a) that up to a certain temperature (in the case of a dried sample of brown coal, from morwell, near melbourne, 375° c.) the only gases ex- pelled from the dried coal are steam and oxides of carbon, which evolution continues right up to (and perhaps beyond) 700° c.; (6) that at a somewhat higher temperature range (in the case of the morwell coal 375°-500° ©.) methane and other hydrocarbons (without oxygen) appear; and (¢) it is not until the temperature exceeds 500° c, that hydrogen appears among the products. (b)—18g99, bedson discovered the solvent action of pyridine on coal, and much later, a. h. clark and r. v. wheeler (che. soc, trans., vol. 103, 1913) fractionated coal substance into three parts by first dissolving it with pyridine, then treating the pyridine ex- tract with chloroform. the coal substance was divisible into: (1) that insoluble in pyridine, (2) that soluble in pyridine but insol- uble in chloroform, (3) that soluble in both pyridine and chloroform. these fractions are frequently referred to as alpha, beta and gamma constituents respectively, as though they were distinct and definitely separate chemical substances, which is unfortunate secing that they all contain carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur—in fact, nearly the same percentage of nitrogen and sulphur in each fraction. in the extraction of coal substances by benzene under pressure, bone’s work is of great interest. he employs benzene ina special form of extractor on the soxhlet principle at: pressures be- tween 500 and 700 ib. per sq. in.,and at temperature 260° to 285° c,, and afterwards fractionates the extract by a suitable solvent treat- ment. he and his co-workers have by this means obtained four dis- tinct benzene soluble fractions (proc. roy. soc., 105, ser. a., 1924). the result is shown diagrammatically in the next column. when working on a coking coal it was found that fractions i and 2 could be disregarded from the point of view of containing substances ofa “ binding ” character. with regard to fraction 3, professor bone says “ the amount of this fraction was always very small, ranging between 0:3 and 0-8% only of the whole coai substances; so that, although it has good ‘ binding ' properties, and therefore would be to some extent a contributory factor, it cannot be considered as the chief cause of the coking properties of the coals.”’ coal concentrated benzene solution of crude extract poured into light petroleum (b.p. 40°-go\") soluble insoluble benzene-free light petroleum ethyl aia | i l | soluble insoluble soluble insoluble | | | ! traction | fraction 2 fraction 3 fraction 4 non-nitrog- red brown non-nitrog- nitrogenous enous heavy solid soften- enous brittle amorphous oil ing point resinous red brown solid abaut 25° brown salid softening softening point 180°- point about 230° 60° the substances contained in fraction 4 were clifferent from the so- called ‘‘ coal! resins ’’ and seemed to be rather of the ‘* humic \" type. their chemical nature has not yet been finally established, but they constitute from 4-6 to 7-0°% of the parent coal substance and have very pronounced ‘‘ binding '’ properties, so that the relative coking properties of bituminous coals run nearly parallel to their yields of this fraction. these may therefore be considered as the chief cause of the coking properties of coals. f. fischer, h. broche and j. strauch (brenanstoff-chem., 1925) in an account of similar experiments made upon german bituminous coals some little time after the appearance of bone’s paper, divided their crude benzene extract into two fractions only, which probably explains the apparent discrepancy in interpretation of the results. the benzene extracts from a brown coal are chemically different from those yielded by sub-bituminous or bituminous coal. [¢ would seein that the coking quality of a coal is the result of the maturing of coal and is a product of age, for in black lignite there is evidence of the incipient formation of substances closely resembling the coking constituents of the more mature coals. (c) —recent chemical research on the character of coal includes the work of dr. bergius, the german chemist, during the period 1915-25. by subjecting coal to the influence of hydrogen under heat and pressure, he saturates the hydrocarbons in the coal, converting them and, it is claimed, some portion also of the fixed carbon, into saturated hydrocarbons, thus achieving the liquefaction of coal, the objective of chemists for many years. the process has not yet emerged from the laboratory stage, but should it prove a commercial possibility, the results on industry would be far-reaching indeed. classification.—frequent attempts have been made towards a scientific classification of coal, the broad division of anthracite, bituminous coal, and lignite and brown coal, not having been deemed sufficient. perhaps the best is that adopted by the international geological congress held at toronto in 1913. coal were then divided into four main classes and three subclasses, letters instead of names being used, and the fuel ratio is taken as the basis of classification :— fixed carbon | volatile matter and, in the cases of b3, di and de, the split volatile ratio of fixed carbon + volatile combustible hygroscopic moisture + } volatile combustible the classes were as follows:— class a {1) burns with short blue flame; gives off 3 to 5% volatile combustible matter. fuel ratio 12 and over. calorific value 8,000 to 8,330 calories or 14,500 to 15,000 bu. mean composition — carbon . ... 