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Technological Change and Productivity
BITUMINOUS COAL INDUSTRY

1920-60

Bulletin No. 1305
November 1961

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Arthur J. Goldberg, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Ewan Clague, Commissioner
For sale b y the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C.

Price 65 cents







Contents
Introduction . . . . . • . • • • • . . • . • •
Highlights of recent developments and outlook . . • • • •

1
2

The industry •

6

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

The importance of bituminous coal mining • • • • . . .
6
Location of the industry . .
• • • • • • • . • •
8
Structure of the industry ...................................... 10
Technological developments

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

12

Increased mechanization*
12
Mechanization of underground mining............................ 14
Greater use of continuous mining machines.
* . . * • .
16
Growth of strip mining .........................
18
Technological trends in surface mining.
.
20
Mechanization of coal processing.
• • • • • • • . .
22
Trends in output per man-hour and per man-day ................
Rising output per man-hour.
. . . . . . . .
Increase relative to other industries . . . . .
Increase relative to other countries . • • • .
Trends in bituminous coal minings United States and
Changes in production and consumption.

.

.

.

.

.

24

. . .
. . .
• • •
U.S.S.R.

24
26
28
30

.

32

.

.

Declining production.
. . . « • • ...................... 32
Growth in idle capacity.
• • • . • • • • • . • • 3 4
Changing industry structure . . .
. . . 3 6
Rise of competitive fuels . • • . . . • • • . • •
38
Technology and the changing pattern of coal consumption . . 40
Expanded foreign trade • • •
• • • • 4 2
Increased efficiency in coal utilization • ................ 44

i




Contents— Continued
Employment* unemployment* and earnings

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

4

6

Declining employment opportunities • • •
46
Serious unemployment......................
.48
Impact on areas • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • 5 0
Shorter worktime • • • • • ................... ...
. . 52
Changing occupational structure ............................
54
Progress in safety .............................
. . . .
56
Rising earnings • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
58
Greater welfare benefits ................
• • • • • • 5 0
Costs* prices* and profits

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

62

Hourly compensation and unit employment cost*
• • • . • 62
Reduced importance of employment costs.
• • • • • • . 6 4
Price trends ............................................... . 6 6
Profit t r e n d s ..............
• ................
. . .
68
Outlook.........................

70

Coal research and development.
• • • • • * . . • • 7
Labor* management* and government policies • « • • • •
Outlook for the 1960*s ..................
Appendix tables • • • •

.............

Selected bibliography • • • •

li

• • • • •

................

• •

0
72
74

76*132
133*137

Introduction

Hie object of this report is to increase public understanding of some of the benefits and
problems arising from technological change. The technology of bituminous coal mining has changed
dramatically in the United States* particularly in the years since World War II. Large-scale
mechanization* the industry's principal response to Increased competition from other fuels and
rising production costs* was accompanied by a substantial increase in productivity. The increase
in coal output per man-hour provided the basis for higher wages and greater benefits for workers in
the industry* a succession of profitable years for many mine operators* and relatively stable prices
for consumers. At the same time* the rapid reduction of labor requirements led to the displacement
of thousands of mine workers* with resulting economic hardship for their families and communities.
This bulletin reviews recent developments in the Bituminous Coal Mining Industry* presenting the
salient points in text and charts* and basic statistical data with technical notes in appendix tables.
The term* "productivity*" used in this bulletin includes several measures commonly used
in the bituminous coal mining industry (e.g. output per man-hour* tons per man-day* tons per manmonth). Although these measures relate output to labor input, they do not measure the specific
contribution of labor* capital* or any other factor to production. Rather* they reflect the joint
effect of a number of interrelated influences* such as changes in technology* capital Investment per
worker* utilization of capacity* managerial ability* skill of the work force* and labor-management
relations.
The study is based primarily on data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics* the
Bureau of Mines* and other Government sources. The study relates* for the most part* to changes
through 1959* the latest year for which final figures were available at the time the bulletin was
being prepared. Preliminary data for I960* where available* are shown in the tables and charts.
The generous assistance given by officials of various coal associations, the United Mine Workers,
government agencies* and experts in the industry is appreciated.
This bulletin was prepared in the Bureau's Division of Productivity and Technological
Developments by Edgar Weinberg* Chief* Branch of Analysis and Technological Studies* Robert E.
Malakoff* and Robert T. Adams.




1

Highlights of Recent Developments and Outlook
Increased Mechanization
Greater mechanization and mine modernization, undertaken by coal operators with union support to meet competition from other fuels, underlay an impressive increase in productivity after World
War II. The expansion of mechanization in underground mining (the widespread adoption of the mechan­
ical loader, the introduction of the continuous mining machine, and conveyorization, in particular)
was the most important postwar development. The growth of mechanical coal processing, and the con­
tinued shift to surface mining also contributed to the industry's advance.
Increasing Output per Man-Hour
Output per man-hour in bituminous coal mining increased faster in the 1949-59 period than
in the preceding 30 years. The gain in output per man-hour exceeded output gains in many other major
industries as well as in the total private economy. Output per man-day in U.S. mining, which was
already substantially greater than in most other coal-producing nations, also increased faster in
the period after World War II.
Falling Production and Idle Capacity
The output of coal declined, continuing a long-term trend that began after World War I.
Sales fell off as markets underwent substantial changes. Petroleum and natural gas moved ahead as
sources of energy in the United States. Unused production capacity, long a problem in coal mining,
increased as the industry adjusted to declining demand slowly.
Changing Markets
Three major developments— dieselization of railroads, construction of cross-country pipelines,
and reduced use of small steam power generators at factories— were instrumental in displacing coal
from its principal markets: railroads, residential and commercial heating, and industry. Advances in
techniques of fuel combustion and energy application also served to reduce unit coal requirements in
the economy. The expanded use of electric power, on the other hand, increased consumption of coal
"by wire" and made electric power utilities the largest and fastest growing consumers of coal.
Falling Employment, Climbing Unemployment
Employment declined drastically, as production and unit-labor requirements were reduced.
Many coal areas had substantial and persisting unemployment even during periods of high economic
activity in the Nation. Entire communities, dependent on mine employment, were adversely affected.




2

Changes In Mlnework
Increased mechanisation affected the job structure and the work involved in coal mining.
An increasing proportion of mineworkers were employed in nonproduction rather than production
occupations, in jobs above ground rather than under ground, and in maintenance work rather than in
direct production. Accident frequency continued to decline.
Improved Earnings and Welfare Benefits
Hourly earnings of employed mineworkers rose steadily despite widespread unemployment of
miners. The hourly pay of miners was substantially higjher than the average in United States manu­
facturing industry. Short workweeks, however, offset high hourly pay. The average annual earnings
of miners are estimated to have been only slightly higher than the average in manufacturing.
Supplements to wages and salaries (covering payments to the Miners Welfare and Pension Fund based on
tonnage produced, as well as social security and other related contributions) increased sharply
between 1947 and 1951 and remained relatively stable thereafter. Supplementary payments constituted
a larger percentage of total employee compensation in mining than in other major industries.
Declining Importance of Labor Costs
Labor costs per ton of mined coal fell after 1953, despite the steady rise of total
employee compensation per man-hour. Increased output per man-hour offset rising hourly wage costs.
Over the entire postwar period, the increase in unit labor cost was less than the increase in mate­
rial and other nonlabor costs. The relative importance of labor payments in the cost structure of
bituminous coal mining has declined since 1939.
Stable Prices. Low Profits
The price of coal was relatively stable in the postwar period when compared to prices of
other fuels at production sites. Transport costs, a large share of coal*s delivered price, however,
continued to rise steadily. In its most Important market, electric power generation, coal's
competitive position improved. The Industry as a whole continued to report net profits, although
half of all corporation returns over the postwar period showed net losses. Compared to other
industries, profit rates continued to be low.




3

Outlook
Increased research is being sponsored by both industry and Government to develop new ways
to mine and use coal more economically, and so expand sales* Remote control continuous mining,
hydraulic mining, low-temperature carbonization, and hydrogenation are among the potential
developments* The coal pipeline may reduce transport costs*
Cooperative efforts to expand coal sales and production and to continue productivity
growth are being Increased by the mineworkers and operators, the National Coal Association, and other
groups interested in the coal industry* The National Coal Policy Conference, Inc., composed of coal
companies, the United Mine Workers, coal carrying railroads, electric utility companies, and coal
equipment manufacturers, was organized to advance the interests of the industry.
Output per man-hour is expected to continue upward although at a slower rate than in the
1947-59 period* Substantial Increases in coal production are widely predicted as a result of
greater demands for electric power* Employment in coal mining, however, is not expected to return
to past levels*




4




The Industry

The Importance of Bituminous Coal Mining
Bituminous coal plays a major role in the U*S* industrial economy* One-half of the elec­
tricity and one-fourth of all energy produced in the Nation are generated from bituminous coal* It
provides coke required in steelmaking, carbon for the production of chemicals, and heat for the
manufacture of cement and numerous other commodities* Almost 200,000 workers are employed in
extracting and processing some $2 billion worth of coal each year* More coal is mined, and more
coal energy is produced per person in the United States than in any other nation*
More than 95 percent of all coals mined in the United States are classed as bituminous and
lignite*
(Only small amounts of Pennsylvania anthracite and Texas lignite, the other major types,
are currently produced*) These coals vary greatly in characteristics* In heating value, the
characteristic most important for coal consumers, soft coals range from 7,000 to 14,000 B*t.u**s per
pound, with 1 ton of high quality bituminous the equivalent of 2 tons of lignite*
Bituminous coal remains the most abundant and the most accessible conventional fuel
resource in the United States, despite the rapid development and utilization of other energy sources
in the past two decades. Proved bituminous reserves of approximately 5,400 quadrillion B*t*u*vs
constitute almost 90 percent of the known energy resources of the United States* At present rates
of consumption, authorities estimate that total reserves, which are more than six times as large as the
combined known reserves of petroleum and natural gas, could last more than 2,000 years*




6

Proved Mineral-Fuel Reserves of the United States,
January 1, 1960
Bitumen
N a tu ra l g a s
O il sh a le




RESERVES
Quadrillion Percent
B.T.U.S.

COAL

5,400

87.1

O il shale

290

4.7

N atu ral g a s

285

4.6

Petroleum

215

3.5

10

0.1

6,200

100.0

Bitumen
TOTAL

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines
Based on appendix table 1

Location off the Industry
Although bituminous coal mines are found in more than half of the States* virtually all of
the industry's employment and production is concentrated in six States east of the Mississippi River.
In 1959* the leading coal-producing States (West Virginia* Pennsylvania* Kentucky* Illinois* Ohio*
and Virginia) accounted for 87 percent of total output and 85 percent of all employment. In recent
decades* the geographical center of coal production has shifted vest and south of West Virginia and
Pennsylvania (where half of all United States coal to date has been produced) to Ohio and Kentucky.
Coal consumption also is concentrated in the states east of the Mississippi. Fifty-nine
percent of all bituminous coal mined was shipped to six industrial States (Ohio* Pennsylvania*
Illinois* Indiana* Michigan* and New York* in rank order) and an additional 24 percent to the rapidly
expanding industrial southeast in 1959.
TWo-thirds of the Nation's coal reserves are in the West. Over 50 percent of these
western coals are subbituminous* concentrated chiefly in Montana and Wyoming* and lignite* located
almost entirely in North Dakota. Reserves of high-rank bituminous* which constitute less than onethird of the total U.S. reserve* are located primarily in the major coal-producing States of Illinois*
Kentucky* and West Virginia.
The concentration of coal mining in a few areas is an important aspect of the industry. A
decline in the demand for coal can affect all business in the few States Where mining employment is
concentrated. In mining towns* which are generally isolated and without alternative employment
opportunities* a decline in coal production or the exhaustion of a local seam can result in
communitywide unemployment.




8




Bituminous Coal Production, Distribution, and Reserves, 1959

Production in M illio n s of Tons
O ther States
Reserves in Billions of Tons
O th e r W estern States

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix table 2A.

Structure of the Industry
The bituminous coal industry is composed of about 5*000 companies and almost 8*000 mines*
In 1959* 5*800 were underground mines* and these produced 69 percent of total coal output; 1*600
were strip mining operations producing 29 percent of the total; some 300 were auger mines which
accounted for 2 percent of total tonnage* There were* in addition, an undetermined number of small
"wagon mines" not accounted for in the official statistics.
Production of coal is concentrated in a small proportion of mines* In 1959* the 50 largest*
each of iriiich produced more than 1 million tons annually* accounted for 22 percent of the industry*s
total output* The 212 largest (3 percent of all mines) produced 50 percent of the total* In con*
trast* the almost 4*700 small mines (60 percent of the total number) together produced only 5 percent
of annual output*
Employment in the industry was more widely distributed* Fewer than 400 of the almost 8*000
mines employed as many as 100 workers* and fewer than 50 had more than 500 workers* More than 6*000
mines* on the other hand* employed fewer than a hundred workers* Those mines that employed more than
500 workers each accounted for 16 percent of total employment. On the other hand* the 7*000 mines
that employed fewer than 100 workers each* accounted for more than one-third of total Industry
employment.
In 1957* 90 percent of the assets of the industry were owned by 206 corporations* The
seven largest corporations owned 41 percent of the total. In contrast* the seven largest corporations
of the competitive petroleum industry held almost two-thirds. Only one coal mining corporation held
gross assets of $250 million or more, as compared with 20 in the petroleum industry* In the coal
industry* small corporations* which constituted 87 percent of all corporations* together accounted
for less than 10 percent of all assets.
Approximately 20 percent of the industry's annual output is produced in "captive" mines*
i*e** those in which 40 percent or more of the output is billed to an owning* controlling* or affili­
ated corporation. The percentage of coal produced by captive operations has changed little over the
past 25 years. Coking (and steel) companies* which own the bulk of captive operations* and electric
utilities have increased their coal mining activities* while railroads and other consuming groups
have reduced such activities.




