1898 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

No. 11. BUREAU OF MINES. xixThese are indeed prosperous times iii the coal trade, aud it is to behoped that miners and operators will profit by past experience andtake advantage of the opportunity that is now offered for buildingup a steady and pioht;ible business for all interested. One thingis certain, and that is that since the Welsh coal strike, Pennsylvaniacoal has gained a foothold in foreign markets which will neverbe lost if the demand can be supplied when wanted. It is the opinionof the Welsh mine owners that the strike among their miners openedup to the United States, foreign markets where heretofore Britishcoal had supremacy, and had it not been for the great Welsh strikeAmerica never would have had the opportunity of demonstratingto the foreign consumers the superiority of her coal.This is an. objectlesson that all may profit by. The prosperity in the coaltrade, judging from the production, applies wholly to bituminouscoal. The market for anthracite coal has apparently reached itslimit. It is true there is an increase in 1898 of 197,821 tons over1897, but that is in all probability due to the extraordinarily severeweather that prevailed. It appears from the number of days thatthe mines were in operation during the year, that the mines nowopened and number of men employed, ai^e capable of producing verymuch more coal, which shows that there are more mines opened andmore men employed than are necessary to supply the demand. Theconcentration of mining interests will undoubtedly tend to improvepresent conditions. It is gratifying to note that while nearly2()0,000 tons more coal were produced in the anthracite region thanin 1897, 7,137 less men were employed. In the bituminous region9,573,361 more tons were produced than in 1897 and only 1,369 morepeople employed. When it is considered that 148.4 was the averagenumber of days the mines in the anthracite region were worked,it can readily be seen that there are more mines in operation andmore men employed than are needed to supply the demand for anthracitecoal. The average number of days worked, namely 208^,in the bituminous mines, is a better showing than that of the anthracitemines. At the same time it proves that those employedin the bituminous mines are capable of producing very much morecoal than they have. Notwithstanding this, these figures showthat the earnings of the employes in and about the hiines of the Statemust have been greater than for recent years.Owing to the great industrial and commercial growth of the CounellsvilleCoke Region and its importance as a coal producing districtof the State, a history of it has been prepared for the report.