93 to 95% hydrogen ae 2to 4% oxygen and nitroge 2°t0).5:%6 (2) burns with slightly luminous short flame and little smoke, does not coke and yields from 7 to 12 % of volatile matter. fuel ratio 7 to 12, calorific value generally 8,300 to 8,600 calories or 15,000 to 15,500 b.t.u, mean composition — carbon .. ; : ; - « . gotogz % hydrogen ; 4to 4°5% oxygen and nitroge 3to 5:5% coal class b (t) burns with short luminous flame and yields 12 to 15% tile matter; does not readily coke. fuel ratio 4 to 7. calorific value gencrally 8,400 to 8,900 or 15,200 to 16,000 vola- bob: mean composition—. carbon . * ga % er . 80 to9go 20 iiydrogen 455 is ae fo oxygen and nitrogen 5-5 to 12° (2) burns with luminous flame and yields from 12 to 36° volatile matter; generally cokes. calorific value 7,700 to 8,800 calories or 14,000 to 16,000 b.t.u. mean composition— carbon. : ; ; , . 75 tooo 20 hydrogen ; : . : 4:5 to 5°5% oxygen and nitrogen 6 tors. % (3) burns freely with long flame; withstands weathering but fractures readily and occasionally has moisture content up to 6%; volatile matter up to 35%; makes porous, tender coke. fuel ratio (split volatile) 2-5 to 3-3. calorific value 6,600 to 7,800 calories or 12,000 to 14,000 b.t.u. mean composition — carbon . : : . : : 70 «to 80% hydrogen sas 8 : 4°5 to a oo oxygen and nitrogen ; 18 to 209% class c burns with long smoky flame and yields 30 to 40% volatile matter on distillation, leaving very porous coke. fracture generally resinous. calorific value 6,600 to 8,800 calories or 12,000 to 16,000 b.t.u class d contains generally over 6 % of moisture; disintegrates on drying; streak brown or yellow, cleavage indistinct. (1) moisture in fresh mined, commercial output, up to 20 per cent. fracture generally conchoidal. drying: cracks irregular, curved fines. colour generally lustrous black, occasionally brown. fuel ratio (split volatile) 1-8 to 2-5. calorific value 5,500 to 7,200 calories, or 10,000 to 13,000 b.t.u. average composition — carbon ; 60to75 % hydrogen 6to 6 5% oxygen and nitrogen ‘ (2) moisture in commercial output over 20° fracture generally earthy and dull. drying: cracks generally separate along bedding planes and often show fibrous (woody) structure. colour generally brown, sometimes black. calorific value 4,000 to 6,000 calorics or 7,000 to 11,000 bor. average composition— carbon . : f 45 to 65 io hydrogen 6to 6:8% 30 to 45 % this classification, giving names to the letters, may be inter- preted thus:— a, corresponds to anthracite. a: corresponds to semi- -anthracite. b, corresponds to semi-bituminous coal (in this class would be included the so-called smokeless steam coal of south wales). bs corresponds to bituminous coal. b; corresponds to bituminous coal of low fixed carbon content. c corresponds to cannel coal. d, corresponds to sub-bituminous coal or compact black lignite. d; corresponds to lignite or brown coal. oxygen and nitrogen bituminous coal is divisible into gas, coking, house, manu- facturing and steam coal. il. the world’s coal the international geological congress also made an estimate of the world’s resources of coal, for which purpose they took as the minimum thickness of seams, workable to a depth of 4,000 ft. from the surface, 1 foot, and between depths of 4,000 ft. to 6,000 ft., 2 feet; 6,c00 ft. being regarded as the limit in respect of workable depth. the figures are given in millions of metric tons. (a metric ton = 2,204-:6 pounds.) 057 sub-bitu- anthra- : minous cites bitumi- eacala continent including nous eee oe total a m4 dry steam coal hemcn coals coals europe 54,3: asia 407,637 760,098 i1t,851 | 1,279,586 africa . ; 11,662 45,123 1,054 57,839 america 22,542 | 2,271,080 | 2,811,906 | 5,105,528 oceania 659 133,481 36,270 170,410 total 3,902,944 | 2,997,763 | 7,397,553 in 1926 coal mining is being carried on to a depth of 4,000 ft. (in belgium), and the mining of mineral deposits to a depth of 6,000 ft. (in brazil) from the surface. the working of coal at great depths is, however, more difficult than the extraction of ore from a metalliferous vein at like depth, for, whereas in the latter case the plane of the deposit is, as it were, on edge reach- ing to the surface, in the former case it is, usually, more or less flat lying at great depth from the surface, the whole of the coal being derived from, approximately, the same depth, and it is very doubtful whether it will ever prove commercially possible to produce coal from a depth greater than 5,0co0 feet. on the question of supply, it is not so much the duration of the world’s ultimate resources of coal that matters, but how long will the better and more cheaply got coals last. european countries are rapidly exhausting their supplies of readily available coals, and, if the present relative rates of exhaustion are continued, the period of their complete exhaustion will arrive long before that of asia and the new world. in available resources of coal the american continent far exceeds the rest of the world. in north america there