10

Structure of the Bituminous Coal Mining Industry




Employment to 1958

Production to 1959

Assets to 1957

B y m ine
to n n a ge class

B y c o rp o ra tio n
size class

B y e m p lo y e e
size class
Percent of
mines

Percent of
total employment

500 em ployees or more
_

Percent of
mines

Percent of
total ton n age

500,000 tons or more

16

Percent of
com panies

Percent ot
industry assets

$50,000,000 or more

50

42

1 """

100 to 499 em ployees

100,000 to 490,000 tons

,000,000 to $49,000,000

46

10 to 99 em ployees

10,000 to 99,000 tons

26

$100,000 to $999,000

i

Under 10,000 tons

Under 10 em ployees

Under $100,000

12

Sources:

U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines;
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
Based on appendix table 3A.

Technological Developments
Increased Mechanization
One of the most important post-World War II developments in the bituminous coal industry
has been the increased mechanization of production* Faced with greater competition from other fuels
and increased production costs, many coal operators, with the support of the United Mine Workers,
introduced labor-saving machinery and modernized their mines to increase output per man-hour.
A useful indicator of the overall rate of mechanization is the rise in the physical volume
of fixed capital per production worker. According to estimates derived from National Bureau of
Economic Research data, the net value of plant and equipment per worker (expressed in 1929 dollars)
increased by 10 percent a year between 1948 and 1958. This rate was unprecedented in the industry's
history. The total stock of fixed capital increased by less than 1 percent per year, and actually
declined between 1953 and 1958. The number of production workers, on the other hand, fell sharply
throughout the period. Technological changes in the postwar period apparently involved innovations
with a substantial laborsaving potential. The estimated gross book value of plant, equipment, and
resources (before depreciation) per production worker amounted to more than $13,000 in 1958*
The rapid expansion of plant and equipment per worker after World War II differed markedly
from the industry's experience after World War I. Between 1919 and 1939, the total volume of plant
and equipment was reduced sharply, particularly during the depression, while employment fell slowly.
Fixed capital per worker declined by 2 percent a year. Between 1939 and 1948, fixed capital per
worker rose slowly as both the stock of capital and employment expanded.
The growth of plant and equipment per worker between 1948 and 1959 also differed from the
industry's experience in its early period of expansion. Between 1880 and 1919, fixed capital per
worker rose by almost 4 percent a year. Unlike the period 1948-58, employment in this early growth
phase expanded together with increased stock of capital.
The relatively rapid pace of mechanization in recent years is also shown by the more than
threefold increase in the amount of horsepower installed per production worker between the census
years, 1939 and 1954. The increase in horsepower per worker in these 15 years was greater than the
increase recorded in the previous 30 years. Similarly, electric energy consumption per production
worker rose substantially— almost 175 percent— between 1939 and 1954, after a period of slow growth
between 1929 and 1939.




12




Capital Invested in Plant and Equipment Per Worker,
Bituminous Coal Mining, Selected Years, 1870-1958
IN D E X (1929=100)

225

214.8

A N N U A L RATE O F C H A N G E

200

Grow th
1880-1919
Decline
1919-1939

150

.2 4 m m

1939-1948
1948-1958

Defense
+2
R apid M e ch an ization
M J i M l I i M i W i l i l +10

100

50

m
1870

1880

1889

1909

1919

1929

1939

1948

1958

Sources: National Bureau of Economic Research;
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Based on appendix table 4A.
621946 0 - 6 1 - 2

Mechanization of Underground Mining
In underground mining where the bulk of coal is still mined* mechanization of loading and
hauling operations* introduced earlier* advanced rapidly* The mechanical loading machine almost
completely eliminated the hand shovel in the years following World War II* Since almost 60 percent
of the labor employed under ground was engaged in loading and hauling coal* the adoption of mechanical
loading had an enormous impact on productivity* First introduced in the early 1920's* mechanical
loading equipment (which includes mobile loading machines* duckbills* and scrapers) accounted for
about 60 percent of all underground coal mined in 1947* Although the extension of mechanical loading
was slowed between 1954 and 1959* over 90 percent of all underground coal was mechanically loaded
by 1960.
The growth of mechanical loading carried forward the process of mechanizing coal mining
which began in the 1870's when the coal-cutting machine first replaced the miner's pickaxe.
By
1913* half of all underground coal was machine cut; and by 1953,virtually 100 percent* Introduction
of mechanical loading devices followed the mechanization of drilling and blasting operations.
Underground transportation also became more mechanized in the postwar period* Mechanical
conveyors and shuttle cars were used in greater numbers to remove the coal from the working face
fast enough to enable the loading machines to operate at near capacity* In less than 15 years*
1945-59, the number and the total miles of gathering and haulage conveyors in use quadrupled* Use
of larger coal hauling cars and faster* more powerful locomotives running on heavier* more durable
tracks grew rapidly.




14

Mechanization of

Underground

Mining, 1920-60

P E R C EN T O F U N D E R G R O U N D T O N N A G E




'

I

I

1920

I

I

■

1925

I

I

I

I

1930

I

I

.......................................................................... I

1935

1940

I

1945

!

I

I

...... ............................................................

1950

1955

1960

Source: U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix tables 5A and 5B.

Greater Use of Continuous Mining Machines
The most far-reaching postwar development in underground mining technology is the contin­
uous mining machine* This machine integrates cutting and loading into continuous sequence* with
a minimum of human intervention. It eliminates drilling and blasting* The steel claws of the
continuous miner tear the coal from the seam* scoop it up* and load it* eliminating the time lost
in performing these steps separately*
The use of continuous mining machines has grown rapidly* In 1959* the 776 machines in
use accounted for 23 percent of all coal produced from underground mines; in 1952* the first year
of record* only 152 were in operation* and these mined only 2 percent of the total* Fifty-nine
mines in 1959 employed continuous mining machines exclusively— more than eight times as many as
in 1952.
Because of their substantially lower labor requirements and their ability to increase the
quantity of coal recovered* it is expected that use of continuous mining machines will continue to
expand rapidly and will be an important factor in further raising productivity in the bituminous
coal industry during the next decade* Output per man-day in mines using continuous mining machines
exclusively was* in 1959* 24 percent greater than that in highly mechanized mines employing mobile
loading machines and shuttle cars; and 144 percent greater than that in the outdated hand-loaded
pit.
More widespread use of the continuous mining machine awaits its successful adaptation to
thin and pitching seams and to other unfavorable natural resource conditions which have delayed
its use* Another factor which has limited the adoption of continuous mining machines is their
relatively high cost* approximately $70*000 a machine. Several types of thin-seam mining machines
are currently being tested in the United States.




16




Percent of Underground Coal Mined by Continuous Mining Machines,
1950-59
PERCENT O F U N D E R G R O U N D P R O D U C T IO N

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix tables 6A and 6B.

Growth of Strip Mining
In strip or open cut surface mining, some of the world's largest land-based machines rip
away the crust of the earth to expose coal seams. Smaller machines then load the coal into specialpurpose vehicles for transportation to processing plants. Only a small crew of men is required to
operate such earth-moving equipment.
Surface mining has expanded rapidly in the United States in recent years.
In 1959, almost
121 million tons, or 29 percent of all coal produced, originated in strip mines.
In 1920, less than
2 percent was mined in this way. Most of the expansion occurred during World War II, when emergency
needs for coal hastened the opening of surface deposits. Since 1947, the total output of strip
mines has declined along with the rest of the industry. The proportion of total output mined by
stripping, however, has continued to rise. Output per man-day in strip mines increased by 42 percent
between 1947 and 1959, but this was only about one-half as great as the increase in underground mines.
The growth of surface mining has been the result of its high output per man-day, its- low
development and investment costs, the high percentage of coal recovered from deposits, and the
rising demand for utility as distinct from high-grade lump coals. Since output per man-day in strip
mining has been two to three times greater than in underground mining, its relative growth has had
a measurable effect on the industry's overall change in output per man-hour.
If strip mining had
remained at its 1920 proportion, output in the industry in 1959 would have risen only to 10.2 tons
per man-day, or almost 20 percent less than the level actually achieved.




18

Trends in Bituminous Coal Mining in Underground
and Surface Mines, 1920-60
PERCENT




> l~ ^ r

1920

1 1 1 ....................i

1925

i

1930

i

i

i i

.... ........................ .....

1935

1940

i

i

i

1945

i

i

i i

i

1950

i, u j « r - r T - r r r

1955

i

1960

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix tables 5A, 6A, 7A and 7B.

Technological Trends in Surface Mining
Recent technological developments in surface mining have consisted primarily of increases
in the capacity and changes in the motive power of the earth-moving equipment used (such as draglines, shovels, and trucks).
The size of working crews required to operate the larger, more power­
ful equipment has not changed significantly.
The postwar period saw the introduction of shovels with earth-moving capacities up to 180
yards each; by comparison, the largest earth mover in the 1930*s had a capacity of only 30 yards.
In addition to shovels with enlarged capacity, machinery was specially designed to move large quan­
tities of coal-bearing earth over longer distances. The wheel excavator, a series of whirling
buckets capable of moving 3,000 cubic yards an hour over a distance of more than 300 feet, is one
impressive example.
Another specially designed mining machine is the coal auger which is used to drill coal
in hill country where the thickness of overburden makes conventional strip mining unecomonical.
In 1959, the average output per man-day of all auger mines was 28.8 tons, or about one-fourth
more than the average for strip mines. A recently introduced auger, costing $1.5 million, is able
to bore up to 1,000 feet into embankment. This unusual machine, run by a single man seated at an
electric panel outside the mine, has a potential capacity to mine 3,000 tons of coal daily under
favorable mining conditions.
The coal industry itself has been caught up in the technological shift from coal to diesel
fuels as a source of power. Prior to World War II, most earth-moving equipment was steam or
gasoline driven.
In the decade after World War II, these were replaced by diesel and electric
powered shovels. The steam shovel has virtually disappeared from open pits--only 7 steam shovels
were reported among the 3,417 pits operating in 1959.




20




Number of Draglines and Shovels in Use, by Type,
in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1932-59
NUMBER

Source: U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix table 8B.

Mechanization of Coal Processing
Mechanical mining increased the amount of refuse mined with coal, and correspondingly
increased the need for processing— cleaning, crushing, dust treating, and drying— the product. A
ton of coal mined in 1959 contained 28 percent more refuse than it did a decade earlier. At the
same time, coal consumers demanded higher quality and greater purity of product. As a result of
these pressures, the processing of coal formerly performed manually underground was expanded and
mechanized rapidly in the years following World War II.
The rapid increase in mechanical processing is indicated both by the sharp rise in the
number of coal processing plants and by the increase in the percentage of coal processed.
In 1959,
555 plants processed coal mechanically. This was 100 more than were operating 12 years earlier,
ffftd over twice the number in use in 1928. These plants cleaned almost two-thirds and crushed
more than one-third of all coal produced in the United States in 1959. They also steadily in­
creased the percentage of coal dust treated and thermally dried. Over the post-war period,
1947-59, the proportion cleaned and crushed more than doubled, while the percentage dust treated
increased by almost two-thirds.
Although coal preparation was once a hand operation involving little capital investment,
it has become a highly mechanized, continuous flow operation involving large capital outlays. The
modern processing plant employs such devices as closed circuit television to monitor the flow of
coal, nuclear density controls to insure uniform quality, and electropneumatic carstoppers and
automatic car loaders and haulers to speed loading of the processed coal. One of the newest plants
is designed to process up to 5,000 tons per shift— or about as much coal as 500 miners produced
per shift, on the average in U.S. mines in 1959— with only 3 panel-control operators and 12 main­
tenance men.




22

Percent of Bituminous Coal Tonnage Mechanically Processed,
1920-59
PERCENT




1920

1925

1930

1935

1940
Source:

1945

1950

1955

1960

U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on appendix table 9.

Trends in Output per Man-Hour and per Man-Day
Rising Output per Man-Hour
Greater mechanisation and related technological improvements were the main factors under­
lying the impressive rise in coal mining productivity after World War II. Changes in output per
man-hour or tons per man-day, however, reflect not only the increased use of machinery in cutting,
loading, hauling, and other operations, but also interrelated changes in the proportion of coal
output coming from surface rather than from underground mines and from mines at different levels of
mechanization, with seams of varying depths, thickness, slopes, and faults. The precise effect of
each factor cannot be readily measured. The net result of these changes was an increase of 85.2
percent in output per production worker man-hour between 1949 and 1959 and of 77.3 percent in output
per all employee man-hour. In tons per man-day, a measure that does not take account of changes in
the length of the workday, the industry’s advance was equally impressive: production jumped from
6.4 tons to 12.2 tons per man-day.
Output per man-hour in U.S. coal mining Increased at a more rapid rate in the 10 years
1949-59 than in the three previous decades combined. The average annual increase of 6.4 percent in
output per production worker man-hour was more than double the annual gain in any previous 10-year
period. In the decade after World War I, when coal production began to decline, productivity ad­
vanced 2.0 percent yearly.
In the depression decade, output per production worker man-hour rose
at a slow pace. During the wartime emergency, productivity growth slowed to 1.4 percent yearly.
The average annual rate of increase between 1947 and 1959 (6.1 percent) was more than three times
greater than the industry’s long-term rate of 1.9 percent, recorded between 1919 and 1947.
Increases in output per man-hour may have reached their highest yearly rate during the
early 1950*s. Output per production worker man-hour rose by an average of 6.5 percent yearly be­
tween 1949 and 1954; in the following 5 years (1954-59), increases were reduced to an average of
4.8 percent yearly. The sharpest gains were recorded between 1952 and 1954, when output per
production worker man-hour climbed by about 11.5 percent per year. A second rapid increase was
recorded late in the decade (1957-59) but at a reduced rate. In both underground and strip
mining, tonnage per man-day rose faster in the first half of the decade (1949-54) than in the
last half (1954-59). Among the factors slowing the rate of increase late in the decade were the
virtual completion of mechanical loading installations and the slowing down of the rate of
productivity gains in strip mines.
Figures on changes in output per man-hour for the industry as a whole represent averages
covering mines of varying sizes and levels of mechanization. Small mines did not improve their
output per man-hour as much as the larger, more mechanized mines.




24




Indexes of Output Per Production-Worker Man-Hour
in Bituminous Coal-Mining, 1919-60
IN D EX (1947=100)

Sources: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics;
U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines
Based on appendix tables 8A and 10A.

