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348 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
the freight vessels sailing via the Suez to be a shortage of cars. All normal
Canal and the Mediterranean would be freight schedules are sadly disarranged.
likely to reach port.
Whatever the patient public knows as
French scientists, therefore, have been to the causes, it is sure that it feels the
vigorously seeking ways and means to effects. We have the coal, if it only can
meet the deficit. There is a poor quality be shipped. The whole world knows it.
of coal in central France, which was re­ That is why the French commission is
garded formerly as not being worthy of seeking to make a contract with certain
serious consideration. The French, producers to ship annually five million
finding, like the Germans, that coking is tons of steam coal to France. This com­
essential to getting every by-product out mission is now negotiating also with the
of the coal, tried to put this supply owners of mines in Colorado to get as
through the regular process. But it much as possible of the output of that
proved to be the despair of factory man­ region.
agers. However, scientists got busy and The world-wide shortage is likely to
invented a method which made coke de­ continue. Not until the war is over can
rived from this inferior product of much Europe solve this problem. And in the
greater value. Still the supply is far United States we shall more than likely
from adequate and at the present time a experience coal hunger, not only next
commission of French engineers is in winter but the winter after.
the United States trying to buy up suf­ With a war on our hands the coal
ficient coal for the needs of their country. problem cannot be trifled with. We shall
The supply in the United States is have to employ means as arbitrary as
short now. This condition of affairs, of Great Britain found necessary. Coal ex­
course, is not necessarily permanent, but perts say that counting the working year
has been brought about owing to peculiar as three hundred days, the mines this
business conditions.
past year were unnecessarily idle nearly
It appears to be rather difficult to get one-third of the time. If the mines had
at the underlying difficulty. We know produced their normal output, all the
freight congestion exists. There seems nations of the world, including the
THE INTERIOR OF A WELSH MINE
Even now these mines are not producing up to their full peace-time capacity.