are 5,073,431,000,000 tons; and in south america there are 32,097,- 000,000 tons; of all individual countries the united states of america takes first place, her resources, for example, being con- siderably in excess of those of the whole of the british empire. at the present rate of output the north american resources, more especially those of the united states, will outlast ail other countries, and will probably suffice for 2,000 years. great brit- ain’s supplies at the present rate of consumption will not suffice for more than 600 years at most, and if we take into considera- tion the coal existing to a depth of 4,000 ft. (the limit taken by the british royal commission on coal supplies of 1905) they will only last for 450 years. germany, before the ceding to poland, after the world war, of a part of her silesian coalfield, and to france of her saar and lorraine fields, had resources of coal sufficient to last at the pre-war rate of output for 1,000 years, but much of her remaining coal is lignite which is of much lower calorific value than true coal. france will have to live on imported coal much sooner than great britain or belgium. the latter country has supplies sufficient for nearly 500 years. switzerland could mine all her resources in a few years. the most important of all classes of coal is that which is termed bituminous, for not only does that coal provide the gas, the coking, the house and manufacturing, but many of the steam coals also. it is, too, from this class of coal that we obtain our coal derivatives, e.g., tar, pitch, sulphate of ammonia, paraffin hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, dyes and some medicines. it is fortunate, therefore, that nearly 4,000,000,000,000 tons, or more than half of the world’s coal reserves, are bituminous coal. coal production.—the following statement shows, in com- parative form, the production in long tons, of coal by continents for 1913 and for 1924:— production country 1913 1924 north america . 531,600,000 525,400,000 south america 1,600,000 1,700,000 europe 730,000,000 710,000,000 asia. 55,000,000 82,000,000 africa . 8,300,000 12,500,000 oceania 15,000,000 16,000,000 entire world 1,342,300,000 | 1,340,000,000 658 about 90% of the world’s coal is derived from the coalfields of the united states of america and the coalficlds of europe (see fig. 1). the war wrought great changes in the coal-mining industry of the chief coal producing countries of the world and it is of value, in view of recent events and from the point of view of the future, to compare the economic position of the industry suoy buoy jo suoisfipy ate aie 922 1923 1924 1925 9910 iss s92 ss 19s gcs scisis = 1920s wt year frc. 1.—annuat production of coal. as existing at the outbreak of war and in 1925 more particularly as regards production and distribution. ii. great britain’s coal trade of all the industries that contributed to the successful issue to the allies of the world war, the coal industry was perhaps the most important. in 1913 great britain contributed 21-7% of the world’s output, and in that year there were 1,110,884 per- sons employed in about 3,000 coal mines which were worked as about 1,500 separate undertakings. the coal properties, or roy- alties, as they are called in the industry, were vested in about 4,000 owners. various estimates of the amount of capital in- vested in the coal mining industry have been attempted, that by sir josiah stamp, £135,000,000, based on the output of five years preceding the war, being perhaps nearest the mark. production and prices -—the estimated cost of production and of profit to the coal owners arising from the sale of the coal may be taken to have averaged as follows:— s. d. wages . : : : ? : : : = se 6 stores and pit wood . : ‘ : ; ‘ : : i. oo general expenses, inclusive of everything, except de- preciation and interest . ; : ; ‘ ; y, evans total . : , ; : ‘ ‘ fy. profit . : , ; . ; : f. -e-45 grand total . : : : : : & no; <«2 the average royalty rent payable to the owners of the coal averaged about 6d. per ton of coal raised. for some years the selling price of coal had been on the up- grade, and it has been estimated that during the period 1897- t910 the pit head price had advanced no less than 38%, but during 1914 the tendency of selling prices was downwards, espe- cially in regard to industrial coal, due to the fact that the iron, cotton and other staple industries were in a somewhat depressed state. in fact, when war broke out, trade in great britain was on the eve of one of those cycles of depression which are the after- math of periods of inflated trade and temporary over-expansion. there was at this time comparative peace in the coal mining industry as between employers and workmen. the year 1913 had been a good year, and wages were high. the settlement of disputes regarding wages was dealt with through the medium of district joint boards or representatives of colliery owners coal and workmen, presided over by independent chairmen. but there was a movement amongst the advanced or extremist wing of the miners’ federation in support of national, in preference to district, settlements of wages, and towards nationalisation of the industry. with a view to determining how the available coal supply could be best