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Show It May Be 90 Degrees in the Shade But Your Coal Bin Rates a Check-Up. "5 Unnecessary Delay May Bring Hardships This Coming Winter You can't say that you haven't been warned. You can't say, when the leaves begin to fall, that you didn't have enough time to order your coal. In another two months at the most it is going to be almost al-most too late to get your coal supply. Then you won't be ready when the temperature begins to drop. During the summer months, when homeowners formerly paid but little attention to their coal bins, there had always al-ways been a definite slump in coal production. The producers produc-ers called the months the normal nor-mal "off season" period. This year, though, because of the high rate of war-time production despite the lack Sfe ing by the home iSOSSv.,' mi. and apartment gi il(fe!v5:J 5p owners, large MBM mi stores, and oth- ? W:- er commercial "l Ljy centers the Ji&ptt mines are now j&jfJk. p working at 90 II per cent of capacity. ca-pacity. What lies ahead for those who have not purchased their coal during dur-ing the off-season is easy to see. At the present time American industry has not, as yet, reached its full war-time capacity of production for Victory. Fall and early winter will see the nation at this peak period. They'll Be Out of Luck. Then, when industry is humming its song of' death for Hitler and his stooges, if Mr. Jones, or Mr. Slo-polk, Slo-polk, or Mrs. Andy Tardie have not ordered their coal to keep the home fires burning, it is very probable that they are going to be out of luck. They'll probably have to spend some very miserable days until the coal they, order LATE arrives. Why so? Here's why: Increased production to peak records in U. S. factories is going to require more coal. It stands to reason that if the mines are now working at 90 per cent of capacity (and industry has not yet reached its peak of production nor coal consumption), when the peak does arrive Uncle Sam is going go-ing to see to it that those industries get all the coal they want, as often as they want it, and no questions asked. It is true that all will have to forego fore-go some former necessities and comforts com-forts until this universal war is won. But there is little reason to take on a hardship which is doing no one -even the nation's offensive for victory vic-tory any good. , . , By waiting until it is practically practical-ly too late to order coal, most of which is then going to the factories, fac-tories, the home owner is deliberately delib-erately harnessing himself Tvith hardship besides getting In the way of the nation's wartime progress. ' Like a Slow Freight. .. Those who . delay ordering : coal now. for this coming winter may be compared to a slow , freight, train heading towards its terminal with a fast freight right behind it. The latter lat-ter is delayed from reaching its destination des-tination on schedule. Your nation's victory efforts are all being carried on that fast freight train. The dillydallying,' dilly-dallying,' late-ordering home owner is the slow freight. But don't forget: Uncle Sam Is the dispatcher on that railroad. He's These three miners are typically representative of those thousands responsible for the continuous flow of coal for the nation. There has been practically no "slack" season for them this year. The usual off-season period (summer months) for them was omitted because of industry's need for coal to carry on for the coming victory. a good one, too. What he's going to do is shove the slow freight on to a siding and let the fast freight come on through. In other words, those home owners and other consumers who haven't as yet ordered their coal supplies, may have to be sidetracked later this year in favor of Uncle Sam's more important im-portant business of winning the war. Cold feet now may result re-sult in even colder pedal extremities extrem-ities this winter. The fact that peak production of American industry will be reached during the coming winter months isn't the only reason why you should be now getting your coal. Even today the railroad yards, the river shipping docks and terminals Oil Burner Conversion The War Production board has acted to speed the conversion of oil-burning equipment to coal by permitting the assembly of small stokers, from materials which were in manufacturers' hands on May 31. At the same time, W. W. Tim-mis, Tim-mis, chief of the plumbing and heating branch, announced the creation of an operations section which will continue an over-all study. This study of the various problems involved in the conversion conver-sion of oil burners to other fuels has been under way for some time. are jammed to capacity. Railroaders Railroad-ers will tell you, with a touch of the Paul Bunyan spirit, that the rails just can't cool off. Rivermen will tell you that no sooner do the waves from one river vessel ease off on the beach, before another swell starts rolling in. When the peak is . reached in production you can imagine imag-ine what the thousands of home owners own-ers who wait "until later" to order their coal are doing to add to the groaning weight of traffic on the railroads, rivers and highways. You owe it to your own comfort this coming winter, but especially to your nation out to win the gigantic struggle with Hitler and his partners, part-ners, to make necessary provisions in advance. Get It Now. Despite the fact that bituminous coal production is now "running over 11,000,000 tons a WiMS vsi;5S:i ' week, there is ifVOAl PS plenty of coal for all. The idea 'SMMMM0WSM: is to get it when 'WmWMWM. 