Increase Relative to Other Industries
The dramatic increase in the rate of change in output per man-hour in bituminous coal
mining is seen clearly when compared with the changes which occurred in the rest of the economy.
Between 1949 and 1959* output per man-hour (of all employees) in bituminous coal mining
advanced about twice as fast as in the total private economy* and almost three times as fast as in
the nonfarm sector. The industry took an even greater stride forward in productivity than did
agriculture* when compared to the gains recorded between 1939 and 1949. The growth in output per
man-hour between 1949 and 1959 in bituminous coal was about 6 times greater than the increase
between 1939 and 1949; in the agricultural sector* the 1949-59 increase was only 3 times greater.
The 1949-59 farm increase in output per man-hour was only slightly higher than in coal.

were less
ductivity
contrasts
railroads

Increases in output per man-hour (of production workers) in the basic steel industry*
than half as great as in coal mining during the period 1949-59.
In railroads* pro­
gains* though substantial* were only three-fourths as great. The 1949-59 record
sharply with that of the previous decade when productivity gains in both steel and
were more than 70 percent greater than in bituminous coal mining.

Percent Changes in Output per Man-Hour
Output per production
worker man-hour

Output per all
employee man-hour
Period

1949-59..
1939-49..

Bituminous
coal

Total
private
economy JL/

77
13

38
33

Agriculture

y

Nonagriculture

82
26

29
25

1/ Man-hours relate to man-hours of all persons engaged.




26

y

Bituminous
coal

Basic
steel

Railroads

85
17

38
30

70
30

Indexes of Output Per Man-Hour in Bituminous Coal Mining
and Selected Major Sectors of the Economy, 1939-60
IN D EX (1947=100)




Based on appendix table 11.

Increase Relative to Other Coontries
Output per nan-day in U.S. coal mining, already substantially greater than in other parts
of the world, also increased faster during the post-World War II period* U.S. underground mines
produced, on the average, over 10 tons of coal per man-day in 1959, or about five times as much as
the highest average shown by any European nation. Output per man-day in underground U.S. mines
between 1947 and 1959 increased by 84 percent as compared with 80 percent in France, about 50 per­
cent in Belgium and West Germany, the traditional centers of European coal mining, and 18 percent
in the United Kingdom.
(These differences may not result in correspondingly lower unit labor costs
since differences in wage rates must be taken into account.)
Output per man-day rose slowly in European countries (excepting France) through most of the
postwar period as coal mines were being reconstructed. Only after 1957 did increased mechanization,
the closing of inefficient mines, and greater efforts result in sizeable improvements in output per
man-day, particularly in the mines of West Germany.
Higher levels of output per man-day in the United States are, to a considerable degree,
the result of geological advantages, as well as technological advances and social and economic
factors. U.S. coal deposits lie closer to the earth's surface, are generally thicker and less sloped
than those in Europe. The average depth of about 200 feet in U.S. underground workings compares
with an average of 1,100 feet in British mines; the deepest shaft in the United States (under 900
feet) is less than 1/3 the deepest British shaft. Average thickness of U.S. seams worked is over
5 feet, considerably wider than in most European diggings. Faults and dislocations are fewer, and
water drainage is less of a problem in the United States. These geological advantages have combined
to make U.S. coal mining both less difficult in terms of physical effort required and more adaptable
to mechanization.




28




Output Per M an-Day in Bituminous Coal Mining,
United States and Selected Foreign Countries, 1947 and 1959
TO NS

Percent C h a n g e , 194 7 -5 9
83.6 U N IT E D STATES
80.0 France

53.8 W e st G e rm an y
46.3 B e lgiu m

18.0 United Kingdom
2.7 P o la n d
-1.7 N e th e r la n d s
1947

W EST
POLAND G ERM AN Y

1947 ’59

1959

U. K.

NETHER.
LANDS

BELGIUM

'47 '59
Source: U. S. D epartm ent o f Interior, Bureau of M ines.
U.N. Economic Commission for Europe.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 12.

A? 104.A n _ A1 _

7.

Trends In Bituminous Coal Mining:

United States and the U.S.S.R.

Soviet coal miners produced 1*95 Cons per man-day in 1958, less than one-fifth the U.S.
miners' daily output of 11.3 tons. Despite impressive postwar advances, the level of productivity
in Soviet coal mining was only one-half as high as that achieved in the United States in 1920. Data
available are not exactly comparable but are believed to present valid approximate differences.
Since World War II, the U.S. coal mining industry raised output per man-day at a higher
rate than the U.S.S.R. Soviet progress, in part, reflects the lower level from which their advance
is measured. U.S. tonnage per man-day rose by 96 percent between 1945 and 1958, higher than the
U.S.S.R. increase of 82 percent. Soviet gains were greater in the reconstruction period 1945-50,
whereas U.S. gains were greater in the years 1950-58. The rapid development of strip mining in
eastern Russia resulted in greater Soviet productivity advances in surface mines throughout the
postwar period. In underground mining, the Soviet advance, 1945-50, was greater than in the United
States; after 1950, however, underground productivity in the United States grew more than twice as
fast as in the Soviet Union.
The coal mining industry of the U.S.S.R. was expanded and mechanized rapidly after World
War II. The U.S.S.R. supplanted the United States as the world's leading coal producer in 1958; by
1959, it was producing 29 percent more coal per year than the United States. In terms of heat value,
however, industry output was about equal in the two countries, primarily because lignite constituted
29 percent of Soviet output, but less than 1 percent of the U.S. total. Per capita production in
the United States, consequently, exceeded that in the U.S.S.R. both in gross tons and in heat value.
Rapid development of the estimated 8.7 trillion tons of U.S.S.R. coal reserves was under­
taken after World War II to supply the growing demands for energy in the Soviet Union. Almost 1
million workers (five times the number in the United States) were employed in the industry in 1957,
and intensive research was being conducted on coal uses and methods of mining. Coal is providing
the basis for Soviet industrial development as it did for U.S. development nearly a century ago.




30

Output Per M an-Day in Bituminous Coal Mining,
United States and U.S.S.R.; Selected Years
IN D E X (1945=100)

T O N S PER M A N - D A Y

ALL M IN ES, 1958
777777777;

-.1 1 .3 3 *

U.S.

V/ssssss/sA

U.S.S.R.

Underground Mines, 1955
777773*!

U.S.

~8.28^

U.S.S.R.

Strip M ines, 1955
U.S.
U.S.S.R.




Source: U.S. Departm ent o f Interior, Bureau of Mines.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 13.

Changes in Production and Consumption
Declining Production
The drive to introduce labor-saving machinery and improve output per man-day after World
War II constituted a major step in the industry*s efforts to arrest a long-term decline in coal
production and sales arising from increased competition of other fuels* Despite these efforts,
output continued to decline in the postwar period. In 1947 (the historic peak), the industry pro­
duced more than 600 million tons* During the subsequent period, output topped 500 million tons in
only 4 years— 1948, 1950, 1951, and 1956* In 1954, production actually fell below 400 million tons,
and in 1958-59, it hovered just above 410 million tons* Short-term fluctuations in activity were
relatively sharp, as they have been for many years in coal mining* Output fell by 30 percent between
1947 and 1949, by 27 percent between 1951 and 1954, and by 18 percent between 1956 and 1959*
The downtrend of the 1950*s resumed the long-term decline of coal output that began in the
1920*s, and was interrupted only during the 1940*s* Commercial coal mining in the United States was
begun about 1750 in Virginia* Production expanded gradually up to 1860; with the growth of steam
railroads and heavy industry after the Civil War, coal mining entered a 60-year period of vigorous
growth* The close of World War I brought to an end the industry's period of rapid, steady growth.
Thereafter, except for temporary gains during World War II, the industry declined*
The decline in bituminous coal production contrasted sharply with the rise in United
States industrial production and gross national product* Between 1947 and 1959, industrial pro­
duction rose 61 percent and the index of private output (GNP) 52 percent; the index of bituminous
coal production, on the other hand, declined by 35 percent. While the rest of the economy climbed
to higher levels after World War II, with only temporary setbacks during recessions, coal output
fell sharply during recessions and failed to recover during periods of economic upturn*
Coal*s failure to share in the Nation's growth after World War II was similar to its
experience during the prosperous years after World War 1. Total output in the United States rose
by almost 50 percent between 1920 and 1929 at the same time that the bituminous industry was
struggling, unsuccessfully, to maintain levels of production reached at the close of World War I*
Fluctuations in coal production in the 1920's tended to occur at the same time as those in the
national economy. After World War II, declines in coal tended to precede declines in the national
economy, reflecting a shift in coal demand which has tended to make production in the industry more
sensitive to changes in business activity in the national economy*




32




Indexes of Change in Bituminous Coal Production,
Industrial Production,and Total Private GNP, 1920-60
IN D E X (1947=100)

Sources: U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of M ines; Board of G overn o rs o f the Federal
Reserve System; U. S. Departm ent o f Labor, Bureau o f Labor Statistics.
Based on a p p e n d ix table 14.

Growth in Idle Capacity
Idle productive capacity, a problem of the coal industry since early in the century, con­
tinued to trouble the industry in the period following World War II* According to the Bureau of
Mines, in 1959 the bituminous coal industry was capable of producing 614 million tons (assuming
that mines operated a full 280-day year at existing levels of productivity) or 49 percent more coal
than was actually mined. Although coal production began to fall after 1947, the industry's capac­
ity continued to expand until 1950* Reduction of capacity after 1950 little more than kept pace
with falling demand. There was, as a result, about two-thirds more unused capacity in 1959 than
in 1947. Total capacity in 1959 was almost equal to the Nation's coal requirements in 1947, the
greatest in the industry's history.
Except for a brief period during World War II, the bituminous coal industry has operated
over the past 40 years with excess capacity.
In 1920, after the wartime expansion of capacity and
the beginnings of the decline in coal consumption, a U.S. Bituminous Coal Commission reported:
"At the present time, America requires less than 500 million tons of bituminous coal a year, while
the capacity of the mines in operation is over 700 million tons." Thirty-nine years later, the
industry, with almost as many mines in operation as in 1920, still had the capacity to produce
200 million tons more per year than could be consumed. In only one year between 1920 and 1959—
1944..did the industry produce at near capacity.
The slow process by which the industry adjusts capacity to declines in demand is a con­
sequence of conditions which have made entry into the industry easy, and exit difficult. Increases
in the demand for coal have been rapidly followed by increases in capacity because coal-bearing
lands and transportation facilities are widespread, and because State laws generally permit bankrupt mines to reopen at greatly reduced valuation. But declines in coal demand have hot resulted
in corresponding reductions in capacity because development and specialized equipment costs can
only be recovered by mining coal. In addition, there is a strong incentive to keep mines in
operation because of the relatively heavy maintenance and other overhead costs that exist even
during periods of shutdown. Since coal has been important in defense emergencies, some capacity
in excess of normal requirements is often considered to be essential for national security.




34

Production and Capacity of Bituminous Coal Mines and
Percent of Capacity Utilized, 1900-60
PERCENT




100

UTILIZATION OF CAPACITY

CAPACITY : PO TEN T IAL OUTPUT IF A L L M IN E S OPERATED 280 d a y s
____________ PER YEAR AT THE EX IS T IN G AVERAGE OUTPUT PER DAY.

Source:

U.S. Departm ent of Interior, Bureau of M in e s.
Based on a p p e n d ix ta b le s 14 and 15.

Changing Industry Structure
With greater mechanization and investment, the largest mining corporations increased their
share of the industry's assets. In 1947, corporations with assets of more than $50 million con­
trolled 16 percent of the industry's assets; by 1957 they held over 42 percent. The smallest
corporations lost ground: corporations with assets of less than $1 million held less than 10 percent
of the industry's assets in 1957 compared with more than 16 percent in 1947. But the greatest
decline took place among middle-size corporations whose share of total assets fell from 68 to 49
percent.
The largest bituminous coal mines (as shown by production data for establishments) in­
creased their portion of the industry's output after World War II. In 1945, the 50 largest mines
produced only 5 percent, of total tonnage; in 1958, their output climbed to 22 percent of the total.
The largest size class of mines, those producing more than 500,000 tons per year, raised their share
of the industry's production from 42 percent in 1947 to 50 percent in 1959, the greatest increase
made by any size class.
The small marginal mines, operating with a minimum of capital investment, expanded as a
group during the postwar period as moderate-size mines were abandoned. The growth of the small
mine, however, is related to its ability to produce for the local market, generally without effective
union contract or Federal safety regulation. Mines producing fewer than 10,000 tons annually in­
creased their share of total production from 2.5 percent in 1947 to 4.9 percent in 1959, as they
raided their annual output by almost 5 million tons. The number of such mines increased by 755,
although the number in all other classes fell. In 1947, they comprised fewer than half of all
mines in operation; in 1959, they constituted 61 percent.
Employment in mines with fewer than 10 workers increased, although it fell sharply through­
out the rest of the industry. The proportion of employees working in the smallest size mine more
than doubled, rising from 5 percent in 1948 to 12 percent in 1958. Fewer than half of all mines
employed less than 10 workers in 1948; by 1958, slightly more than two-thirds did.




36




Structure of Bituminous Coal Mining Industry, Three Postwar-Periods

PERCENT

Employment ^

Production

em ployee size class

mine tonnage class

100

Assets ^
corporation size class

y,:\
v . '. j

500 Employees^
X \ or M ore X***

90
80

' |v!-

|X\

$50,000,066 ‘

!• or M o re

*********

500,000

ons or M ore

70
60

100 to 499

50
= $1,000,000 z=

40

to $49,000,000

100,000 to 499,000

30
w *r*VM*r»'

20

5
*

l>"

^

10 to

:<iv

10,000 to 99,000

10
><

- -A

rr/< * * < »<
>iv<r<'Cvv1
» » tr
b
^ *^>y;

X ’X

I $100,000 to $ 9 9 9 ,0 0 0 *
JT X JLJeLJLJrXIUI

1 to

^ess^than 10^00^

1947

7.tE:£-+-■

v:v’

1948

1959
Sources:

liitak.T.. jr.fr % fr *v

^ U n d e r $100^00 -* *

1958

1947

1957

U.S. Departm ent of Interior, Bureau o f M ines;
U.S. Departm ent of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 16.