distributed to meet the national inter- est in the best possible way, the following comparison as between the years 1903 and 1913 was arrived at:— 1903 230,334,469 tons 1913 total output 287,430,473 tons reserved for home con- sumption (not including bunker coal for foreign trade) 166,529,120 tons 189,092,369 tons the balances were devoted to export and bunkers. the average pit head value of a ton of coal in 1913, all kinds included, was about ros. 2d. of the home consumption it was estimated that at least 80,000,000 tons were absorbed in the production of power, inclusive of railways. the following table shows for 1903 and 1913 the uses to which the coal was put :-— rons | 1903 tons tons railways ; . : 13,000,000 15,000,000 coasting steamers (bunkers) 2,000,000 2,500,000 factories , : 53,000,000 60,000,000 mines ; 18,000,000 19,000,000 iron and steel industries 28,000,000 31,000,000 other metals and mincrals 1,000,000 1,250,000 brick works, potteries, glass works . and chemical works. 5,000,000 5,750,000 gas works 15,000,000 18,000,000 domestic 32,000,000 35,000,000 effect of the world war.—the immediate effect of the war on the coal trade of great britain was to close several important foreign markets. transport facilities, by reason of the diversion of rolling stock and shipping to military purposes, was also impeded. the result was that there was a temporary glut of coal at the collieries for home consumption. the allies, espe- cially france and italy, became largely—the latter country entirely—dependent on britain for their supplies of coal. france’s demands were soon double that of the normal impor- tation. the great expansion in the manufacture of the munitions of war at home greatly augmented the fuel requirements of the iron and steel works and on top of all this the war requirements made a constant drain on the staff of young miners. up to the end of march 1916, no less than 282,200 men from the coal mines had voluntarily enlisted in the fighting forces. so that, although the decline in exports of coal and coke during the year 1915 amounted to about 14,000,000 tons, this was more than balanced by decreased output, amounting to nearly 12,500,- ooo tons, and increased demands for home consumption. the average pithead price of coal rose from gs. 11-21d. in 1914 to 12s. 4:8d. per ton in 1915. the coal mining organisation committee, consisting of repre- sentatives of the colliery owners and miners, presided over by the chief inspector of mines, was sct up by the government in feb. 1915 to organise the industry to the best advantage to meet the exigencies created by the war. it had no plenary powers; it could only investi- gate, report and arbitrate. it continued in almost constant session until the financial control of the industry by the state in 1917, and but for the very strained relations between the collicry owners and workmen in south wales, which culminated in a complete impasse at the close of 1916, it is probable that the committee could have functioned successfully right through the war. two other com- mittees dealing with coal problems were established on the advice of the coal mining organisation committee, viz.: the coal exports committee, under whose control was placed the whole of the export trade of the country in coal, and the coal and coke distribution committee, which dealt with the inland distribution of the coal and coke supplies. in 1916 the output of coal showed an increase of over 3,000,000 tons on the previous year, and the average pithead price had risen to 15s. 257d. per ton. exports still further decreased, but this was occasioned by the unavoidable restriction which had to be imposed to meet home requirements, due to the starting of munition fac- tories and the extensions of works. on the advice of the coal min- coal ing organisation committee the government instituted the price of coal limitation act which became law as from july 29 1915, and remained in being until the end of march 1921, being repealed when government control ceased. the coal trade had reached a purely artificial state which con- tinued onwards throughout the war, the natural laws governing supply and demand being largely disturbed by government control of prices and of export. the limitation of the price of coal, which was in the nature of a self-denying ordinance on the part of colliery owners and the miners, constituted one of the chief events in the history of the coal mining industry of great britain. it was almost the first attempt at a statutory limitation of the price of an essential commodity and, on the whole, it achieved a remarkable success. by the act certain maximum pithead prices for the sale of coal for inland consumption were fixed, the coal owners being left free to obtain the best possible price for coal for export, with the exception of a limita- tion in the case of coal sold to the allics. thus at one time the price of the same coal was for home consumption 16s. 6d. per ton and for export 60s., 62s. 6cl. and 65s., and after the armistice, but before the repeal of the limitation act, the same coal actually reached 140s. a ton for export. government control. owing to the wage disputes in south wales terminating in an impasse, the government took possession of the coal mines in wales