NATIONAL POWER AND COAL 157 
of many of which, like carbolic acid, for instance, are 
“household words’’; but most of them are known 
by name only to the specialists who deal with them. | 
Coal products in some form or other are used in 
innumerable trades and manufactures. We swallow 
coal products, wear coal products, scent ourselves with 
coal products, nourish our flowers and crops with coal 
products, destroy our enemies with coal products. 
_ How much coal does it take to do these things, and 
more, for us¢ As these last years have been abnormal, 
T will go back some distance for actual figures : in 1903 
in the United Kingdom we used approximately— 
For our Railways . . . . . « + 13,000,000 tons of coal. 
Bhi sis Factories + 8 6 6 4 6 + © 53,000,000 5, 54 54 
gee cap IVES ar os a ah eB 9 B,OO0000. +540 35 “5; 
» 9 Ironand Steel Industries . . 28,000,000 ,, ,, 5 
3. 37 Gas Works: 4 2 «= « 4 % 19,000,000 .,, 5, -y, 
x» », Domesticuses . . . . « 32,000,000 , 4, ,, 
and, as we are a coal-producing nation, we exported very 
much more than all that was used in our houses. I 
need not remind you that our financial position as a 
nation is largely influenced by our export trade, hence, 
indirectly, coal is thus another source of power to us. 
To illustrate how greatly our use of coal increases 
with the years, a few comparative figures may be of 
interest ; and these tables will also indicate the relative 
changes of precedence held by the leading coal-producing 
countries in these short periods of time. 
In 1845 Production was— In 1865 Production was— 
Great Britain . 31,500,000 tons Great Britain. 99,760,000 tons 
Belgium . . 4,960,077 ,, Germany . . 28,330,000 ,, 
U.S.A. . . . 4,400,000 ,,> USA. «+ + 24,790,000 5 
France . . . 4,141,617 ,, France . .» 11,840,000 ,, 
Belgium . . 11,840,000 ,, 