Rise of Competitive Fuels
The postwar decline of bituminous coal production reflected a continuing long-term shift
from coal to alternative sources of energy* At the close of the 19th century, coal supplanted wood
as the Nation's principal fuel, and by 1920, supplied almost two-thirds of all energy consumed in
the United States (in terms of B.t.u's)* After 1920, however, coal consumption declined relative to
other fuels largely as a result of the expanding use of the internal combustion engine* In 1950,
only 35 percent of the Nation's energy supply came from bituminous coal, while 37 percent was de­
rived from petroleum, which succeeded coal as the Nation's leading energy source.
By 1959, bitumi­
nous coal supplied 22 percent of the Nation's energy; natural gas, which expanded phenomenally dur­
ing World War II, accounted for 31 percent; and petroleum, continuing to rank first among the
Nation's fuels, provided 42 percent of the total consumed.
In energy markets in which it directly competes with petroleum and natural gas— excluding
such uses as gasoline, lubricating oils, and the manufacture of carbon black--bituminous coal
supplied almost one-third of the total B.t.u.'s used in the United States in 1959, but this was a
decline from more than 50 percent in 1945-49 and more than 70 percent in the early 1920's.
The shift from bituminous coal to other fuels resulted in part from its competitors'
natural advantages, as well as from cost considerations* Both petroleum and natural gas are re­
garded as cleaner and more conveniently consumed fuels than coal* Uncertainties about a constant
supply of coal arising from the frequent labor-management disputes of the 1940's, also contributed
to the continuing shift away from bituminous coal* Petroleum and natural gas, moreover, were aided
by well-financed research programs which helped develop more efficient and more automatic equipment
for utilizing these fuels.




38

Proportions of the Nation's Energy Supply Furnished by
Mineral Fuels and Waterpower, 1920-60
PERCENT O F TOTAL B.T.U.S




1920

1925

1930

1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

Source: U.S. D epartm ent of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 17 B.

Technology and the Changing Pattern of Coal Consumption
Technological changes were instrumental in displacing coal from three of its principal
markets--railroads, industry, and homes and businesses (retail deliveries). At the same time, they
were creating a new market for coal— electric power— which has rapidly become the industry's largest
market.
The adoption of the diesel locomotive led to the virtual elimination of coal from the
railroad market. For many years, railroads ranked with industry and retail deliveries as a major
market for coal. Between 1933 and 1947, steam locomotives used 20 percent of the coal consumed in
the United States. With conversion from steam to diesel power in the decade after World War II,
railroad consumption shrank from more than 109 million tons in 1947 to fewer than 3 million tons,
or less than 1 percent of all coal consumed in 1959.
The introduction of the welded steel pipeline was a primary factor in the substitution
of natural gas and petroleum products for coal in residential and commercial spaceheating. Although
home and commercial use of coal declined less drastically than did railroad consumption, retail
deliveries fell by 70 percent (68 million tons) between 1947 and 1959.
The development of transcontinental oil and gas pipelines also partially explains the
33-percent decline in coal buying by U.S. mining and manufacturing industries between 1947 and 1959.
Increased imports of low-cost residual fuel oil are said to have further reduced industrial demand
for bituminous coal. All industry groups, except cement manufacture, reduced consumption of coal
during the period.
The decline in industrial coal consumption also reflected the rise of the electrical
power industry. Improvements in the generation of electricity and in the manufacture of electrical
machinery enabled industry to substitute purchased electrical power for factory generated steampower. This substitution in large part amounted to a shift from direct coal use to the use of coal
"by wire," since approximately half of all the electric power used in the past 40 years was generated
from coal. Consumption of coal *by wire" has increased spectacularly in recent years. The amount
of coal purchased by electric power utilities doubled between 1937 and 1947 and again between 1947
and 1959. In 1948, alectric utilities surpassed railroads as a consumer of coal; and by 1954, they
used more than any other consumer group. In 1959, 166 million tons, more than 45 percent of all
coal consumed in the United States, were delivered to electric power plants.




40




Relative Consumption of Bituminous Coal,
by Major Consumption Classes, 1933-60
PERCEN T

1933 1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

Source: U.S. Departm ent o f Interior, Bureau of Mines.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 18 B

Expanded Foreign Trade
Export markets for coalf although unstable, became more important to the industry in the
period following World War II* In contrast, imports of coal continued to be very small, amounting
to less than 1 percent of the total consumed in the United States annually.
Between 1947 and 1959,
U.S. producers supplied over 620 million tons of coal, or almost 10 percent of their total production
to foreign consumers. Exports exceeded 25 million tons every year, and reached peaks of 69 million
tons in 1947, and 76 millions in 1957. This was a substantial increase over the export trade dtiring
the 1920*47 period when less than 5 percent of total coal production was exported, an'd foreign sales
exceeded 25 million tons in only 2 years.
Canada and Western Europe consumed almost 90 percent of postwar U.S. coal exports. For
many years, Canada was a stable, growing market for U.S. coal: in the period 1935*40, its imports
of U.S. coal amounted to about 10 million tons annually, and during World War II purchases averaged
about 20 million tons a year. In the postwar period, however, Canadian demand declined from almost
26 million tons annually in 1947*48 to just over 12 millions in 1958-59. Exports of U.S. coal to
European countries--chiefly West Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands— began in quantity only after
World War II, and fluctuated greatly from year to year, ranging from a low of 800,000 tons in 1950
to a high of almost 50 million tons in 1957. In 1959, exports to Europe fell to 19 million tons.
Only small amounts of U.S. coal were shipped to other parts of the world, most of it to Japan where
a small but expanding market developed after 1950.
Wide fluctuations in U.S. coal exports in recent years reflect wartime destruction of
£urope*s coal mines and postwar political crises on the one hand and increased production from re­
constructed mines and growing competition abroad from petroleum and natural gas, on the other. The
growth of iron and steel production in Canada, Europe, and Japan appears to have permanently raised
the level of international demand for U.S. metallurgical (coking) coal, since this type of coal is
generally in short supply throughout the world. On the other hand, the increased protectionist
policies of the coal producing nations of Europe and the reestablishment of coal trade with Eastern
Europe cut into U.S. coal exports in the late 1950*s. Future expansion of U.S. coal exports will
depend in large measure upon the import quotas, government subsidies, and common market arrangements**
adopted by coal-using nations.




42

U.S. Bituminous Coal Exports to Major Markets,
1935-60
T H O U S A N D S O F SH O R T T O N S




-39 -46
Avg. A vg.

Source: N a tio n a l C o a l A ssociation.
Based on a p p e n d ix table 19.

Increased Efficiency In Coal Utilization
Increased efficiency in coal utilization affected the level of coal consumption in the
post-World War II period. Improvements in combustion techniques, obtained through increasing the
energy captured from a given amount of the fuel, reduced the demand for coal per unit of final prod­
uct* At the time, greater economies realized in the use of coal helped to keep it competitive in
important energy markets.
In the electric power industry, the amount of coal required to generate 1 kilowatt-hour
was reduced by nearly 31 percent, from 1.3 pounds to 0.9 pounds per kilowatt-hour, between 1947
and 1959. Despite declining unit fuel requirements, the industry's total consumption of coal con­
tinued to rise as the demand for electric power climbed.
Similar savings were recorded in manufacturing industries using coal for process heat.
The steel industry reduced coal consumption per ton of pig iron by 17 percent between 1947 and 1959.
In the cement industry, coal requirements were reduced by 15 percent per barrel between 1947 and
1959.
The increases in the efficiency of coal utilization are part of a long-term trend in the
U.S. economy toward lower fuel and energy requirements per unit of output. Between 1920 and 1959,
total energy consumed per dollar of gross national product (in constant prices)— one indicator of
this long-term movement— fell by approximately 30 percent. In part, this reduction resulted from
the electrification of industry and related advances in electrical technology. Where steam engines
were used to generate power for industrial machinery, energy was lost in transmission by shafts and
belts. The introduction of the electric motor, which brought power directly to the point of
application, made possible greater efficiencies in the use of energy. In addition, the substitution
of large electrical power generators by public utilities for small steam power generators operated
by individual plants made possible greater efficiencies in the utilization of energy fuels.




44

Bituminous Coal Requirements Per Unit of Production,
Th ree Selected Industries and Periods

Electric Power
Generation

Blast Furnace
Operation

(lbs p er KW H)

(lbs per Ton)

3.00




132

3,055

1920
Sources: N a tio n a l

Cement Production

1947

(lbs per BBI)

1959

C o a l A ssociation; A m erican Iron an d Steel Institute;
U.S. Departm ent of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
B a se d on a p p e n d ix table 20.

621946 0 - 6 1 - 4

Employment, Unemployment, and Earnings

Declining Employment Opportunities
As production declined and unit labor requirements were reduced after World War II, employ­
ment fell sharply. The average number of production workers employed in the industry fell from about
411,000 in 1948 to less than 150,000 in 1959. This decline of 64 percent, or about 24,000 jobs each
year, was almost twice the rate of decline which occurred in the years 1923-34 following World War I.
With drastic cutbacks in employment following both world wars, and little recovery in the years
between, the trend of production worker employment in bituminous mining has been downward for almost
40 years. In 1923, the alltime high of bituminous coal employment, more than 643,000 miners were
employed in the industry; by 1959, only one-fourth as many miners were at work.
The contraction of coal mining employment was greater than the decline in agriculture and
contrasted markedly with the growth of employment elsewhere in the economy. While the total number
of bituminous coal employees (nonproduction as well as production workers) fell by almost two-thirds
between 1948 and 1959, the number in manufacturing climbed by 6 percent, and in private nonagricultural
establishments, by 13 percent. The divergence of employment trends in bituminous coal and other
industries is even more striking over a longer period. Between 1939 and 1959, the average work force
in bituminous coal mines was reduced by more than one-half; over the same period there was a 60percent increase in manufacturing employment, and a 67-percent expansion of employment in all private
nonfarm establishments.
Older mine workers increased markedly in importance in the industry's contracting work
force. In 1938, according to Social Security data, 30 percent of all coal miners were 45 years of
age and over; by 1957, the proportion had risen to 41 percent. Compared with U.S. workers as a whole,
the labor force of the coal industry was older and the average age was rising faster; between 1938
and 1957, the median age of coal miners increased by 5% years to 42 years; in industry as a whole,
the increase was only 3 years and the median age was 37 years.




46

Trends in Bituminous Coal Mining Employment:
Production Workers, 1920 -60; and A ll Employees, 1939-60
TH O U SA N D S O F P R O D U C T IO N W O R K E R S




Sourses:

U.S. Departm ent of Labor, Bureau of L abo r Statistics;
U.S. D epartm ent o f A gricu ltu re, A gricu ltu ral Reasearch Service.
Based on a p p e n d ix table 21A and 21B.

Serious Unemployment
The decline of bituminous coal mining employment after World War II created severe hardship
for displaced mineworkers and their families. Although 88,000 employees are estimated to have retired
under pension provisions of the Miners' Welfare and Retirement Fund, and some, particularly younger
workers, found jobs in other communities, moving their families or commuting long distances to work,
many displaced mineworkers were unable to secure steady jobs. Serious and persisting unemployment
plagued coal communities through much of the postwar period.
Scattered information on unemployment by industry attachment shows that unemployment has
been heavier in recent years among coal miners than among other industrial workers. In March 1957,
the Bureau of Employment Security estimated that 6.4 percent of all bituminous coal mineworkers were
unemployed compared with 3.8 percent of the workers in all United States industry. Although the
period was marked by relatively high coal mining activity, the bituminous coal mining unemployment
rate was 50 percent greater than in manufacturing, and 30 percent greater than in all mining. In
West Virginia, the Nation's leading coal-producing State, unemployment in bituminous coal mining is
estimated to have exceeded 20 percent in both 1958 and 1959, with the average term of unemployment
lasting more than 20 weeks. In both years, the unemployment rate in bituminous coal mining is calculated to have been more than twice as great as the average for all other industries in the State.
The chronic nature of unemployment in coal mining is clearly indicated in Bureau of
Employment Security surveys of local labor market conditions. In March 1960, 1 out of every 5 areas
of substantial unemployment in the Nation was a coal mining center. Of the 32 coal communities with
heavy unemployment, 27 were specially designated as "areas of substantial and persistent unemploy­
ment.'' Bituminous coal mining centers were among the hardest hit chronic areas of substantial un­
employment. In March 1959, the unemployment rate in major areas with bituminous coal mining averaged
12 percent as against 9 percent in nonmining areas. Among the samller chronically depressed areas
surveyed, unemployment rates were greater than 10 percent in more than three-fourths of the bituminous
coal mining areas, but in only one-third of the nonbituminous coal mining areas.




48

Bituminous Coal Mining Areas With Substantia I Unemployment,
1959-60 Survey

A
re

In a ll a r e a s e x c e p t O k m u lg e e - H e n r y e + t a ^ k la ;
a n d R ic h la n d s - B lu e f i e ld , W. V a., u n e m p lo y m e n t
w a s b o th s u b s t a n t ia l a n d p e r s is t e n t .

