Show underground STORAGE OF COAL SUGGESTED AS stabilizer STEP storage of coal underground at the mines is suggested by director H foster bain of the bureau of mines as a practical step tow toward ard the accumulation of those reserves of fuel which are necessary to stabilize industry industry y and to protect the domestic consumer in periods of acute coal shortage such as the countr country Y has recently undergone 6 the seasonal demand for coal can to some extent be met by storage but this must be done by the consumer or by some distributing agent operating between him and the mine says dr bain in a report made to the united states coal commission at the mines the best place to store coal is in the ground and with unimportant exceptions it is not fea sable to provide more than a limited amount of storage above ground the anthracite companies established near points of consumption a system of great storage piles which were valuable balance wheels to the trade and have facilitated that steadiness steady ness of operation which distinguishes anthracite from bituminous mining large scale storage or at bituminous coal has been less practicable because the uncertainty as to future price a result of the excess capacity of the mines and the keen competition has deterred companies and individuals from making the necessary investment the rhe same factors tend to discourage individual consumers irom storing in summer coal that will not be burned till winter in periods of advancing price or of anticipated shortage however as much as tons of bituminous coal has actually gone into storage this is enough under normal conditions to stabilize the industry and also to contradict effectually those who doubt the technical feasibility of storing soft coal with proper selection of the coal and due attention to modest requirements as to methods it is entirely practicable to store large quantities of most coal at moderate cost continues dr bain the risk is in the uncertainties as to future price as the mine and railway equipment of the country is extensive enough to allow industry except under unusual conditions to obtain adequate supplies direct from the mines coal shortage and car shortage is a local matter in normal y years ears the nation has put men and money into coal mining and the railways to meet peak loads rather than provide a less amount of capital for coal storage and so insure steady and economical operation the whole problem of coal shortage has recently been reviewed by H H consulting engineer to the bureau of mines and a report is being prepared which will place the facts at the disposal of all persons interested the possibility of devising a use classification that will permit a wider pooling of coal is also suggested by dr bain such pooling would relieve the pressure on docks terminals and railway equipment he declares most users of coal lack facilities for selecting the grades best suited to their needs and most coal is sold on its name or on the reputation of the operating company or local dealer A good name is a valuable asset in business and when one has been built up it should be preserved as a public benefit but this should not be incompatible with the perfecting of some system cereby the buyer could be assured of getting on delivery a definite measure of predetermined value in his coal A system that would justly penalize dirty coal and would assure each grade selling on its merit would be in the public inte interest fest if such variable products as cotton potatoes and wheat can bt be satisfactorily graded for delivery in the public markets it would se seem em not too much to to ask that a similar system be applied to coal A basic difficulty is that of sampling 1 and measuring without undue expense a commodity handled in such quantity it is much more difficult to sample coal by hundreds of trainloads train loads than to grade potatoes by the box or even the carload in coal too there is the fundamental difficulty of the wide range in sizes as compared with 6 grains of wheat or corn provisional systems have been worked out and are being regularly applied by the bureau of mines in supervising purchases ot of coal for the federal fuel yard in washington Washing tori the isthmian canal commission and other government establishments much time and thought have been to the subject and further studies are under way the general desirability of simplifying the marketing and transportation of coal and of establishing grades responsive to use with further provision of effective and not too expensive methods of testing in the coal lowing flowing f in commerce is undoubted and it is to this end that the bureau of mines is working in the long run it is believed that as technical and economic conditions in the industry progressively improve the social and labor conditions will largely take care of themselves |