NA TURE 



'93 



THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1921. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices: 



MACMILLAN dr CO., LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 

 addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number: GERRARD 8830. 



The Coal Position. 



TWO national coal strikes within six months 

 have rudely forced upon the British 

 public the appreciation of the fact that our national 

 economic system is entirely based upon our coal 

 production. We are dependent upon coal in a 

 way that no other nation is ; we are living in a 

 country that cannot grow sufficient food to supply 

 the population, and we exist only by virtue of 

 being able to import food to make up the defici- 

 ency in our home production, and, needless to 

 say, we can pay for this importation only by our 

 I exports. Now coal is practically the only material 

 I product that we do export; apart from the rela- 

 f tively small quantity of coal exported as such, 

 ... we indirectly export coal on a vast scale; when 



> we import Spanish iron ore and export steel rails, 



> or when we import American cotton and export 

 ' piece goods, we are indirectly exporting coal — the 



coal that has been used in converting the raw 

 materials into the finished articles that we sell ; 

 \vhen a steamer, bunkered in this country, carries 

 goods from any part of the world to any other 

 part, the freight paid to the shipowner is in part 

 payment for coal exported from this country. In 

 its manifold applications coal is the only asset that 

 we possess which enables us to liquidate our in- 

 debtedness to other nations, and thus it is that our 

 NO. 2685, VOL. 107] 



coal supply is of vital importance, not only to our 

 prosperity, but even to our very existence. 



The factors that have contributed to place us 

 in the premier position (until recently) amongst 

 the world's coal exporters are well known 

 and sufficiently obvious. Until last autumn we 

 maintained that position ; when, however, a 

 general coal strike was declared, those countries 

 which had hitherto been dependent upon us for 

 their coal supplies decided that they could not 

 risk being dependent upon the continued disturb- 

 ances in the coal mining industry of this country 

 with winter coming on apace, and hence made 

 haste to cover their coal requirements wherever 

 they could, and that was, of course, mainly from 

 the United States. Thus, to take France as an ex- 

 ample, that country imported in the first eleven 

 months of 1920 about 1,982,000 tons of American 

 coal, of which 1,309,000 tons were imported in 

 October and November. It is far easier to lose a 

 market than to regain it, and the first condition 

 for controlling a market is the ability to supply it 

 steadily as required. This second coal strike is 

 scarcely likely to inspire in our customers abroad 

 any confidence in our ability to fill orders when- 

 ever they need coal, and will certainly cause them 

 to look for more trustworthy sources of supply. 

 Our only chance of regaining our leading position 

 would appear to be if we had such pre-eminence 

 both in the quality and in the quantity of our coal 

 resources as would ensure us an advantage over 

 our competitors. This is, however, far from being 

 the case. As regards quality no doubt we hold the 

 first place ; no country produces coals equal to ours 

 on the average, and in this respect Nature has 

 dealt generously with us. The question of the 

 quality of coal is, however, not one of very great 

 importance ; modern inventions have shown us 

 how to utilise inferior coals for practically any 

 purpose, and it seems quite certain that the limits 

 of the resources of science in this direction have 

 by no means been reached. 



It is, after all, more a question of cost than of 

 anything else ; the purchaser of coals buys poten- 

 tial thermal units, and he will naturally buy that 

 coal, w'hatever be its quality, which will give him 

 the maximum number of thermal units at a given 

 price. It is impossible to discuss the coal ques- 

 tion in any way adequately without taking the 

 cost of the coal into serious account. Nature has 

 favoured us not only in the quality of our coal, but 

 also in its mode of occurrence and in the com- 

 parative ease with which it can be produced ; a 

 comparison between, for example, the magnifi- 



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