8 BULLETIN 102, VOL. 1, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



industry and commerce, and is used in American homes that can not 

 afford anthracite. Vast quantities of coal lower in grade than 

 bituminous, such as lignite and peat,* occur in many parts of the 

 United States, but these as yet are practically untouched. 



Coal as now used fulfills three distinct and unrelated fxmctions. It 

 furnishes industrial power, material for the manufacture of coal 

 products, and domestic heat.' About two-thirds of the coal con- 

 sumed in the United States goes into the production of power which 

 is divided almost equally between the industries and the transporta- 

 tion systems; about one-sixth is used as a raw material for maldng 

 substances employed mdustrially, such as metallurgical coke, upon 

 which the iron industry depends, and gas, nitrogen compounds, 

 benzol,^ tar, and coal-tar products. One-sixth approximately is 

 employed for heating homes and other buildings. It will be observed, 

 then, that the combined industrial requirements outweigh the needs 

 of the home five to one. 



This threefold function of coal mvolves the element of competi- 

 tion, which is latent in normal times, but becomes effective in periods 

 of stress. War conditions in America developed in acute form the 

 inevitable consequence of this competitive tendency, a shortage of 

 fuel for domestic heating.'' Industrial users of coal are strong and 

 preponderant; they can meet a growing cost by passing it on to the 

 consuming public in the form of higher prices; and in cases of short- 

 age they are normally given precedence in distribution. Domestic 

 users of coal, on the contrary, are scattered and weak; in general 

 they must accept what is left after the wants of industry are 

 satisfied. The home, therefore, is forced to pay a price developed 

 by the industrial demand, or else, if the price be artificially fixed, 

 suffer more than its relative share of the shortage which the expanded 

 demands of industry create. This condition was not peculiar to the 

 war situation, though never before, of course, so gravely manifest; 

 it is inherent in our present system of fuel utilization, which if un- 

 changed may be expected to display a repetition during every future 

 period of industrial quickening. Moreover, the growth of industrial- 

 ism, by increasing the industrial consumption in respect to the domes- 

 tic, will serve to make the danger progressively more serious. 



The competitive tendency that now obtains between the three 

 main uses of coal is not justifiable on the basis of the character of 

 coal itself. On the contrary, these functions, at present antagonistic, 



1 Peat is not strictly a coal in the commercial sense, tliougli it represents one of the first stages in coal 

 formation. 

 « Coal, of course, is used lor other specific purposes, but these are of secondary importance. 

 » Benzol is the light oil often included in the term coal-tar. 

 * This shortage, indeed, has been so great as to extend into industry also. 