PERCEN T U N E M P L O Y E D
IN SU R V E Y M O N T H

11.4
15.0
12.0
18.3
9.2

-W E S T V IR G IN IA ___________
Charleston
9.1
| Beckley
25.8
_ 4flBluefield
17.9
DY ^ C la rk s burg
9.2
Fairm ont
17.8
'fc Logan
16.0
M o rga n to w n
18.9
Ronceverte-W hite
Su lp h u r S p rin gs
14.9
W elch
25.4
W h e e lin g-Ste u b e n villeW eirton, O h io
11.2

IN D IA N A
Terre H aute
Vincennes
IL L IN O IS
H arrisb u rg
10.0
H e r ri n -M u rp h y s bo rofoRTSl1
W e st Frankfo
OKLAHOM A
M c A le ste r
O k m u lge e -H e n ry e tta
K E N T U C K Y _______________
C o rb in
6.8
H a z a rd
13.7
M a d iso n v ille
7.9
M id d le sb o r o -H a rla n
21.0
P a in tsv ille -P re sto n sb u rg 13.0
P in e v ille -W illiam so n
20.9



P E N N S Y L V A N IA
Johnstow n
C le arfie ld -D u b o is
Kittanning-Ford City
U niontow n~Connellsville
Indiana ^

V IR G IN IA
Big Stone G a p A p p a la c h ia
Richlands-Bluefield

11.4
9.2

TEN NESSEE
La Follette-Jellico
Tazew ell

14.1

ALABAM A
Jasper

Source:

6.7

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security

Impact on Areas
The employment problems of coal miners have been complicated by the depletion of local coal
deposits, as well as by the contraction of coal markets and the mechanization of production. Abandon­
ment of exhausted mines in some areas, and the opening of new mines in others, with consequent local
unemployment, has long been a feature of coal mining. In Illinois, for example, 162 mines were
abandoned between 1955 and 1959, while at the same time 116 new mines were opened, many of them in
new locations.
Unemployed mineworkers had special difficulties in finding new jobs. The general rise of
unemployment in the United States in recent years limited their opportunities for employment in other
industries. Because coal towns are frequently one-industry towns, located miles from industrial and
trade centers, local opportunities for securing alternative employment were severely limited. The
high average age of displaced mineworkers, their inability to secure retraining, and the widespread
assumption that mining skills are not easily transferred also emerged as important barriers to their
reemployment.
The type of demographic and economic decline that some coal areas have undergone is illus­
trated by the record for the five-county area of Southeastern Kentucky where coal mining had been
the principal industry for decades. Production of coal fell by one-third and mine employment by
two-thirds between 1950 and 1959. Population (rural and urban), the number of households, and the
number of young people fell sharply, while increasing in the rest of the State.
The proportion of
older persons rose sharply as young people left the area. Personal income and the volume of retail
trade declined, whereas they increased elsewhere in the State. These changes further complicated
the problem of developing new jobs in distressed coal areas.




50

Demographic and Economic Changes in
Five Counties in Kentucky and Rest of State,Selected Years




1950

1959

1950

1959

RETAIL TRADE
Percent C h a n g e
+60

/
✓

+40

/

/

*f
/
/

+20

/
/

0

-2 0

1948 1954 1958
Sources:

U.S. D e p artm e n t o f Interior, Bureau of M ines;
U.S. D ep artm ent o f Com m erce, Bureau o f the C en su s;
University o f Kentucky, Bureau of Business Research.
Based on A p p e n d ix Table 23.

Shorter Uorktime
Short workweeks, long characteristic of coal mining because of slack demand, continued to
be a serious problem in the postwar period. In 1959, coal miners averaged 36,4 hours a week compared
with the average of 40.3 hours for factory workers. Average weekly hours in coal mining declined
after the 1947-48 boom and fluctuated between a low of 32.6 hours in 1949 to a high of 37.8 hours
in 1956.
A relatively short workweek has prevailed in the industry since 1923. Although factory
workers have averaged above or close to 40 hours for most of the past 36 years, other than the
depression years of the 1930*s, workers in the bituminous coal industry have averaged as many as 40
hours a week in only 4 years of this period. Ihe workweek in the coal industry was longer than in
manufacturing in only 2 years--1946 and 1947.
The reduced demand for labor in the postwar period is also measured by the postwar reduc­
tions in the number of days worked each year. In 1959, bituminous coal mines operated an average
of 188 days or only about two-thirds of the industry's standard workyear. This was well below the
average during the peak years of coal demand, 1940-48. Over the entire postwar period, 1947-59,
mines operated only slightly more than the average during the decade of the 1930's.
Reductions in scheduled worktime also occurred over the period as a result of collective
bargaining between the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and the major coal operators (and the
United States Government during World War II). In 1933, miners worked a scheduled 8 hours a day,
40 hours weekly in production. A year later, this was reduced to 7 hours daily and 35 hours a week.
During World War II, the 35-hour week was abandoned, but both travel and lunchtime were included in
the longer scheduled paid workday of 8 3/4 hours. On July 1, 1947, the scheduled workday was reduced
to 8 hours, including portal-to-portal travel and lunchtime. In 1959, miners were working a
scheduled 8 hours daily, but with the inclusion of travel and lunchtime, they were working signifi­
cantly less time in actual production than they were 25 years earlier.




52

A verage W eekly Hours and Days W orked Per Year
in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1920-60




Sources:

U.S. Departm ent o f Interior, Bureau of M ines;
U.S. Departm ent o f Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
B ased on a p p e n d ix table 24A.

Changing Occupational Structure
The mechanization of bituminous coal mining significantly changed the job structure and
the work involved in mining, as well as reduced the number of jobs in the industry.
Increasing
proportions of bituminous coal workers were employed, particularly after vtorld War II, in non*
production rather than production occupations; in jobs above ground rather than under ground; in
maintenance work rather than in direct production at the face of the coal seam.
Although total employment in bituminous coal mining declined drastically after 1947, almost
all of the decline was in production worker jobs. The decline in the number of administrative, pro­
fessional, supervisory, and clerical workers in the industry was considerably less drastic. As a
result, the ratio of nonproduction to production workers was more than twice aa high.
This shift toward nonproduction work was more marked in bituminous coal mining than in
many other major industries. However, the proportion of nonproduction workers, which tends to
reflect the degree of mechanization, continued to be lower than in many other major industries.
Only one worker in nine in coal mining was in the administrative, professional, supervisory and
clerical category in 1959, compared with one in five in steel, and one in three in petroleum refining.
A second important change in bituminous coal mining was the growth in the proportion of
workers employed in surface operations. The expansion of strip mining, the growing importance of
coal preparation, and the mechanization of underground mining, contributed to raise the proportion
of U.S. mine employees working at surface jobs from 15 percent in 1923 to 25 percent in 1948; of
these, approximately one-fourth were employed at strip mines while the remainder were employed at
other surface work, primarily coal cleaning. Although comparable data are not available, it is
estimated that almost 30 percent of all U.S. bituminous coal employees in 1959 worked above ground.
The continued relative decline of underground operations and the growth of coal processing point
to a further rise in the importance of surface jobs.
A third important change in the occupational structure was the shift from direct (largely
manual) production to machine maintenance, transportation, and supervision jobs in underground
mines. In Illinois, for example, the proportion of electricians, motormen, and managers increased
steadily, whereas the proportion of men employed in direct production fell sharply.
In 1923, twothirds of all underground workers were miners, loaders, and other direct production workers. In
1947, the proportion fell to one-fourth and by 1956, only one underground employee in six worked at
the face of the coal seam.




54

Occupational Structure in Bituminous Coal Mining, Selected Years

1923

1933 1947

1956

PERCEN T
Surface
/ , Em ployees

'/

A dm inistrative,
Clerical, and
Professional,
U nited States

PER C EN T

M a n a g e m e n t,
M a in te n an ce ,
Transportation, Etc.

^ D i r e c t Production
^ W o rk e rs

S‘ H
1939




1947

I9 6 0

Illu s t r a t iv e data-. I L L I N O I S .
P ro p o rtion s m ay vary for other states.

Sources:

U.S. D epartm ent of Labor, Bureau o f L ab o r Statistics;
Illin o is D epartm ent of M in es an d M inerals.
B ase d in p art on a p p e n d ix ta b le 2 5 A a n d 25B.

Progress in Safety
Technological developments, mine safety legislation,and intensified education contributed
to the substantial reduction in the hazards of mining coal and to the improvement of miners working
conditions. In 1947, there were 1.3 fatal and 57.3 nonfatal injuries per million man-hours worked
in mining bituminous coal. By 1959, these rates had been lowered by approximately one-fourth—
fatalities to 0.9 and nonfatal injuries to 41.4 per million man-hours worked. Over the longer period
1930-59, accident frequency rates were reduced by one-half. Injuries per ton of coal produced fell
even more sharply. Marked reductions were recorded in fatalities attributable to ground falls and
to explosions of gas and dust; and major disasters (those in triiich five or more lives were lost)
were less frequent in the 1950's than in any previous decade.
Increased mechanization, one of the most important changes affecting accident frequency,
reduced both the number of hazards and the amount of human exposure to them. Widespread use of
technical developments such as the electric cap lamp, safer explosives, roof bolting, and improved
ventilation and electrical systems eliminated some of the traditional hazards. The shift to surface
mining, where accidents are less frequent and less severe, reduced mining risks. Establishment of
a Federal Mine Safety Code in 1946, application of State laws, and U.S. Bureau of Mines safety
activities also served to improve mining safety. The Federal Safety Code, although not enforceable
by statute, has promoted good practices through safety training, better inspection, and through
setting standards which have voluntarily been adopted— in national wage agreements— by a large
segment of the industry.
Despite marked improvement in safety, coal mining continues to be a hazardous occupation.
Disabling work injuries occurred more than three times as often in coal mining as in manufacturing
in 1959. Although the frequency of accidents declined in recent years, severity rates (the average
loss in days per injury) did not. Mechanization reduced some hazards, but intensified others. The
continuous mining machine, for example, reduced exposure of personnel and eliminated drilling and
blasting hazards, but at the same time made adequate ventilation to protect against the danger of
dust and gas explosion a more serious problem.




56

Injury Rates, 1930-60, and Major Disasters, 1910-59
in Bituminous Coal Mining
INJURIES PER MILLION M AN-HOURS




M A JO R DISASTERS
Num ber
of
disasters
150

Num ber
of
men killed
13,000

125

100

-2,500

0

No. of
disasters

□

No. of
men killed

75

1930

1940

1950

1960

-

2,000

-1,500

50-

1,000

25

500

1910 1 9 2 0 1930 1940 1950
-19 -29 -39 -49 -59

Source: U.S. D epartm ent o f Interior, Bureau of M ines.
B ase d on table 26A.

Rising Earning#
The earning* of coal miners rose steadily after World War II* Average hourly earnings
almost doubled between 1947 and 1959, rising from $1*64 to $3*25 an hour. The daily wage rate of
a mechanical loading machine operator under union agreements advanced from $15*48 to $26*68, over
the same period* These increases continued the upward trend of wages that began in 1933 with the
signing of the Appalachian wage agreement between the UMW and the associations representing bituminous coal operators*
The steady rise in coal miners' earnings in the period after World War II (1947-59) con­
trasts sharply with the decline following World War I (1923-33)* Mineworker earnings fell almost
three times as fast as manufacturing earnings between 1923-33, whereas they increased by one-fifth
more in the period 1947-59* After adjustment for changes in consumer prices, mineworkers earned
52 percent more an hour in 1959 than they did 12 years earlier*
The average hourly earnings of miners were among the highest paid to United States workers*
However, they were offset by short workweeks* Although hourly earnings were almost 50 percent
greater than the average for all manufacturing in 1959, weekly earnings were only one-third greater*
The 1959 average annual earnings of mine workers covered by State unemployment insurance laws were
less than 10 percent greater than the earnings of all covered workers in manufacturing* Annual
earnings in bituminous coal mining were, on the average, lower than the average in petroleum refin­
ing and primary metals, despite higher average hourly earnings in coal mining*
Increases in yearly
earnings between 1947 and 1959, moreover, were lower than in most other major industries*
The expanding mechanization of mining not only provided a basis for increased earnings,
but also was a major reason for turning the industry from a predominantly incentive pay basis to a
predominantly daily pay system* The widespread introduction of machine loading made payment for
individual production difficult* As a result of this and continued union demands for uniform wage
rates, a daily pay scale, and a job structure with few grades and narrow pay differentials were
adopted by most of the industry by the mid-1950's*




58

Earnings in Bituminous Coal Mining and Manufacturing Industries,
Selected Years
Cents




A V E R A G E H O U RLY E A R N IN G S ,
(Production Workers.)

1959

I Bitum inous C o a ll

$3.25

Product's'1of* Petroleunn

2.87

Hi Prim ary M e ta ls j H l I l l S I l f l S l 2.79
/\,A II M a n u fac tu rin g O '
a. fn * ■<’ r t r * fa -/ 4

2.22

A V E R A G E W E EK LY E A R N IN G S , 1959
(Production Workers)
$118.30
117.38

mm$mm

V/////////////X. n *
A V E R A G E A N N U A L E A R N IN G S , 1959
(A ll Male W orkers)
$ 6952

5,348

1929

1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960
Sources:

y / / / / / / / / / / / / / zz^ 5 .23 ,

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security
and Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Based in part on appendix table 27A and B.

Greater Welfare Benefits
In addition to increased wages, bituminous coal miners have benefited from greatly increased
expenditures for pensions and related welfare programs since the end of World War II. In 1959*
expenditures for such payments (supplementary to wages and salaries) paid by mine operators, amounted
to $187 million (which included Federal, State, social security and other legally required contri­
butions as well as contractual payments for pensions and welfare) according to the U.S. Department
of Commerce's national income statistics. Although total wage and salary payments fell by one-third
between 1947 and 1959, supplementary payments doubled. Most of this increase occurred between 1947
and 1951, when the industry's pension program was getting under way; thereafter, the total of supple­
mentary payments remained fairly constant.
In 1947, such expenditures comprised about 6 percent of
total wages and salaries; by 1959, they amounted to over 16 percent. In no other major industry
group did supplementary payments constitute as high a proportion.
Industry contributions to the Miners' Welfare and Retirement Fund constituted the major
factor in the growth of supplementary payments* Established in 1946, the fund provided, for the
first time in the industry's history, retirement pensions for miners at age 60; full medical care
and hospitalization for miners and their families; rehabilitation care for the disabled; death
benefits and disaster assistance for widows and survivors. Construction of 10 Miners Memorial
Hospitals in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky enabled miners to receive care in coal mining
areas which traditionally have been short of hospital facilities.
A unique feature in financing these benefits is the basing of employer contributions on
tonnage produced rather than on wages paid. The 1946 agreement which established the welfare and
retirement fund, set royalty payments at 5 cents a ton. Since then they have been increased 4 times—
in 1947, 1948, 1950, and 1952— reaching a level of 40 cents for every ton produced* Thus, because
production has declined more slowly than employment, the average supplementary payment per employed
worker has steadily increased.




