While these agreements were merely voluntary, they broke down after a short trial. Selling agents were naturally anxious to make money, and obtained more orders than their principals were allowed. Each company accused the other of dishonest dealing, and failure of the scheme was the result. Then, too, there were a large number of independent operators. Among these was the Pennsylvania Railroad, which carried one-ninth of the output, and who steadily refused to enter into any agreement. The Reading Company has always been a leader in these plans, and it may be said in its praise that it never violated an agreement.

In 1892, McLeod, of the Reading, conceived the idea of consolidation by lease; and succeeded, in 1893, in leasing the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, thus securing the direct control of almost 49 per cent. of the total quantity of coal carried. The only rival to this combination was the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, carrying about 13.16 per cent.; but this road reached only the Northern field, while the three roads combined nearly monopolized two of the fields and had a perfect network of tracks in the third. At this time the roads were buying coal from the independent operators at 55 per cent. of tide-water prices. The Reading offered 60 per cent. if the operators would sign long contracts. Before the scheme failed, they had gathered from 70 to 80 per cent. of the entire business into their hands. McLeod conceived the idea of eliminating the middleman entirely by erecting large storage plants at New York and other large cities; and he actually did erect two near the Reading mines. This scheme seemed to promise much; but the panic of 1893 was the beginning of the end. The courts declared the combination illegal and it was dissolved. A period of low prices followed, touching the lowest in 1895. Practical consolidation was again reached in 1900 and 1901. This consolidation, the modern "community of interest " idea, is the one under which the roads are now working. Under the present arrangement, the transportation companies pay the independent operators 65 per cent. of tide-water prices for all the coal they produce.

Now, since the coal fields are so closely held and controlled, let us look a little into some of the savings that may be effected in addition to those possible under a consolidation of a general

business enterprise. There are savings which may be effected in the anthracite consumption as well as in the production and financial conduct of the business.

In 1889, the State of Pennsylvania appointed a Commission to investigate the waste of coal mining with a view to the utilizing of the waste. This commission was composed of Mr. J. A. Price, Mr. Peter W. Sheafer, and Mr. Eckley B. Coxe. Both Mr. Price and Mr. Sheafer died before the completion of the report, and the vacant places were filled by Mr. Heber S. Thompson and Mr. William Griffith. The reporting commissioners were men whose word carried great weight in connection with anthracite questions. They divided the waste of coal into two great classesthat due to (a) geological deposit and formation, with which the producer must deal; and (b) commercial causes, which might be reduced by a more scientific consumption of the coal.

As to the first cause: In the first place, a very large portion of the original contents of the fields was carried away by erosion. Much of the remaining coal was rendered useless by distortion, to which the strata were subjected when upturned. In general, the percentage of marketable coal which can be obtained from any vein increases:

Ist. With the smallness of the vein, down to a certain point. 2d. The nearer the seam approaches a horizontal.

3d. With the solidity of the roof; if the roof is not good it is necessary to leave large pillars.

4th. With the purity of the coal; if slate be distributed through a large vein, it may make it commercially valueless. This is really an important factor in determining the value of the small sizes obtainable from a vein.

5th. If the veins can be worked without regard to the veins above and below.

6th. If the amount of coal consumed in pumping is not excessive. It might happen that it would take more coal than a seam contained to keep the water out so that the miners could work.

There are unavoidable wastes caused by mining. Pillars must be left to support the roof. In gaseous mines, these must be extra large between the air courses. In general, between a fourth and a third of the vein must be left if surface protection is desired. It is thus never possible to remove all the coal except by stripping-that is, by removing the earth where the coal-bearing

strata come near the surface, and removing the coal in the light of day.

The avoidable waste caused by mining is a feature that present day control is reducing to a minimum. One of the largest causes of waste under less skillful mining than we have to-day was in leaving pillars too small to support the roof, which, upon falling, destroyed large quantities of coal that might have been won under better management.

A great deal of waste is caused in the preparation of the coal for market. In order to burn economically, anthracite must be broken and sorted into pieces of approximately the same size and shape; and the machinery which performs these operations must be constructed with regard to coal upon which it is employed.

The coal is dumped from the mine car into the breaker, where it passes over bars and is roughly sorted into the larger sizes. If there is a demand for the largest size, i. e., lump, the large pieces are diverted and run direct into the railroad cars. The demand for this size is comparatively limited, while the demand for domestic sizes, egg, stove, and chestnut, is much larger. The greater portion of the coal is sent between toothed rolls and broken into sizes to meet this demand. In breaking down the coal to make these domestic sizes, large quantities of small sizes, pea, buckwheat, rice, barley, and culm, are necessarily made. Very ingenious devices have been made and are in use to prepare and clean the coal for market. Years ago the slate was removed from the coal by boys and old men as it passed them in the chutes. The number of persons employed in performing this one feature of the preparation has been greatly reduced by the introduction of mechanical devices, most of which depend upon the fact that slate is heavier than the coal. The thing to be desired in preparing coal is to make as large a quantity of the large sizes with as small a proportion of small sizes as possible.