and monmouthshire as from dec. 1 1916, with the object of eliminating war profits, the avoidance of industrial disputes, and of securing the best results from labour in the mines during the war. in feb, of the year following it was succeeded by a more stringent control by government, which was extended to in- clude all coal mines, the three advisory committecs mentioned above being merged in the control. an agreement arrived at between the controller and the coal owners as to the compensation to be paid to the latter under the control, was confirmed by an act of parliament on feb, 6 1918. the management of the collicries remained with the owners, and a profit standard was fixed in respect of each undertaking based on any one of the three years preceding the war which the owner chose to select, such profit being guaranteed to him during the period of control provided he worked up to a standard output. eighty per cent of all the profit over and above the guaranteed profit was paid to the inland revenue as in the case of the excess profits of other con- cerns. of the remaining 20° the coal controller took 15°, which went to form a pool from which he met deficiencies that arose in respect of the guarantecd profits of any of the undertakings, the col- liery owners receiving the remaining 5 °%. perhaps the two most important actions taken by the con- troller of coal mines were those in respect of the transport and rationing of coal. on sept. 8 1917, the transport of coal order was issued, under which great britain was divided into 20 areas, shown on maps accompanied by a table indicating the area to which coal produced in each of the production areas might be forwarded by public railway for inland consumption for (1) steam and manufacturing purposes, (2) gas and coking purposes, and (3) domestic purposes. it was estimated that, on the basis of the year 1917, the scheme would effect a saving in transport of rail-borne coal of 700,000,000 ton-m. per annum: though it is doubtful whether the saving effected actually reached this figure. the rationing of domestic coal first applicd to london under the household coal distribution order of aug. 10 1917. the disiribution order, 19177-—three principal objects were aimed at by this order: {1) the establishment of minimum stocks of coal to be held in reserve throughout the winter; (2) a priority in distribution of any available stocks of coal, in case of shortage, to be conferred on consumers requiring or taking supplies in quantities not excecding 2 cwt. per week; and (3) restriction in the consumption of coal where it was in excess of the normal average requirements of houses of different sizes. in july 1918 compulsory rationing in respect of domestic coal was made applicable to the whole of england and wales, and in oct. 1918 to scotland also. certain advances in wages had been given to the miners dur- ing the war and a state of peace reigned in the industry for two years of the control. but at the conference of the miners federa- tion of great britain at southport in the summer of 1918 a pro- gramme was decided upon which included:—a national wage- board in substitution of district wages boards; a five-day work- ing week; a six-hour working day; and alliance with the railway men and transport workers in order to enforce their demands. the sankey commission.—active agitation towards securing nationalisation of the mines commenced. the year 19019 was largely one of labour difficulties. to the demands specified 659 above was added one for a 30% advance in wages, and other items. the government appointed the coal industry com- mission {known since from the name of its chairman, mr. justice sankey, as the sankey commission), to report, by march 20, as to wages and hours. unanimity was not secured. there were three reports, that signed by the chairman and three other members of the committee being accepted by the govern- ment. the chief recommendations were, that as from july 16 tgtg, the hours of underground workers should be reduced from eight to seven, and that, as from jan. 9 1919 (when the demands of the union’s executive were first formulated) workers over 16 -years of age should receive an increase of wages of 2s. per shift worked and those under 16, 1s. per shift worked. these recom- mendations were carried into effect. on june 20, the sankey commission, though not unanimously, reported in favour of nationalisation. the measure was not acceptable to the govern- ment, but a stoppage of work was averted. end of war time control.