60

Compensation of Employees in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1939-60,
and Indexes of Change, 1947-60
M IL L IO N S
$1,800




IN D E X E S

11947=100 )

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0
1939

41

*43

45

47

49

51

53

55

*57

59 1960

1947
Source:

49

51

53

55

57

’591960

U.S. Departm ent o f Com m erce,
O ffice of Business Economics
Based on a p p e n d ix table 28

Costs, Prices, and Profits

Hourly Compensation and Unit Employment Cost
Although employee compensation per man-hour (including wages and salaries and supplementary
payments for all employees) rose sharply throughout the post-World War II period, the increase in the
employment cost per ton of coal was relatively small* Large postwar gains in productivity permitted
hourly compensation to rise without a corresponding increase in unit employment cost* By 1959,
employment cost per ton was only 17 percent higher than in 1947 despite the fact that total compen­
sation per hour had more than doubled* These trends reflected the record of the industry as a
whole; the experience of individual mines may have varied greatly*
Changes in unit employment cost In the postwar period were marked by three phases*
Between 1947 and 1949, they increased as hourly compensation increased* This continued the upward
trends in unit employment cost and hourly compensation which occurred between 1939 and 1947* Out­
put per man-hour grew slowly throughout the decade*
Between 1949 and 1953, unit employment cost continued to climb, but more slowly than com­
pensation per hour* The index of employment cost per ton advanced only 5 percent compared with an
increase of 31 percent in total hourly compensation. Output per man-hour began to rise more sharply*
The employment cost per ton of coal mined reached its peak in 1953* Hourly employee
compensation continued to climb, but employment costs per ton actually declined*
Between 1953 and
1959, unit employment cost fell by 12 percent although compensation per hour rose by 26 percent*




62

Indexes of Compensation Per Man-Hour, Employment Cost Per Ton,
and Output Per Man-Hour, 1939-60
IN D E X ( 1947=100 )




Sources: U. S. Departm ent o f Com m erce, O ffice o f Business Economics; U. S. Departm ent
o f Interior, Bureau of M ines; U. S. D epartm ent of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Based on a p p e n d ix tab le s 29 and 11.

Reduced Importance of Employment Costs
The trend of unit employment cost between Census yeers 1954 end 1958 differed sharply from
the trend of material and other costs per unit. Figures derived from the Census of Minerals (the
only detailed industry dsta available) show that employment cost per ton fell by 2 percent between
these years, while unit material cost increased by 11 percent and other costs (including depreciation,
interest, advertising, insurance, and other overhead and profits) rose by 47 percent per ton. The
average value of a ton of coal shipped rose by 10 percent.
Unit employment cost also lagged behind other costs and prices between 1939 and 1954, a
period of war and postwar price and wage increases. Employment cost per ton doubled over this period,
but both unit material and other costs increased substantially more.
The pattern of change after 1939 differed markedly from that of the depression decade.
Unit employment cost was 5 percent higher in 1939 than in 1929, and the average value per ton was
2 percent higher. Material and other costs per unit, however, declined sharply between these years.
One consequence of the changes after 1939 was a significant decline in the importance of
employment costs in the cost structure of the industry. In 1939, payments to employees amounted to
two-thirds the total value of coal shipped; by 1958 they had fallen to one-half the total value.
Only fragmentary data are available for the items comprising costs other than material.
Information on two overhead items— interest and depreciation— show that these fixed costs per unit
of output increased by more than 200 percent between 1947 and 1957, reflecting not only increased
outlays for plant and equipment, but also the decline in sales. A third item, corporate profits per
unit of output, on the other hand, fell sharply from the 1947 peak and fluctuated downward as pro­
duction declined.




64

Employment, Materials, and Other Costs as a Percent of
Total Cost Per Ton of Bituminous Coal, Census Years
100%

O t h e r C o sts

>15% £

l67% ]

M a t e r i a l s C o sts
69%

Em ploym e nt C o s t s

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

'.V .V .V .V .V .V .V ,

1929




1939

1954

1958

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
Based on appendix table 30.

Price Trends
The price of coal at the mine (average value per ton, f.o.b.) was relatively stable through
most of the postwar period. Following a 20-percent increase between 1947 and 1948. with the general
relaxation of wartime controls, average price fluctuated within a narrow range: from a low of $4.50
per ton in 1955 to a high of $5.08 in 1957. In 1959. the average price was $4.77 per ton. or only 15
percent higher than in 1947. and 4 percent below that in 1948.
Postwar price stability was in marked contrast with the instability of the previous 30
years. The average price of coal tripled during World War I. fell by two-thirds in the following
years of decline and depression, and doubled again in recovery and World War II. Although the post­
war average price of coal at the mine was stable, competitive fuel prices rose sharply at sites of
production. Between 1948 and 1959. the average price of petroleum (average value per barrel at well)
rose by 12 percent, and natural gas by 98 percent, compared with coal's 4 percent decline.
In con­
trast, between 1935 and 1945, the price of coal rose relative to both oil and gas.
No single comparison accurately measures relative fuel prices at points of consumption.
Market fuel prices, as distinct from prices at sites of production, vary according to the significance
of transportation costs, the type of fuel, the kind of market, and the efficiency of combustion.
For
example, three-fourths of all coal is shipped by rail, and rail charges in 1959 added almost 75 per­
cent to the price of coal at the mine. Although mine prices fell by 3 percent between 1948 and 1959,
delivered prices rose by almost 10 percent because of the steady increase in transportation charges.
In its most important market, electric power generation, coal's competitive position im­
proved during the period. Between 1948 and 1959, the average price of coal at power generating
plants declined by 6 percent, while the price of its chief competitor, natural gas, more than
doubled. Fuel oil for power generation (almost entirely residual oil) fell more than coal in price
as the result of a precipitous price decline in 1948-49. The steady rise in the price of gas raised
its average price per B.t.u. in electric power generation closer to the level of coal.
Despite its
relative price fall, oil continued to be the high cost fuel in all markets.
The price of coking coal used in the manufacture of steel, coal's second largest industrial
market, in contrast, increased by 20 percent between 1948 and 1959. The price of high grade steam
coal used by railroads (and other industries) rose by more than 30 percent.
In the retail or space
heating market, the price of bituminous coal increased by an average of 28 percent, natural gas rose
by 35 percent, and fuel oil by only 20 percent. Price variations, however, were substantial from
city to city and the cost of coal was only one of the elements leading to a reduction in use.




66

Indexes of Prices for Bituminous Coal, Petroleum,
and Natural Gas, 1920-60




Sources: U. S. Departm ent of Interior, Bureau o f M in es,
N a tio n a l C o a l A sso cia tio n ; Edison Electric Institute.
Based on a p p e n d ix ta b le s 31A, 31D, a n d 31E.

Profit Trends
The bituminous coal industry reported net income after taxes in each of the 18 years,
1940*58 (except 1954) after an almost equally long period of losses. According to Internal Revenue
Service data, the industry showed a net loss in every recorded year between 1921 and 1939. With
World War II, coal mining entered a period of relative prosperity which reached its peak in the
postwar years 1947*48. Net profit for these 2 years amounted to more than the total for the
proceeding 7 years. It also equaled the total for the following 7 years when industry earnings
declined. Profits fell from 7.5 percent of sales in 1948 to only l.i percent in 1958. The average
rate for the period 1949*58 was 2.1 percent.
While the industry as a whole recorded net earnings after World War II, there were about
as many firms reporting losses annually as recording profits. In only 5 years after 1947 (when a
record 75 percent reported net earnings) did a majority of bituminous coal corporations earn profits.
Over the entire period, 1948*57, 50 percent of all corporation returns actually showed net losses.
Most of the profits have been earned by the relatively small percentage of large (and
highly mechanized) corporations. In 1957, 3 percent of all coal mining corporations (those with
assets of more than $10 million) accounted for 92 percent of the industry*s total net profits
after taxes. In contrast, firms with assets of less than $500,000, 78 percent of all bituminous
mining corporations, recorded net losses after taxes of more than $6 million.
Compared with other industries, the profit rate in bituminous coal mining has been low.
The ratio of net profit to net worth was less than in manufacturing in all of the past 20 years.
From the 1948 peak of 13.1 percent, the ratio of coal earnings to net worth fell sharply, reaching
1.4 percent after taxes in 1958. Between 1949 and 1958, the profit rate in bituminous coal mining
averaged only 3.0 percent of net worth, compared with 8.7 percent in manufacturing. Among bituminous
coal companies, profit rates varied, with some exceeding the average for the coal industry and other
industries.




68

Corporate Profits in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1928-58




T H O U SA N D S O F DOLLARS

Source: U.S. Treasury Department,internal Revenue Service.
Based on appendix tables 3 2 A and 32B.

Outlook
Coal Research and Development
One of the most important steps towards increasing the coal industry's share of the grow­
ing energy market is widely held to be expanded scientific research. Interest in developing new
ways of producing, transporting, and using coal has grown significantly since World War II.
The bulk of coal research is financed by groups outside the industry— chiefly as a result
of the large number of relatively small coal producers. Of the $17.4 million spent on research in
1955, the most recent data available show only about 21 percent came from coal producers, both captive
and independent. Federal and State Governments furnished 31 percent; coal-using industries, 29
percent; and coal equipment manufacturers, 19 percent. The total amount spent was only a small
fraction of the research expenditures by the competitive petroleum industry. With the establishment
of an Office of Coal Research in the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1960, government research
expenditures will be significantly enlarged, particularly for projects that have possibilities for
expanding markets in the near future. The industry also is increasing its financial support of
Bituminous Coal Research, Inc., the cooperative research organization of producers and users.
Research to improve and expand the utilization of coal accounted for about 60 percent of
total expenditures in 1955. One important area of study is the low-temperature carbonization of
coal— a process which would lower the cost of coal as a boiler fuel by producing chemicals and syn­
thetic fuels from ordinary steam coal. Research to reduce capital costs and increase the yields
from hydrogenation, a process in which chemicals are produced from coal as a primary rather than
a byproduct, constitutes a second major area. A third major area of research in coal use is the
development of an economical coal-fired gas turbine suitable for stationary and locomotive use.
Investigations into new methods of mining, preparation, storage, and transportation
accounted for about 20 percent of research expenditures in 1955. Equipment manufacturers are experi­
menting with remote controlled continuous mining machines. Research on hydraulic mining, in which
water under high pressure is used to mine the coal and transport it to surface preparation plants,
so transforming the entire sequence of mining steps into a continuous operation, also is receiving
greater attention. Because transportation costs are important to the industry, engineers ere
seeking to improve coal pipelines through which pulverized coal suspended in water can be pumped as
"slurry" a distance of more than 100 miles. Also under study, in order to reduce transportation
costs, is the possibility of locating electric power plants close to coal deposits. As technology
of electric power transmission is improved, this development becomes more feasible.




70

Distribution of Research and Development Expenditures
in Bituminous Coal Mining# by Source and Use, 1955




(IN MILLIONS)
R /D Use

Source of R/D Funds

U N IV E R S IT IE S A N D
U N ID E N T IF IE D

C A PT IV E C O A L
C O M P A N IE S

C O M M E R C IA L
C O A L C O M P A N IE S

P H Y SIC A L A N D *
C H E M IC A L PROPERTIES

Source: U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Based on Appendix Table 33.

Labor, Management, and Government Policies
The progress of the industry in the 1960*s will be influenced by the increased activities
of mine operators and mineworkers to promote the interests of the industry as a whole*
Pressure to increase productivity will continue to originate from both mine operators and
mineworkers* The UMW, which represents the great majority of workers in the industry, has long
held the view that mechanization and efficient organization of the industry are necessary to raise
wage rates, improve working conditions, and provide adequate benefits for disabled and retired
miners* John L* Lewis, union leader for almost 40 years, has asserted that high wages and high
productivity would help solve the industry's basic problem of "too many mines and too many miners*”
The union's policy of increases in wages and welfare benefits is widely acknowledged to have been a
major stimulus for introducing laborsaving machinery* With almost one-fifth of all U.S. coal
currently produced by nonunion mines which have lower wage and welfare benefits, wage cost differ­
entials are expected to continue to influence management decisions to mechanize.
Joint union-management efforts to expand coal markets are expected to receive greater
attention in the 1960's* In 1957, the union in a unique step established a Research and Marketing
Department to conduct, with the National Coal Association and other interested groups, promotional
activities for coal, such as the campaign to show consumers the advantages of ”electrie living.”
Interruptions of coal shipments because of strikes, have been reduced, The last industrywide work
stoppage occurred in 1952*
Cooperative efforts to secure legislation and public policies favorable to the coal indus­
try are now being intensified. The National Coal Policy Conference, composed of coal operators,
the UMW, railroads, coal equipment manufacturers, and leading electric power customers, was organ­
ized in 1959 to publicize the industry's needs. The conference seeks adoption by the Federal
Government of a National Fuel Policy that would eliminate the "unfair competition of other fuels,”
particularly the importation of residual fuel oil for Eastern seaboard consumers and of natural gas
from Canada*
Government measures to relieve hardships and unemployment among displaced coal miners also
are advocated by the miners. The UMW strongly supported the Area Redevelopment Act of 1961, legis­
lation to bring new industry to depressed mining areas, and urges the payment of unemployment
insurance benefits for the full period of joblessness*




72

M an-Days of Idleness From Work Stoppages
in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1927-59




1927-29

1930-34 1935-39 1940-44

1945-49 1950-54

1955-59

Based on a p p e n d ix table 34 B.

