On the American Fuel Famine 



i;,v (• II A U' L K S p. H H K' K K V 



I'rolis.-or ot (.icolojcy, Coluiiibin riii\crsil> 



NK\'l';i; lii't'di'c liMs the aviTUiji.' 

 litizdi o\' the I'nited States 

 trtiiiMcd liiuiscir seriously with 

 the question ol' our coal su|»|)ly. hut the 

 fuel shortatfe of the past few months 

 has raised the ([Uestiou in ahnost every 

 niiuil. I'he j)oj)alar eonet'iition of the 

 cause of the shortage is certain to in- 

 volve tlie question ol" possihic exhaus- 

 tion of the sources of suppl}. and rais(> 

 the specter of a permanent fuel iamine. 

 It is. on the whoh\ a vi-ry natural in- 

 ference in these days of lurnioil, wlicii 

 for the first time in our e.\])i'ricnce 

 many of us hegin to realize that the 

 whole world is living literally on llic 

 verge of starvation, with threatening 

 complete exhaustion of supposedly end- 

 less stores of the coininonest necessities 

 of life. 



Is. then, our coal also ahout to fail ? 

 And are vre to he expected to add to our 

 hunger the further suffering that comes 

 from the relentless cold of our Ameri- 

 can winters? It is in the hope of heing 

 able to give a few facts bearing on this 

 question that the following momoran- 

 dum has been written. 



21ic Real Question 



As a matter of fact, the controlling 

 factors in the present fuel shortage 

 have very little relation to the matter 

 of coal resources or reserves. They are 

 almost wholly simple questions of trans- 

 portation together with the disturb- 

 ances of an abnormal demand. These 

 are affected somewhat also by labor 

 conditions and the difficulty of adjust- 

 ment to the extraordinary living and 

 cost conditions of the time. They might 

 be summarized, perhaps, briefly as fol- 

 lows : 



(a) Inadequate transportation facili- 

 ties for this commodity, occa- 

 sioned by extraordinary require- 

 ments for other purposes, 



(/' ) An unusuallv <c\(tc winter season. 



((•) .\n aliiioiiiiid dcniand for coal of 

 cciiain liiglici- grades for ship- 

 ping and I'oi' export, as well as 

 in the inilii>l I'ies of our own 

 country, which are now called on 

 for maximum or increased out- 



((I) Shortage of cllicicnt labor in all 

 sorts of related or contributory 



work. 

 ((') And llii' liaiidieap (d' increased 

 costs of all kinds. 



II is not our ])urpose to discuss these 

 mailers. It is only fair to say, how- 

 ever, that there is no I'eal >lioi'tago of 

 conl reserves in the gi'ound. .\nierica 

 lia> llie most wondei-rul supply id' aiiv 

 coiml I'v in I lie woi'ld. 



Tlic CoitJ Fields of the United States 



America has all grades of coal in 

 very great abundance as compared with 

 the other countries of the world, but 

 certain grades characterize particular 

 fields and therefore this question as- 

 siunes regional importance to some de- 

 gree. For example, anthracite is the 

 highest grade of coal, but it is confined 

 almost entirely to four comparatively 

 small fields in eastern Pennsylvania, 

 which furnish tlie market in that grade, 

 although tliei-e are a few very small 

 anthracite occurrences in the Rocky 

 Mountain region that have local use. 

 On the other hand, lignite, the lowest 

 grade, is very widely distributed, espe- 

 cially in the Great Plains, Eocky !Moun- 

 tain and Gulf regions, and forms an 

 immense reserve which is drawn upon 

 to very small amount in the present 

 market. 



The grades recognized by the United 

 States Geological Survey include: 



Anihracite. or "hard coal" (the highest 



grade of all coals). 

 Semi-anthracite, 



Semibituminous (high grade soft coal), 

 Piitunnnons. (u- "soft coid" (the most 



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