Reference will be frequently made to the different sizes of coal, and it will be well to know just what these sizes are, and, in a general way, the uses of each. Lump, the largest size marketed, passes, as it leaves the mine car, over bars placed four inches apart; and is used principally for smelting iron. Broken passes over a two and three-quarters inch square mesh, and is used for furnaces. It is known as grate in the West. Egg passes over a two-inch mesh, and, together with stove and chestnut, is a popu

lar domestic fuel. Stove passes over a one and three-eighths inch mesh; and chestnut, over a three-quarters inch mesh. Pea, or peanut, as the term originated, is made over a one-half inch mesh. Until recently, it was used exclusively for steam purposes, but is becoming a much desired fuel for domestic consumption. It is used alone with success in furnaces and heaters, and is sometimes used with coal of larger size in furnaces to deaden the fire over night. It gives the best effect when utilized by those who understand how to handle it. Pea is the favorite coal for steamboats where a clean fuel and one that will burn with a natural draft is required. Buckwheat No. I is made over a one-quarter inch screen; is used largely for making steam and is gradually taking the place of pea for that purpose. Buckwheat No. 2, or rice, is made over a one-eighth inch screen and is purely a steam size. It is used to advantage in properly constructed plants where large quantities of coal are consumed. It is especially valuable for steam distributing plants, for electric light and power companies, for electric railways and kindred operations. Buckwheat No. 3, or barley, passes over a three-thirty-seconds inch mesh, and is also used for steam purposes. Its value depends largely on the construction of the furnace and the skill of the stoker, which is true of each of the small sizes. It is also utilized by brick makers to mix with clay to facilitate the burning of the brick. Culm is the coal that passes through a three-thirty-seconds inch mesh. It is not shipped to market.

One of the great problems in connection with the production and marketing of anthracite is the utilization of the small sizes, which have to come into direct competition with bituminous coal as a producer of steam. Bituminous coal is widely distributed over the country, and consequently can be sent to the consuming markets with comparatively little expense. It is used practically run-of-mine, or roughly sized, and therefore its production requires no expensive outlay for breakers, machinery, etc. It needs no blasting, and consequently the cost of production is very much lower than anthracite, where all these items are present, together with a rapidly diminishing area of coal-bearing formations, as against a practically unlimited supply of bituminous coal.

Many attempts have been made to utilize the smallest sizes of anthracite with more or less success. A number of attempts

have been made to coke it in connection with bituminous coal; and, while a technical success, the coke produced cannot compete with that produced from bituminous coking coals. Culm and small sizes are used very successfully in making steam when mixed with bituminous coal. The coal so used is principally the screenings from the yards located at the large cities. It would not pay to ship culm from the mines for such consumption. Small sizes are used at the oil refineries after mixing with the residuum of the works which is obtained by cleaning the stills after the oil has been run off. The refuse from the stills burns quickly and with intense heat which ignites the coal. Naturally the field for this sort of utilization of the culm is limited. The utilization of culm for the manufacture of artificial fuel is more of a success abroad than it is in this country. The slack of the bituminous operations or the culm of the anthracite is mixed with some binding material, such as lime, clay, cement, tar, pitch, bitumen, starch, or other glutinous material. The mixture is compressed into blocks of various sizes and burned as coal of the same size is burned. Eighty-nine patents were granted in this country from 1837 to 1892 for the manufacture of this kind of fuel. The combining articles are almost legion. Some of the plants were and are successful, and the conditions which caused them to suspend manufacture were not those incident to the value of the fuel as a means of producing heat. Efforts have been made to burn pulverized fuel as a gas, which has resulted in technical even though not practical success. The difficulty in this operation is that the coal must be reduced to an impalpable mass; and, while this would not be a difficult operation if pure anthracite were used, it is not practicable to so reduce culm, which of necessity contains large quantities of slate and other hard material.

In late years, the operators have been using the refuse from the mines to fill up old workings, by flushing the waste back into them. The chamber where the operation has been completed is first closed up and boards erected at the opening. The water, laden with the refuse, is turned into the chamber through a six-inch main. The chamber then becomes a sump basin, the refuse settles, the water runs off and is pumped to the surface. The chamber is filled in so closely by this method that the hand can hardly be placed between the top of the