Outlook for the 1960's
Output per man-hour is expected by many authorities to continue to rise, although prob­
ably at a slower rate than in the 1947-59 period* In underground mining, substantial gains are
expected as continuous mining machines are adapted to thin seams; haulage is further mechanized;
and new mines designed for mechanical mining are opened. The virtual completion of mechanical load­
ing installations, on the other hand, eliminates an important source for gains in output per man­
hour. In surface mining, moderate advances are likely as larger and more specialized equipment is
utilized; the shift from underground to surface operations, significant in raising industry produc­
tivity in the past, is likely to be slow. Future technological improvements depend on operators'
investment decisions and therefore will be influenced by the outlook for sales, costs, interest,
taxes, and profits.
Coal production is expected to rise substantially above 1959 output during the 1960's
according to a number of industry experts.
Underlying the anticipated growth are forecasts of a
rising demand for coal and a relatively stable coal price. Increased consumption of coal will result
primarily from the increasing demand for electricity and the increasing importance of coal in gener­
ating electric power. Lesser increases are forecast for other industrial uses, largely iron and
steel. Major reductions in coal consumption are not foreseen because railroads and residential
heating have almost completely converted to other fuels, and atomic energy is not yet fully com­
petitive for generating electric power. Stable prices are predicted on the basis of a continuing
stability of unit labor costs arising from increases in output per man-hour; reduced costs of trans­
porting coal to places of consumption; from increased competition among shipping services; and
relatively greater pressure for price increases by the oil and natural gas industries.
Employment is expected (on the basis of the forecasts for productivity and production
discussed above) to stabilize or increase only slowly, after further decline. Prospects for ex­
pansion are limited: continued gains in productivity will probably hold employment well below past
levels. If coal production increases at the rate that gross national product is expected to in­
crease, while productivity slows to its long-term rate of growth, the number of mineworkers employed
in 1975 will be no higher than in 1959.
Unemp 1oyment is likely to continue to be a serious problem in coal mining areas until new
jobs in other industries are provided for miners now displaced, and for those who will be displaced
as older mines are abandoned.




74




Outlook tor Employment in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1960-1975

Estimated

S

.

1960 +

1947 — 1959
D E C L IN E D SH ARPLY
as productivity increased
rapidly and production
declined.

Employment

-1975

Appendix Tables

Table !•

Estimated Recoverable Mineral-Fuel Reserves of the United States, Including Alaska, January 1, 1960

Reserves (quadrillion B*t*u*fs)

Percent of total fuel reserves

Kind of fuel
Proved

Total potential

Proved

Total potential

Total *••••••••••*••*•••••**•••*•••*••••••**••*••••

6,200

28,515

100.0

100.0

Coal •*••••••**••......... ••••••••••••••••*.......
Petroleum, including natural gas liquids ••••••••••
Natural gas ••••••...... ••••••••••••••••••.... •••
Bitumen from bituminous sandstone •••••••••*•••••*•
Oil from oil shale •••••••••..... *••••»•••••**••••

5,400
215
285
10
290

22,000
2,355
1,100
60
3,000

87.1
3*5
4.6
.1
4.7

77.2
8.3
3.9
.1
10.5

Note: The exact magnitude of fuel reserves is indeterminate because of the necessity of making assumptions regard­
ing geological deposits and future economic and technological trends* For an extensive discussion of the problem of
estimating reserves, see Schurr and Netschert, Energy in the American Economy* 1850-1975* pp. 295-346* John Hopkins
Press, Baltimore, I960*
Source:

Mineral Facts* I960, U*S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*




76

Table 2A*

Bituminous Coal Mining:

State

Production
Thousands
Rank
of tons

Total •*••*•••••*••••••
West Virginia .......
Pennsylvania ••••••••••
Kentucky •••••«*•••••••
Illinois ............
O h i o...............
Virginia ............
Indiana ••••••*••••••••
Alabama •*•*•••••*•*•*•
Tennessee *****......
Michigan ••*••••••**•••
New York.... *.......
North Dakota ••••*•••••
Montana •••••*•*•*•*•••
Wyoming ••••••••••*••••
Colorado ••••••***....
Utah ******..........
Washington •••••**•••••
New Mexico ••••••••••••
Missouri ............

Volume of Production, Employment, Proved Reserves, and Distribution of Coal Shipments
by Major Producing State, 1959

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Per­
cent

412,028

100.0

119,692
65,347
62,810
45,466
35,112
29,769
14,804
11,947
5,913

mm

mm

29*1
15.9
15.3
11.1
8.5
7.2
3.6
2.9
1.4
•—

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

•• •

Employment
Number of
Rank
workers

1
2
3
5
6
4
9
7
8

Per­
cent

179,636

100.0

53,847
36,323
27,428
10,548
9,275
15,652
3,672
6,694
5,238
••

30.0
20.2
15.3
5.9
5.2
8.7
2.0
3.7
2.9
—

Rank

6
mm

5
3
10
mm

15
12
mm

Reserves
Billions
of tons

Per­
cent

1,899.739

100*0

105,762
72,376
118,973
137,009
82,972
10,833
35,215
65,848
24,985

5.6
3.8
6.3
7.2
4.4
.6
1.9
3.5
1.3

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

a»«»

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

350,756
221,719
120,788
99,440
92,904
63,588
61,509
78.828

18.5
11.7
6.4
5.2
4.9
3.3
3.2
4.1

mm

Distribution
Millions
Rank
of tons
369.988

100*0

46,021
..
39,720
50,071
••
31,000

12.5

mm

2
mm

3
1
mm

4

mm

mm
mm

5
6

27,231
22,974

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

Other western States ••

mm

mm

mm

mm

—

mm

mm

154,632

8.1

mm

mm

Other States ••••*•••••

mm

21,168

5.0

mm

mm

1,602

<l/>

mm

152,971

1/

mm

8.4

mm

mm

6.0

mm

10.7
13.5

mm

1
2
4
7
8
13
14
11

10,959

Per­
cent

7.4
6.2

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

—

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

41.4

Less than 0*1 percent*

Note: Production is in net (marketable) tons produced by mines with annual output of 1,000 net tons or more*
Employment is the average number of men working daily* Reserves are estimates of original gross reserves less production
to January 1, 1959* Distribution is the quantity of coal transported into a State or produced for consumption there dur­
ing a calendar year* Because of rounding, the components may not add to totals shown*




Source:

U*S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*

77
621946 0 - 6 1 - 6

Table 2B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Year

Total Value of Production, 1920-60

Total

Year

Total

1940 ........................
1 9 4 1 ........................
1942 ........................
1943 ........................
1944 ........................

$879,327,227
1,125,362,836
1,373,990,608
1,584,644,477
1,810,900,542

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

....................... .
........................
........................
........................
........................

1,768,204,320
1,835,539,476
2,622,634,946
2,993,267,021
2,136,870,571

795,483,000
588,895,000
406,677,000
445,788,000
628,383,000

1950 ....... .................
1 9 5 1 ........................
1952 ........................
1953 ........................
1954 ........................

2,500,373,779
2,626,030,137
2,289,180,401
2,247,828,694
1,769,619,723

658,063,000
770,955,000
864,042,000
678,653,000
728,348,366

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

2,092,382,737
2,412,004,151
2,504,406,042
1,996,281,274
1,965,606,901
1,953,490,000

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

$2,129,933,000
1,199,983,600
1,274,820,000
1,514,621,000
1,062,626,000

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

1,060,402,000
1,183,412,000
1,029,657,000
933,774,000
952,781,000

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

........................
........................
........................
........................
........................
........................

Note: Total value represents the value of total production based on the average selling price per ton
(f.o.b. mine). Coal not sold is valued at average selling price.
Data for 1960 are preliminary.
Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




78

Table 3A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Size of mine

All mines
500 employees and over ••••••••••••••
100 to 499 employees
10 to 99 employees ••#•••••••••••••••
1 to 9 employees ••••••••••••••••.•••

Concentration of Employment, Production and Assets by Size Class,
Selected Years
Employment, 1958
Percent
Number of
of mines
workers

Number
of mines
7,381

165,697

41
340

26,236
75,363
43,667
20,431

2 ,0 2 0

4.980

500,000 tons or more
100,000 to 499,000 tons ............
1 0 , 0 0 0 to 9 9 , 0 0 0 tons
Less than 10,000 t o n s ............ .

0 .6

4.6
27.4
67.4

Production, 1959
Percent
Millions
of mines
of tons

Number
of mines
All mines •••••••••••••••••••••••••«•

1 0 0 .0

412.0

7,719

205.4
116.3
70.1

212

509
2,331
4,667

2 0 .2

Total assets
(thousands
of dollars)

1 0 0 .0

2.7
6 .6

30.2
60.5

Assets , 1957
Percent
Number or
of all
s 9i
v vARmipnofln
ilJ4l 6
companies

All corporate returns •••••...... .

2,359,733

1,549

$50,000,000 and above ..............
$1,000,000 to $49,000,000 ..........
$100,000 to $999,000 ...............
Under $100,000 ...... ..............

982,384
1,161,622
193,198
22,529

7
199
564
779

100.0
.5
1 2 .8

Percent of
employment
1 0 0 .0

15.8
45.5
26.4
12.3
Percent of
total tonnage
1 0 0 .0

49.9
28.2
17.0
4.9
Percent of
industry
assets
1 0 0 .0

41.7
49.1

36.4
50.3

Source: Employment and production data are from U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
Assets data are from U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service.




79

8 .2

1.0

Table 3B.

Bituminous Coal Production in Captive Mines, by Industry Ownership, 1936 and 1950*60

/In thousands of tons?
Total

Percent of
total U.S.
production

Steel

Railroads

Electric
utilities

.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................
.................

81,880
86,881
94,506
81,062
90,931
74,057
86,545
84,568
88,612
68,728
64,622

19.7
17.0
17.7
17.4
19.9
18.9
18.6
16.9
18.0
16.7
15.7

...
63,305
53,818
66,363
54,726
65,282
62,953
68,245
52,581
48,142

•••
11,755
8,719
7,187
3,836
2,949
2,239
1,317
500
184

...
10,037
10,163
10,207
10,198
11,129
11,697
11,733
9,547
9,554

-—
9,409
8,362
7,174
5,297
7,185
7,679
7,317
6,100
6,742

I960 ....... ..........

68,044

16.5

52,515

171

9,314

6,044

Year

1936
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959

Other

mmm

Notes A captive mine is one in which 40 percent or more of total production is billed to an owning, controlling, or
affiliated corporation.
Dashes indicate data not available.

Data for 1960 are preliminary.

Sources: Data for 1950*60 are from Bituminous Coal Facts, published by National Coal Association.
from National Bureau of Economic Research, Minimum Price Fixing in the Bituminous Coal Industry.




80

Data for 1936,

Table 4A.

Bituminous Coal Mining! Fixed Capital (Plant and Equipment) per Worker, Selected Years, 1870-1958
(Based on estimates of the National Bureau of Economic Research*)

Year

1870 ..........
1880 .........
1889 .........
1909 .........
1 9 1 9 ...... .
1929 ..........
1939 .........
1948 ..........
1953 ....... .
1958 ..... .

Fixed capital—
(plant and equipment)
(1929 dollars, millions)

Workers
(wage earners~NBfiR)
(thousands)

23,3
40,2

42
109
169
488
546
459
371
412
268
174

100,6
605.9
882.8
700.0
394.9
521,8
596.2
570.7

Fixed capital per worker
Value 1 Index
(1929 dollars)

555
367
595
1,242
1,617
1,525
1,064
1,267
2,223
3,276

36,4
24.1
39.0
81,4
106.0

100,0
69.8
83.1
145.8
214.8

Average annual percent
change in value per period

-4.0
5.5
3.7
2.7
- ,6
-3.5

2 .0
11.9

8.1

Average annual rates of change for selected periods
Period

Fixed capital

Workers

Fixed capital per worker

1880-1919— Growth period
1919-39— Post-World War I
1948-58— Post-World War II ..,...... ....... .

8.3
-3.9
.9

4.2
-1.9
•8«2

3.9
- 2.1

10.0

Sources! Data on fixed capital (plant and equipment) per worker (wage earner) for 1870-1948 from Capital
and Output Trends in Mining Industries, 1870-1948, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1954, Estimate for
1953, from NBER, 1$5&, estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on basis of National Bureau of Economic
Research methods and sources. Data for workers, 1953 and 1958, represent Bureau of Labor Statistics production
worker employment figures raised to levels implicit in National Bureau of Economic Research estimates.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data as published in Employment and Earnings are: 410,8 (1948), 267,5 (1953), and
173,8 (1958), Average annual rates of change derived by compound interest method.




81

Table 4B,

Bituminous Coal Mining!

Installed Horsepower and Electrical Energy Consumed, Selected Years,
1909-54

Installed Horsepower

Electrical energy consumed
Per worker

Per worker
Year

Total
Amount

1909
1919
1929
1939
1954

.............
••••*........
.............
.......... .
.............

Note!

1,230,635
2,157,946
3,125,103
3,364,731
6,167,484

Percent change
from previous
census year

3
4
7
9
31

Total
(millions
of kw* hrs.)

Amount
(millions
of kw* hrs*)

Percent change
from previous
census year

mm

25*0
75.0
28*6
244*4

mm

2,509
2,574
3,760

••
5*8
6.9
18*8

mm
mm

18*9
172*5

Dashes indicate data not available*

Source! Census of Minerals Industries, 1954 (table 1, page 12A-4), U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau
of the Census*




82

Table 5A.

Year

Bituminous Coal Mining!

Percent of Underground Coal Mechanically Cut and Loaded, 1920*60

Coal mined underground
1
Coal mined underground
1--------------------Percent
Percent
11
Percent
Percent
Year
machine cut
machine loaded
machine loaded
machine cut

mm

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

60.7
66.4
64.8
68.3
71.5

0.3
.7

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

72.9
73.8
74.9
76.9
78.4

1.9
3.3
4.5
7.4

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

81.0
83.2
84.1
84.7
84.1

10.5
13.1
12.3

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

84.2
84.8

13.5
16.3

mm
mm

1.2

mm

20.2
26.7
31.0

88.4
89.0
89.7
90.3
90.5

35.4
40.7
45.2
48.9
52.9

............
....... .
............
............
............

90.8
90.8
90.0
90.7
91.4

56.1
58.4
60.7
64.3
67.0

1950 ............
1 9 5 1 ............
1952 ............
1953 ............
1954 ............

92.6
94.9
95.1
95.7
94.5

69.4
73.1
75.6
79.6
84.0

96.1
95.5
95.8
94.9
95.3

84.6
84.0
84.8
84.9

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

12.0
12.2

87.5
87.9

1940 ............
1 9 4 1 ............
1942 ............
1943 ............
1944 ............

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

............
.............
............
.............
..... .......
............

mm

86.0
91.3

Note: The percent mined by continuous mining machines is included in both the percent machine cut and
percent machine loaded.




Dashes indicate data not available.
Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

83

Table 5B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Year

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

...................
...................
...................
...................
...................

