OCR Text |
Show CN.STREVELL DISCUSSES H PRESENT COAL SITUATION H C. N. Strovoll of Salt Ijike City, prosidunt of the Independent MP' Coal and Coko company with mines at Kenllworth, in commenting . B ffl on the coal situation for 1917, says: "The coal situation for 1917 jB B presenUt many angles which were never before apparent. The B I minus for the last ten months have had a large excess of orders j B over what they were able to produce. The railroads have been IjjM R unable to furnish sufficient equipment to keep the mines running IB fl over 05 per cent of the time. A great many of the miners have ' IB W become dlssatlsfietl with enforced idleness on account of car short- jB I age and have abandoned the coal fields for the metal mlneSt and tjB 9 factories, where they could havu continuous employment nt almost I B I any wage they asked. K f "The demand for coal has largely increased as the railroad jB g comiMinies are using every locomotive It is jwssible for them to B 1 secure. Fnctories have multiplied, particularly sugar factories B I five new factories having been built during 1910 :gul four under iil I construction for 1917. Each of these will require In the neighbor- jljl I hood of ten thousand tons of coal annually. There has been prac- 'al 1 tlcally no coal received on thn Pacific CoitHt from Australia, New Mil I Zealand, China or Japan for over a year. The amount of coal from I'll liritlsh Columbia has been greatly reduced by an act of the Ilrltlsh I 8 government and the high price of coal on the Atlantic Seaboard J I H has prevented any coal moving through the canal to the Pacific 'J f , ll Coast. i n m I'H 1 r N ! "The high price of oil has made It necessary for a great many I fl oil users to return to the use of coal as It Is possible to secure It. j 1 1 $ It Is estimated by good authorities In California that the con- jF H sumption of oil at the present time is forty thousand barrels per 11 f al day more than is produced, tho result being that the amount of hi jlfl storage oil is being rapidly reduced. The only substitute for oil j i f I'll Is coal. Just whero they are to secure this is tho problem. Present W l developments in the coal fields of Utah would very likely be ample ,jjH i to supply the requirements if sufficient miners were obtainable j if ?B and the tratiHportatlon facilities adequate for handling tho same. ' I vM Higher prices for coal are sure to prevail. i j ')fl "On accountof the shortage of miners in the coal fields, op- I B orators are looking for n mechanical substitute for this class of , f B labor. So far, however, there has been nothing offered by the p B manufacturers that Is satisfactory, so that there seems no im- i i B mediate relief in this direction." ' ' i H . i h , m |