Coal mining in Illinois . ause in District II almost all the coal is undercut and inboth districts the labor is chiefly American, English, andScotch and the coal is easily mined. In Districts IV, Y, VI,VII, and VIII, in which the mines are of larger capacity,the percentage of undercut coal is the chief factor in high percapita production although the number of men employed inrescreening plants and washeries, thickness of seam, and thenationality of emplovees are minor factors in Districts VI,VII, and VIII. The coal mining industry is now in a critical conditionin Illinois. The principal cause
Coal mining in Illinois . ause in District II almost all the coal is undercut and inboth districts the labor is chiefly American, English, andScotch and the coal is easily mined. In Districts IV, Y, VI,VII, and VIII, in which the mines are of larger capacity,the percentage of undercut coal is the chief factor in high percapita production although the number of men employed inrescreening plants and washeries, thickness of seam, and thenationality of emplovees are minor factors in Districts VI,VII, and VIII. The coal mining industry is now in a critical conditionin Illinois. The principal cause of the present depression isthat it has been too easy to open a mine. The Mining Inves-tigation Commission of the State of Illinois in its report toGovernor Charles S. Deneen, March, 11)11, said: The number of shipping mines in Illinois is greatly inexcess of the number required to supply the maximum demandfor Illinois coal. This has resulted in the actual annual aver- (147) 148 COAL MINING INVESTIGATIONS -I o o CM H <. PER CAPITA PRODUCTION OF EMPLOYEES 149 age running time of all mines operating in Illinois for sev-eral years past being materially less than two hundred daysper year. With a more reasonable adjustment of miningcapacity to the greatest possible maximum demand (whichis entirely feasible in so far as the commercial or physicalconsiderations are concerned) it should be possible for themines to be operated an average of at least two hundred andfifty days per year. The result of this condition is that allof the mine employees in Illinois (now about seventy thous-and) are idle on an average at least sixty days per yearmore than need be if there were a reasonable adjustment ofmining capacity to the fullest trade requirements. Stated in another way, the entire force of mine em-ployees is idle one-fourth of the time they should be able towork after making all allowance for unavoidable idle has the same effect as though one-fourth of them wereidle all the tim
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcoalmin, bookyear1915
