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Show ENORMOUS COAL PILE Washington. Aug 8. The production produc-tion of coal In lf12 reached the great total of 534.4S6.5SO short tons, valued at the mines at $696.606.07 1 . according accord-ing to a statement by Edward W. Parker, coal statistician, Just issued by the United States gelogical survey This ear the report on the coal industry of the United States begins the fourth decade In which coal statistics sta-tistics have heen published nnnunlh by the geological survey In 1S82. the first year of this period. th total coal production of the United States had reached what was then considered about high water mark 103,551.189 short tons In 1TU2 the production of bituminous coal alone in the state of Pennsylvania exceeded that figure by nearly 60 per cent and the combined production of bituminous coal and anthracite an-thracite In Pennsylvania In 1912 was 2 1-4 times the total production of the United States in 1882 The total coal production of the United States in 1912 was more than five times that of 1882. In 1882 the United States was a poor second among the coal producing produc-ing countries of the world Great Britain Brit-ain having an ovitput exceeding that of this country by nearlv 70 per cent. The United States supplanted Great Britain as the premier coal producing country in 1899 and in 1912 it was as far ahead of Great Britain as that country was ahead of the United States in 18S2. The United States at present Is contributing 40 per cent of the world's supply of coal and is consuming con-suming over 99 per cent of its own production. All Records Broken In 1912 In 1912 the production of coal In the United States not onl surpassed all previous tonnage records, but the average value per ton exceeded that of any normal vear In the C3 years for which statistics are available There has heen onlv one jear when prices generally were higher than In 1912. and that was 1903. the year of the fuel famine. The gain in output In 1912 over 1911 was 38 095,454 short tons and the increase In value was $69,040,860. The production of bituminous coal Increased In-creased from 405,907.059 short tons to 450.104,982 tons, a gain of 44,197 626 tons, with an iucrease of $66 607,626 In value. The decreased production of anthracite amounting to 6,102,469 short ton. was due cntlreh to the suspension of mining In April and May, when practically the entire region re-gion was idle The factors which contributed con-tributed to the Increased output of bituminous coal were (1) the revival In the iron and steel Industry, which stimulated production in the eastern states, the coal made Into coke showing, show-ing, alone, an increase of nearly 6.000,000 tons; (2) bumper crops of grain and other agricultural products, which gave prosperity to the farming communities of the middles west, 3i decreasing supplies of natural gas and fuel oil In the mid-contlncntal Peld and their consequent lessened competition with coal from the southwestern south-western states; (4i increased consumption con-sumption by railroads and In nearly all lines of manufacturing, (5) actlT-ity actlT-ity In the mining and smelting of the precious and senn-preclous metals In the Rocky mountain and Pacific states These factors combined made ihf vear 1912 one of the rather rare prosperous ears in the mining of bituminous bi-tuminous coal. Increased Production In 21 States. Of the 27 states in which coal mining min-ing may be considered to be conducted conduct-ed on a commercial basis, there were 21 In which the output of 1912 showed t:n Increase over 1911. and in all but two of the Important states the Increase In-crease In value was greater than the increase In tonnage In the production of bituminous coal Pennsvlvanla In 1912 showed an increase in-crease of 17,304.231 short ton? West Virginia's increase In 1912 was 6,955 -107 tons. Illinois increased its pro-production pro-production by 6,206,108 tons, Ohio by 3.768,741 tons. Kentucky by 2.440.818 tons. Indiana by 1,084,868 tons Alabama Ala-bama bv 1.079.179 tons. Virginia by 981.971 tons, Colorado by 820.441 tons I and Kansas by 807 454 tons |