268 GEOLOGY OF OHIO 



In the same field, two seams of coal are found within the same 

 acreage, fifty to seventy feet apart. The lower seam is the thicker and 

 stronger coal and on this account is somewhat the more marketable. 

 But if the lower seam is mined first, the upper seam is rendered value- 

 less, through the disintegration affected by the unwatering of the coal 

 and by the irregularities that result from the subsidence of the strata 

 over the worked-out spaces. If the upper seam, which is also a valuable 

 bed of coal, is to be saved at all, it must be mined first. But there are 

 considerable areas in which the lower seam is taken and the upper there- 

 by sacrificed. The fault in this case, is due to the demand for immediate 

 returns on the part of the coal operator. 



Another lamentable source of loss occurs in the districts in which 

 the coal is of the open-burning variety. The slack of this open-burning 

 coal, which results from undermining and handling, is mainly wasted; 

 but the portions of the coal from which the greater part of it is derived, 

 constitutes 'the best and purest portion of the entire seam. This waste 

 accumulates to the extent of millions of tons in our great coal fields. 

 Only a brief exposure of it to the air is necessary to rob it of all value. 

 Still another important source of loss is to be found in the work of un- 

 skillful miners, especially in the districts in which the open-burning coals 

 occur. The unskillful miner reduces a much larger portion of the coal 

 to slack than the property trained miner and as already stated this pro- 

 duct of the mines is mainly lost to service. 



But the greatest loss of all results from the failure to take out all 

 the available coal in the operation of mining. This failure has several 

 roots, as the demand for immediate returns; improper system of mining, 

 reckless or ignorant administration of whatever system it employed. 

 The chief cause is, however, the low prices at which coal is sold. No 

 proper incentive to intelligent and thorough work is found in the value 

 of the coal thus wantonly wasted. 



The unnecessar3 T losses thus far entailed and now in process of 

 infliction on our most important coal-fields are estimated by those best 

 calculated to judge as ranging from 5 to 25 per cent. The latter figure 

 includes losses of the first sort named in this review. 



In a civilized state it ought to be impossible for barbaric waste of 

 the kinds above named to go on. But there is no power that can be 

 invoked to arrest it. Our whole system of laws forbid interference with 

 the land owner or the coal producer in the question involved. Each can 

 do "what he will with his own". 



At no distant da} T , the State will be obliged to take a radically new 

 departure in putting an end to this reckless and unnecessary sacrifice 

 of its stored power, which while it does not enrich us, makes the future 

 poor indeed. The sooner the State assumes the necessary supervisory 

 and restrictive power, the better. Along with this increased exercise of 

 power on the part of the State, there should follow an increased price of 