's now readily irMfe" Mw available. SMWSp During 1942, rS0vJWi VtM from 550 million tons to 570 mil-Bm&BM mil-Bm&BM lion tons of bituminous bi-tuminous coal and 60 million tons of anthracite coal are required. The smaller portion por-tion of this amount is for home consumption. con-sumption. Even if you have already ordered or-dered your coal, or intend getting get-ting it in during the next two weeks at the latest, you have Fuel User's Pledge Every home owner might well subscribe to the following: 1. To conserve heat and fuel. 2. To see that the heating plant is clean and kept clean. 3. To have the heating system inspected by a competent beating man or fuel dealer. 4. To have such repairs or alterations as are essential to efficient operation of the heating equipment made at once. 5. To do everything practical to reduce heat losses. 6. To learn how to operate the heating system properly. 7. To prevent smoke, because smoke means waste and inefficiency. 8. To avoid over, or under heating because either is dangerous to health. 9. To order fuel early, to anticipate needs, to keep a stock of fuel on hand, so as to equalize and conserve transportation and delivery facilities, and to prevent tie-ups and shortages. not done your full bit to insure warmth for your home, or final victory for your country. Check Heating System. This Is the time of the year if ever to see to it that the home's heating system is cleaned, inspected, inspect-ed, and repaired if necessary. Neglect now, during the summer months, can damage your home heating apparatus more than a winter win-ter season of hard activity. Lack of ventilation in the basement, base-ment, high humidity, condensation, or corrosion can soon play havoc with a heating plant. More than often it does, as shown by the short life of most smoke pipes which last only two or three years. Improper operation, lack of maintenance, main-tenance, excessive stack losses, faulty distribu- tion or circula- 7 T S tion, overheat- "gjg ing, infiltration, WMm and needless SSD O heat losses waste :?B VH nsa 20 per cent of S Ril U3Lf the fuel used in Vptai Ql the average j . r-":' --r.s home. With the WM LifJ country at war, jdSf KmWtMti with extraordinary extraordi-nary demands on transportation facilities, fa-cilities, such waste is intolerable.' Coupled with the effect on health, lost time due to colds, absenteeism, absentee-ism, etc., such neglect of proper maintenance and operation of the heating system becomes almost criminal. Just as you check over your automobile au-tomobile periodically, or have some one do it, so too is it a good idea to have a competent heating man inspect in-spect your furnace or boiler. It the average household gave its heating plant half the care it bestows be-stows upon the family car, the national na-tional fuel bill would be reduced many millions a year. Coal mining is one of the nation's major industries. The last available reports on the amount of coal mined show that over 51,887,885 tons of coal were prepared for consumption. Chief soft coal producing states are Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Il-linois, and Kentucky. Anthracite (hard) coal is produced principally in Pennsylvania, around Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Coal Exports. Coal exports amount to a sizeable figure, too. In 1940 (latest data available) over 16,456,928 tons were exported. The majority of the anthracite an-thracite exported went to Canada. Coke production, a coal by-product, also assumed gigantic proportions. propor-tions. Data shows that over 273,-832,410 273,-832,410 tons were produced in 1940. The gas from coke production is also used for fuel purposes. Employment in the coal mining industry has declined ever since 1920. That year there were 784,621 persons employed. Ten years later (1930) there were 644,006 at work. In 1940 the number had further decreased de-creased to 543,200. Crude Oil Production Increase. Crude oil production in the United States, also, has steadily increased according to statistics. In 1920 there were 442,929,000 barrels bar-rels (42 gallons to a barrel) of oil drawn from the earth. Its value was $1,360,745,000. But the figures in 1940 were 1,351,847,000 barrels, valued at $1,352,000,000 a decrease in price. The United States produced in 1940 over half of the oil marketed. Russia was next in line with just slightly more than cove-fifth of the United States total. |