—the financial control of the coal mines was terminated by the passage, on march 31, of the coal mines (emergency) act 1920, which specified that it should be deemed to have ceased as from april 1 ro19. in aug. 1920, the mining industry act was passed, under which a separate department of mines was set up. although the mines were still under government control, a national strike of the miners took place in oct. 1920, and lasted for rz days. they had re- ceived a 20% advance in april (including ‘‘ war wage” and “ sankey wage ’’) and they now sought a further advance and a reduction in the price of coal. they obtained a settlement on the basis of a temporary scheme put forward by the government. the financial decontrol of the mines took place on march 31 1921. as the temporary scheme was drawing to a conclusion, the representatives of the owners and workmen met in order to work out 4 permanent settlement. their cfforts failed, and, on april 1 1921, another national strike took place; it lasted until july 4, when a settlement was arrived at embodying for the first time the idea of profit-sharing. the coal mines of the country were divided into 13 districts, each district constituting a unit for the ascertainment of wages. a standard wage was to be paid, being the existing basis rates plus the percentages which were payable on basis rates, in july 1914, in each district. these were to be a first charge on the industry. after deduction of standard wages and costs of produc- tion other than wages, the surplus was to be divisible in the proportion 83% to wages and 17% to profits. the standard wages, and the share of the surplus apportioned to wages, were added together, and the sum expressed as a percentage on basis rates, which percentage constituted the rate of wages payable during the next period. in no case could wages fall below a point 20° above the standard wages. thus was created a national board and district boards to effect a national agreement. in 1924 the agreement was modified, the standard profits ta the owners being 15° in relation to the standard wages. of the gross profits remaining after the deduction from the gross proceeds of costs other than wages, standard wages and stand, ard profits, the workmen received 88%, the minimum percen- tage on standard wages being 334%. depression in the trade—complicated though this agree. ment was, and therefore not very intelligible to the miners, it could undoubtedly have worked well had the industry continued in a normal state; but the selling price of coal fell considerably, and though it had not reached an economic basis by the end of 1924, it was, by reason of the high cost of production, too low to enable the collieries to be carried on at a profit under the condi- tions imposed by the agreement. the depression in the coal trade was world-wide. the united states and germany, great competitors in the coal industry, were in very much the same plight as great britain, for the demand was not equal to the supply. in july 1925 the government decided to make to the coal industry a financial subvention as from aug. 1 to april 30 1926, by which wages could be paid at the current rate. by march 3r 1926 this subsidy had {19,000,000. in the meantime a royal commission was appointed to enquire into the industry 660 in order to find a way out of the impasse. the chairman was sir herbert samuel, who had just returned from palestine. the 1926 report.—the report of the commission, which was unanimous, was issued on march ro 1926. it showed that, ‘excluding the subsidy, 73% of the coal was produced at a loss. it condemned the principle of a subsidy. to meet the immediate problem it considered a revision of the “ minimum percentage addition to standard rates of wages ” fixed in 1924 as indispensable in order to save the industry irom immediate col- lapse. this, however, could not prevent the closing of a number of uneconomic collieries, the labour employed at which should be transferred to the “ economic ” collieries, while the govern-. ment should prepare plans for, and assist financially in, the trans- ference of the labour. the wage arrangements were to be governed by “ an economic wage determined from time to time on ascertained facts as to the economic condition of the industry in each district, and that of a minimum wage settled for each district on principles approved nationally.” the commission recommended the maintenance of the standard working day, which averages 74 hours, but an optional reclistribution of hours within the present weekly total over a week of five days instead of six, and the expansion of the multiple-shift system. the industry should be continued under private enterprise, but state ownership by purchase should be effected of the miner- als (royalties) where they have a market valuc, and by a declara- tion of state ownership in the case of unproved coal, or coal at deep levels, which has now no market value. efficient organisa- tion demanded amalgamation of small units of production. large financial advantages might be gained by the formation of co-operative selling agencies, which in particular are needed in the export trade, and in co-operation and combination, with allied industries. local authorities should be empowered to engage in the retail sale of coal. larger mineral wagons should be used and a greater concentration of ownership of wagons instituted, a standing joint committee of the ministry of trans- port and of the mines department being set up to promote this improvement. they favoured augmented provision for research in order that coal may be used more scientifically. if processes of low tempera- ture carbonisation of coal were perfected, great national ad- vantages would ensue because a smokeless fuel would be produced for domestic and industrial use and there would be provided large supplies of mineral oil from the country’s own resources. the state should give financial support to the further experi- ments, on a commercial scale, which are necessary. methods of