62 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



not engineering difficulties, but, rather, the cheapness of coal in 

 the ground, and the low profits resulting from over-production 

 and extreme competition. 



Cost of Coal in the Ground. 



Practically three-fifths of Illinois is underlain by coal-bearing 

 formations. The purchase price of coal rights consequently 

 ranges from $20 per acre in central Illinois to as much as $100 

 per acre near towns and developed mines. In some attractive 

 localities in the southern fields $30 per acre buys two beds of 

 known workable thickness and probably a third lower bed. The 

 coal per acre in the two beds, allowing 50 per cent for waste, 

 amounts to 10,000 tons, and the cost is therefore three-tenths of 

 a cent per ton, or i/iooo of the cost of production in the same 

 region. Even in the northern field, where the coal measures but 

 3 feet in thickness and sells at $50 per acre, the yield is 5,000 

 tons, and the cost is i cent per ton, or 0.75 per cent of the total 

 cost of production. Thus, there is small incentive for operators 

 to save all of the coal if its recovery is attended with increased 

 cost of mining. 



Over-Development and Extreme Competition. 



In 1909 there were 597 mines of commercial importance, which 

 produced 50,529,370 tons. Practically the same mines in 1910 

 produced 46 million tons, with only 160 working days. It is cus- 

 tomary for Illinois mines to meet the demand by operating only 

 two-thirds of the year. The over-capacity of the mines is some- 

 what necessary because of the heavy demands of the cold winter 

 months, but it leads to over-production and ruination of prices 

 in months of lesser demand. It is then cheaper to operate with- 

 out profit, or at a small loss, rather than to permit deterioration 

 of plant and loss of important employees.' 



A great factor in prices has been the public demand for un- 

 necessary variety in sizes of prepared coal. At given times, there- 

 fore, each mine finds itself obliged to sell uncalled-for sizes at 

 an actual loss. Screenings, especially have been sold at a loss, 

 but their increased use in automatic stokers promises improved 

 prices. Large consumers have usually bought the sizes which are 

 a drug on the market and small consumers necessarily pay the 

 small profit which reaches the mine operator. 



Illinois coal meets severe competition from other States as 



