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



not merely needed, but absolutely essential, to the well-being of 

 the immediate future. 



Approaching the coal problem from the point of view of the do- 

 mestic user, we find that the homes of the country are insistent upon 

 anthracite, in so far as its use is not precluded by expense or exces- 

 sive distance from the area of production in Pennsylvania. Thus 

 the entire northeastern part of the country is entirely, and contiguous 

 territory as far west as St. Paul and as far south as Atlanta, is partly, 

 dependent upon what is popularly termed hard coal. As is well 

 known, this is due to the twofold fact that anthracite is clean, both 

 in handling and in its smokeless combustion, and its heating effect 

 is uniform and high. It is needless to add that the dependency 

 developed because a coal resource of this type was present in a popu- 

 lous and accessible part of the country. 



But anthracite is a luxury. It combines refinements of quaUty 

 with limitations of supply — the characteristics of every luxury. Its 

 cost of production is approximately twice that of bituminous coal; * 

 it emanates from one region only, a district of heavy freights; it has 

 no capability toward yielding by-products to modify its cost; besides, 

 a big fraction of the available supply is already exhausted. Its 

 domestic use may be continued as a luxury, but anthi'acite must be 

 dismissed as not equal, or adapted, to the task of supplying the 

 American home. 



The home, therefore, independently of its wishes in the matter, 

 must turn to bituminous coal for its fuel dependency. There is no 

 alternative. Already this has happened to a partial extent; war con- 

 ditions have accelerated the change; the future demands it more com- 

 pletely. The advantages of bituminous coal are well known — its 

 relative cheapness, its wide distribution, its ample reserves,^ the 

 possibihty of improved utihzation. But there is one grave objection 

 to the use of bituminous coal — its dirtiness. This is a valid objec- 

 tion. Burned in the raw condition, it gives off dense, black smoke 

 which dirties the home, pollutes the atmosphere, and becomes the 

 implacable enemy of civic betterment as well as a menace to the 

 health of the city dweller. Such a result can not be countenanced.^ 

 It so happens, however, that §moke represents the most concentrated 

 value in bituminous coal. If we can extract this value and use it 

 toward reducing the cost of fuel, at the same time making a smoke- 



1 Responsible for this is a complicated geological occurrence, involving folded strata, depth, water, and 

 association with thin seams of slate, as contrasted with the average flat, close-to-the-surface beds of bitu- 

 minous coal. 



s Less than 1 per cent of the bituminous coal of the country has been used. 



* Furnaces which consume the smoke are in use, but they have made no impression on the general situ- 

 ation; they can not meet universal acceptance, because they throw the smoke on the debit side of the 

 balance sheet, instead of into its true position, the credit side. 