payment should be devised in respect of the workmen not em- ployed at the face which would induce a direct interest in output and measures were recommended having for their object the im- provement of the economic interests of miners by family allow- ance schemes, and copartnership which should be made obliga- tory. the schemes and suggestions made in the report involved the creation of a permanent coal commission, a national] fuel and power committee and joint pit committces, as well as legislation of a far-reaching character. although the owners, under pressure, accepted the report in principle, it was rejected by the miners and on saturday, april 29, the men ceased work. to support them a general strike was ordered (see strikes), but in a few days this was abandoned. the miners, however, remained idle throughout may and june and the attempts made by the prime minister and others to bring about a settlement of the dispute were unavailing. a meeting between the parties, called by the owners early in june, failed, like the debates in the house of commons, to bring about a return to work. the minctrs persistently refused to consider any extension of working hours or any reduction of wage rates, while the owners adhered to their view that without these con- cessions they could not continue in business. meanwhile, unem- ployment was growing, railway and other services were restricted and other industries were suffering in an increased degree from the shortage of coal. in june the government introduced legis- lation into parliament to carry out the recommendations of the samuel commission. coal iv. the trade of other countries united states.—the output in the united states rose rapidly during the war years, attaining the enormous figure of 605,546,- 343 tons in 1918. after that it was subject to great variations, due principally to industrial unrest resulting in strikes of the miners; the production for 1925 being 522,474,999 tons. but the productive capacity of the united states coal mines is far beyond the actual output. germany.—like great britain, the year 1913 marked a record with 187,054,115 tons of “ black” coal, or including brown coal, 272,885,210 tons, one ton of “ black ” coal being equal to 2-8 tons of brown coal in point of heat value; and, when the brown coal is converted into briquettes, which is done to a considerable extent, to 1-4 tons of briquettes. although her saar and lorraine coalfields passed to france 1n rg19, and part of her upper silesian field to poland in 1922, yet germany’s out- put of ‘ black’? coal has suffered less than might have been expected. a heavy fall took place in 1922, due to “ passive resistance’? upon the occupation of the ruhr by the allies; recovery set in later, the output for 1925 reaching to 130,595,951 tons or, converting brown coal into terms of ‘ black” coal, 174,127,935 tons. taking the whole of germany and comparing pre-war and post-war results, the following figures show the relative outputs exclusive of brown coal:— | germany's production of coal 1913 1923 tons tons ruhr . 112,695,000 | occupied terri- tory ‘ ; 33,552,000 upper silesia 43,097,000 | unoccupied ruhr mines : 7,863,000 lower silesia 5,438,000 | german upper silesia 8,604,000 saxony and lower silesia 5,223,000 lower saxony 5,872,000 aix-la-chapelle 3,212,000 | saxony , 5,214,000 lorraine . ; 3,735,000 | aix-la-chapelle g84,000 saar area i 3,005,000 total 137,054,000 total 61,440,000 the table below shows the export trade in coal of the three great coal producing countries in 1913 and 1924. world's coal export trade (in millions of long tons) (including coal shipped as bunkers by vessels engaged in overseas trade, and also coal equivalents of brown coal, coke and briquettes) compiled from coal tables, 1924, issued by the mines dept. of great britain per cent of quantity total country gs i9i3 | 1924 49°8| 51:2 24-0 12-0 1913 98-3 47-4 23-6 1924 great britain... 82-0 germany, including deliveries! ; united states reparation 15:6 12-4 79°2 100-0 25:1 19°8 total of above . 169:3 | 126-9] 85:8 the world 197°3 1 coal equivalent of brown coal briquettes delivered on reparation account is included here. 160-2 | 100-0 these figures show that great britain had improved her position in point of her percentage of the world’s export, but inasmuch as the total amount of coal exported from all countries had declined, the weight of coal exported by great britain had also declined (see figs. 2 and 3). the year 1925 showed a further decline of nearly 11,000,000 tons, and great britain’s figures for 1926 were seriously affected by the strike. germany.—the total home consumption of coal and lignite in germany during 1924 was as follows:— coal tons . 118,828,644 41,453,276 160,281,920 » 15,240,108 coal from home sources.’ : . lignite, home sources (converted 4) plus imports 175,522,028 4,358, 568 171,163,460 . 19,680,243 - 151,483,217 less exports . less reparation deliveries net consumption ae mw suo buoy? zo suotf/ipy & 0 0 is s12 1913 ism hsi cshs year fic. 2.