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Show EOIE PRODUCTION ii mm mm Total Output of Ovens Lust Year Shows Decrease From tho Preceding Yonr. Inoludlng tho production of coko from by-product retort ovens, which in 1PM nmounted lo 2,008,229 short tons, tho total output of tho coko ovoiim of tho United States was last your, according lo tho ro-porl ro-porl mudo by tho United States goolog-Ical goolog-Ical survey by Edward "W. Parker, 23,-C21.630 23,-C21.630 nhort tonr, ngalnnt 23.27I.2S1 nhort tons In IDK5. Tho docrcano In 3001 as compared com-pared with Iho prooedlng yoar was 1,052,-701 1,052,-701 ahort Ioiih, or C..&1 per cont. Tho total vnluo of tho product dccllnod In much greater proportion, from G,-19S,G&I In 1MM to J-IC.021US3, a docreaso of J20,I72,IS1, or 31 por cent. "Tho decllno In production was a natural nat-ural one," sdys Mr. Parkor, "duo to a slump In tho Iron trade during tho uum-mt-r months, which was In turn caused for tho most part by tho unnottlod con-dltionu con-dltionu that usually attend a presidential enmpaign. And while thoao conditions also affected prlcoa. the great difference between tho values of tho production In 1904 and 1P03 was due to tho abnormally high prices which prevailed In the early part of 1903, whon, because of tho fuel famlno Induced by tho anChlaclto utrlko of tho preceding yar, manufacturers of coko wero ablo to obtain almost any figure fig-ure they might demand. Tho average prlco for all tho coko mado and sold la 1901 wus only 9 cents less than that In 1901. und wan hlghor than that of any year from 1893 to 1S99, Inclusive" At the close of 1904 thero wero under construction 4-42Q new ovens, of which S32. or 1S.8 per cent, wero of the retort or by-product type. Tho number of completed retort ovens has Increased from 11G5 In 1911 to 1033 In 1902, to 193C In 1903, and to 2910 In 1DI. Tho output from retort ovens has Increased In-creased from 1.179,900 tons In 1901 to 1.-W3.-SSS tons in 1902, to 1.SS2.39I tons In 1903 and to 2.603.229 tons in 39W. In 1902 0.6 pet-cent pet-cent of tho total output was from byproduct by-product ovona. In 1903 the by-product coko was 7.4 per cent of tho total; In 1004 byproduct by-product coke mado up 11 per cent of the total output. Counting each bank of ovens as a separate sep-arate establishment, tho returns for 1S01 show a total of 5ot3 establishments, as compared with 500 In 1903. Eighty-two oh-labllshmontH oh-labllshmontH wfro idlo throughout 1911. as compared with forty-ono idlo plantH In 1903. Thero were also ten new ostab- llshtncjits, with a totnl of 12fo ovens, which wero not completed nnd put In blast at tho closo of 1901. Mr. Parker's report Is published as an extract from tho forthcoming volumo. "Mineral Resources of tho United Statc9. 1901." It may be obtained on application to the director of the United States geological geo-logical flurvoy, "Washington, D. C. |