—domestic exports of coal of al! kinds, including coal shipped as bunkers for use of steamers engaged in overseas trade. note the steady decline in british exports during and after the war, and the great increase in 1923 and 1924 during the occupation of the ruhr by the french. s20 192k «(1822 «1923 192% 1925 the germanexportsof coal for 1925 rose to 13,500,000 tons. tak- ing the frontiers in 1925, the consumption in 1913 was 156,000,000 tons, which is not far short of the british home consumption in 1913 of 189,009,090 tons, and points to the increased industrial activity of germany. the chief consumption of lignite was in the generation of electrical energy. in 1913 lignite was the source of 23% of the power generated in germany, and in 1922 of 41-2%; the gencration of electric power more than trebled in the 10-year period 1913-22, amounting in the latter year to 7,200,000,000 kw. hours. increased saving in fuel consumption in large powcr plants and increased use of lignite in the genera- tion of power have liberated a greater quantity of high class “black” coal for export, which competes with british coal in european and other markets. pelee basta ee iz tt lta ns so a a ae 70 eee eet fest ee pe ed stttlllelevivlilll = 2 50 3 be dt ale e 40 1 21 ct) v/a rl a = 30 aa. a ngrss ae ees ; e 910 «1s = 812, 1513 94 15hcie‘isngsc(in?, ncis 1920 s21 922 1923 1924s year fic. 3.—average annual value (f.0.b.) per long ton of domestic coal exported. note the great increase in value, particularly of british coal, during 1920. united states —the coal produced in the united states of america was estimated in the year 1922 to be distributed as follows :— 661 per cent 5 ; of production domestic consumption : : : : ; ; 13 railways ‘ : ; : : : ; bp 28 power utilities ; : ; , ; 124 jron and steel industry ; , : 15 general manufacturing of ; ig} export and bunker trade. : ; ; 12 100 consumption per [lead of population.—the comparative ap- parent coal consumption per head of population as between great britain, the united states, germany, france and bel- ane for the years 1913-24 inclusive, is shown in the following table:— apparent coal consumption per head of population (long tons per annum) country united kingdom! , united states . germany? france belgium united kingdom! . | 3-95 | 4:07 | 2-77 | 3:52 | 4-00 | 4:18 united states . 4:44 | 5-08 | 3:90 | 3-78 {| 5-00 | 4°31 germany? 3:06 | 3°66 | 3°86 | 4-18 | 3:35 | 4:15 france? 1-04 | i-23 | i-14 ] i-29 | 1°54 | 1°69 belgium 1:98 | 2:96 | 2-735] 3-039] 3-535) 3:78 ‘figures for 1915-8 are based upon populations consisting of ienglish and welsh civilian populations only, scotch pcpulation making no allowance for movement of scottish troops overseas, and irish population allowing for movement of military forces. figures for 1923 and 1924 refer to great britain and northern ireland. 2 including brown coal. 3 excluding saar. 4information as to trade ts not available. ’ belgium-luxembourg economic union, germany's selling methods.—in germany the colliery owners must by law sell chrough syndicates arranged according to districts. a severe penalty is imposed on any owner selling coal outside the syndicate of the district in which his colliery is situated. the syndicates, which are not worked in order to make profit, determine the output of each colliery and fix the selling price of the coal, all coal being divided into classes, e.g., gas coal, coking coal, steam coal, etc. ‘there is one price only for any given class, except in respect of coals grading from steam into anthracite, intermediate of “ dry” steam coals; in these ‘‘ border-line ”’ cases here may be more than one price. the syndicates are as follows:— a. black coal (german ‘stone coal ”’).—1. ruhr, 2. aix-la-cha- pelle, 3. hanover, 4. saxony (zwickau), 5. lower silesia and 6, ger- man upper silesia. 13. some black coal but chiefly lignite (brown coal).— 7. bavaria. c. lignite.-—8. cologne, 9. saxony (halle) and 10. east of elbe (berlin). all of these syndicates are combined into the reichskohlen- verband over which is a coal council composed of representatives of the coal owners, workmen and consumers’ associations, termed the reichskohlenrat, which has conferred upon it, by govern- ment, power to make laws and regulations for the control of the coal mining industry, subject, however, to a power of veto vested in the minister of economics (reichswirtschaftsminister). there are at least roo members of the kohlenrat, 25 of whom are appointed by the management, 25 by the miners and 10 by the reichstag, and the rest—of whom not more than one-third may be officials—by the president of the reich. output per man and hours of work.—the output per man per shift has of late years shown a decline in great britain, the annual average quantity of coal in long tons raised per person employed under and above ground in the countries named over the period rg1o0 to 1924 was as follows:— 662 germany (d) (exclud- ing brown coal) france (e) united states (sreat britain (ty) 260 (b) 247 (b}) 229 (b) 195 (b) 187 (c) 144 217 220 220. 225 (a) information not available. (b) these figures refer to the united kingdom. (c) low figures duc to coal strike, which lasted for three months, comparable annual figure = 192. (d} from 1912, inclusive, figures are based upon numbers of in- aured workers. (e) excluding saar district. these figures have been obtained by dividing the annual output by the number of persons employed, and, for comparative purposes 700 nn oo s un ao (= 400 pafojdwa uosued sad su0z buoy