Conveyors in Underground Mines and Percent of Coal Hauled
Percent of total
underground coal
produced in mines
with conveyors

Number
(units)

8.6

by Conveyors, 1945*59

Conveyors in use
[Gathering and haulage)
Average length
(feet)

Total length
(miles)

21.1

359
457
594
755
860

1,438
1,484
1,470
1,460
1,514

97.6
128.5
165.3
208.8
246.7

1950 ...................
1 9 5 1 ...................
1952 ...................
1953 ...................
1954 ...................

23.5
23.9
25.9
28.7
28.8

1,013
1,094
1,066
1,042
1,081

1,538
1,568
1,526
1,541
1,626

294.9
325.0
308.2
303.9
332.9

...................
...................
...................
...................
...................

28.4
34.6
38.0
40.2
44.7

1,002

1,682
1,656
1,672
1,711
1,723

319.6
349.4
390.6
400.3
462.1

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959

Note:

10.9
14.4
17.8

1,114
1,233
1,235
1,416

Conveyors include only gathering and haulage conveyors of 500 feet or more in length.

Data for earlier years are not available.
Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




84

Table 6A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Number of
continuous mining
machines in use

Year

Extent of Use of Continuous Mining Machines, 1950-59
Number of mines
using continuous
mining machines
exclusively

1950 .............
1 9 5 1 .............
1952 .............
1953 .............
1954 .............

152
219
325

7
13
17

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

385
510
614
679
776
••

21




.............
.............
.............
.............
.............
.... .........

Note:
Source:

mm
mm

mm

24
33
45
59
--

Dashes indicate data not available.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

85

Mined by continuous mining machines
Thousands of
tons

Percent of total
underground
production

0.8

3,143
6,241
8,215
11,830
16,336

1.5
2.3
3.4
5.7

27,460
39,907
53,783
56,373
65,792
77,928

10.9
14.9
19.7
23.2
31.7

8.0

Table 6B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Tons Per Man-Day, by Method of Mining and Loading, 1959

Average
tons per man-day

Percent continuous
mining exceeds
other methods

Percent of
underground
production

All underground mining ..••••........ •••••••••••

10.08

38.6

100.0

Continuous mining

13.97

mm

5.8

Mixed continuous and conventional mining ••••••••

11.33

23.3

38.4

Conventional mining:
With mechanical loading
With hand loading only •••••••••••••••••••.••••

11.26
5.73

24.1
143.8

42.3
13.5

Method

Note:
Source:

Conventional mining with mechanical loading excludes production by continuous mining machines.
"I960 Sales:




Coal-Mining and Cleaning Equipment," Coal Age, February 1961, table II, p. 84.

86

Table 7A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Jin
Under*
ground

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

568,667
415,922
422,268
564,565
483,687

559,807
410,865
412,059
552,625
470,080

8,860
5,057
10,209
11,940
13,607

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

520,053
573,367
517,763
500,745
534,989

503,182
556,444
499,385
480,956
514,721

16,871
16,923
18,378
19,789
20,268

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

467,526
382,089
309,710
333,630
359,368

447,684
363,157
290,069
315,360
338,578

19,842
18,932
19,641
18,270
20,790

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

372,373
439,088
445,531
348,545
394,855

348,726
410,962
413,780
318,138
357,133

23,647
28,126
31,751
30,407
37,722




Note:
Source:

thousands of net tons7

Surface
Strip
Auger

Total

Year

Distribution of Production,by Method of Mining, 1920*60

Total

Under*
ground

1940 .......
1941.......
1942 .......
1943 .......
1944 .......

460,771
514,149
582,693
590,177
619,576

417,604
459,078
515,490
510,492
518,678

43,167
55,071
67,203
79,685
100,898

mm

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.......
.......
.......
.........
.......

577,617
533,922
630,624
599,518
437,868

467,630
420,958
491,229
460,012
331,823

109,987
112,964
139,395
139,506
106,045

mm

1950 .......
1951.......
1952 .......
1953 .......
1954 ........

516,311
533,665
466,841
457,290
391,706

392,844
416,047
356,425
349,551
289,112

123,467
117,618
108,910
105,448
98,134

1,506
2,291
4,460

.......
.......
.......
.......
.......
.......

464,633
500,874
492,704
410,446
412,028
413,000

343,465
365,774
360,649
286,884
283,434
285,000

115,093
127,055
124,109
116,242
120,953
120,000

6,075
8,045
7,946
7,320
7,641
8,000

Y e a r
Its B I T

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

Data for 1960 are preliminary.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

87

Surface
Auger
Strip

- •

mm
mm
mm

mm
mm
mm
mm

mm
mm

Table 7B.

Percent Distribution of Production,by Method of Mining, 1920-60

Under­
ground

..........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

90.6
89.3
88.5
86.5
83.7

9.4
10.7
11.5
13.5
16.3

1945 ........ .
1946 ..............
1947 ........
1948 ..... .
1949 ........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

81.0
78.9
77.9
76.7
75.8

19.0
21.1
22.1
23.3
24.2

1950 .....
1951........
1952 .........
1953 .........
1954 ..........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

76.1
78.0
76.4
76.4
73.8

23.9
22.0
23.3
23.1
25.1

#5
1.1

.....
........
........
.........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

73.9
73.0
73.2
69.9
68.8
69.0

24.8
25.4
25.2
28.3
29.3
29.1

1.3
1.6
1.6
1.8
1.9
1.9

Underground

____
........
........
.........
........

100*0
100*0
100*0
100.0
100*0

98.5
98.8
97.6
97.9
97.2

1.5
1.2
2.4
2.1
2.8

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

........

96.8
97.0
96.4
96.0
96.2

3.2
3.0
3.6
4.0
3.8

.....

.

Surface
Strip
Auger

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

........
........
........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100*0

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

........
........
..••••••..
...... .
........

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

95.7
95.0
93.7
94.5
94.2

4.3
5.0
6.3
5.5
5.8

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

........
........
.... . .
........
....... .

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

93.6
93.6
92.9
91.3
90.4

6.4
6.4
7.1
8.7
9.6

.

..............

Note:
Source:

Year

mm
mm

mm

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

Data for 1960 are preliminary*
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*




88

Surface
Auger
Strip

Total

Total

Year
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

Bituminous Coal Mining:

.....
........ .
.........
........

........

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

mm
mm

mm

mm
mm

.3

Table 8A.

Year

Bituminous Coal Minings

Total

1920
1921 .. .........
1922 . . . . . . . . . .
1923 ..........
1924

4*00

1925 . a s . . . . . . .
1926
1927
1928 .... a . . . .
1929 .. .........

Underground

Average Tons Produced per Man-Day, by Type o£ Mining* 1920-60

Strip

3*97
4*18
4*24
4*50

7.20
8.28
8.09
9*32
9.91

4# 52
4# 50
4*55
4*73
4*85

4*45
4*42
4*47
4*61
4*73

11.18
11.13
11.06
13.02
14.08

1930
1931 e a a a a . a a a a
1932
1933 ..........
1934

5*06
5*30
5#22
4* 78
4*40

4*93
5*12
4*99
4*60
4* 23

16.21
17.68
16.95
13.59
13.28

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

4*50
4*62
4*69
4*89
5# 25

4* 32
4.42

12.01

mm

13.91

mm

a* as

mm

mm

4*60
4.92

15*00
14*68

mm

. a f a a a a a .a
..

....... ...

t f .a a a a a a a

.a a .a a a a a a

4# 20
4*28
4«47
4*56

4*43

Year

Auger

msas
mm
mm
mm

mm

eees
mm

mm
mm
mm
mm

mm

Total

Underground

Strip

Auger

asas

1940 . . . . . . . . . .
1941 .........
1942 ..........
1943 ..........
1944 . .........

5*19
5*20
5*12
5*38
5.67

4.86
4.83
4.74
4.89
5.04

15.63
15.59
15.52
15.15
15.89

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

..........
.... ....
.........
..........
........ *

5.78
6.30
6.42
6.26
6*43

5.04
5.43
5.49
5.31
5.42

15.46
15.73
15.93
15.28
15.33

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

..........
..........
..........
..........
..........

6.77
7.04
7.47
8.17
9.47

5.75
6.08
6.37
7.01
7.99

15.66
16.02
16.77
17.62
19.64

20.07
25.30
24.12

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

. . . . . . . . . a

9.84
10.28
10.59
11*33

21.12

22.22

12.22

8.28
8.62
8.91
9.38
10.08

21.18
21.64
21.54
22.65

24.85
26.19
28.15
28.77

13.30

mm

mm

as *

..........
..........
..........
..........
...... ....

asas
asas
asas
asas

rnm
mm

asas
asas

esas

Note: Average tons produced per man-day represent the net marketable tons for the year divided by the
total number of man-days worked by mineworkers* Bureau of Mines employment data do not cover some store and
office workers* but include certain supervisory and technical workers excluded from BLS data on production
workers*




Dashes indicate data not available.
Sources

The figure for 1960 is an estimate for 11 months.

U*S* Department of the Interior* Bureau of Mines*
89

Table 8B,

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Year

Number of Draglines and Shovels in Use, by Type, 1932-59

Diesel and gasoline

Electric and diesel electric

1932 ..................... .
1933 ..........................
1934 ............ .............

61
103
149

121

....... .................
......... ....... .......
.........................
..........................
.......... ...............

194
223

139
151

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

105
117

mm

mm

Steam-powered
166
169
188
174
188
..
142
206

440
524

155
184

697
911

194

180

210

200

1940 ..........................
1 9 4 1 .........................
1942 ......... ................
1943 .........................
1944 ...... .................

1,020
1,433
1,902

219
234
244

199
172
166

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.........................
.........................
.........................
...... ...................
....... ..................

2,042
2,372
2,870
3,321
3,173

256
261
301
337
352

141

1950 .........................
1 9 5 1 ......... ...... .........
1952 ........................ .
1953 .........................
1954 ................. ........

3,487
3,438
3,184
3,075
2,991

348
346
321
317
381

42
26
19
17
18

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959

2,940
3,279
3,228
2,922

315
421
489
588
524

10

..........................
..........................
............ .............
..........................
......... ......... ......

Note:
Source:

2,886

Dashes indicate data not available*
U*S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*




90

111
83
54
51

5

6
5
7

Table 9.

Year

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

••••••••
••••••••
••••••••
••••••••
••••••••

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

••••••••
•••+••••
..... «•
••••••••
••••••••

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939




Number o£
processing
plants

onb

mm
mm

Bituminous Coal Mining)

Percent of coal
mechanically
cleaned
3.3
3.4
3.6
3.8

Trends in Coal Processing* 1920-59

Percent of
refuse removed

Percent of coal
mechanically
crushed

Percent of coal
dust treated

Percent of coal
thermally dried

mm

••

mm
mm

-—

mm

—

mm

m m

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

..
236
280

5.3
5.7
6.9

mm

mm

mm

--

mm

mm

mm

« .•

8.6

mm

#•••••••
••••••••
•••••«••
••••••••
••••••••

297
312
309
290
293

8.3
9.5
9.8
10.4
11.1

9.0
8.5
8.0
8.3
8.6

••••••••
»•••••••
••••••••
•••••••♦
••••••••

320
342

12.2
13.9
14.6
18.2
20.1

8.3
9.0

mm

374
366

—

—

—

—

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

mm

—

—

-••

mm

mm
mm

mm

mm

10.9
10.6

See note and source at end of table.

91

mm

mm

- -

mm

—

—

—

Table 9*

Bituminous Coal Minings

Trends in Coal Processing, 1920-59— Continued

Percent of coal
mechanically
crushed

Number of
processing
plants

Percent of coal
mechanically
cleaned

Percent of
refuse removed

1940 ......
1941......
1942 ......
1943 ......
1944 ......

387
417
438
432
439

22*2
22,9
24.4
24*7
25.6

11.6
11.9
12.6
13.0
12.8

10.8

7.7
7.7
6.0
4.5
5.0

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

......
......
......
......
......

439
445
461
502
571

25*6
26.0
27.7
30.2
35.1

14.5
15.3
15.6
16.0
16.8

12.3
12.5
14.1
15.3
17.7

5.8
6.9
8.2
8.4
9.5

1950 ......
1951......
1952 ......
1953 ......
1954 ......

612
631
625
611
613

38.5
45.0
48.7
52.9
59.4

16.7
17.2
17.1
18.2
18.9

19.7
22.2
23.2
25.5
31.2

10.5
11.0
11.0
10.7
14.4

......
......
......
......
......

575
583
593
573
555

58.7
58.4
61.7
63.1
65.5

18.7
18.6
19.3
19.3
20.0

34.8
34.4
35.0
35.8
36.7

13.5
12.9
12.5
13.0
13.3

Year

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959

Notes
Sources

7.7
..
«...

Dashes indicate data not available*
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*




92

Percent of coal
dust treated

Percent of coal
thermally dried

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm

mm
mm
mm
mm

—

mm
mm
mm
mm

—
mm
mm
mm

12.2
13.3

Table 10A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Indexes of Output per Man-Hour and per Worker, 1920-60

/T947«10gy
Output per—
Year

1920 ........
1921........
1922 .... .,,,
1923
1924 ........

Production
worker
man-hour
59.2
62.1
63.2

66.0
67.0

Production
worker
63.5
44.6
42.9
56.0
54.6

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

........
........
,,,,,....
........
...... .

6 6 .6
6 6 .1
67.1
69.5
71.5

61.8
67.5
61.0
67.0
74.3

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

.........
.........
........
...... .
........

74.4
77.9
76.5
72.7
74.1

67.5
59.7
56.4
58.1
54.2

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

........
........
......k...
..... .
........

76.1
79.7
81.6
85.9
89.1

54.4
62.3
61.7
54.7
67.7

Output per—
Year

Employee

1940 ........
1941........
1942 ........
1943 ..........
1944 ........

mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
-——

mm

Production
worker
man-hour

Production
worker

Employee

91.4

70.5
79.4
81.7
90.0
98.4

71.4
80.4
82.7
91.1
99.7

94.2
97.8

100.4
95.8

101.4
96.6

100.0
100.0

100.0

100.0

93.0
75.7

92.7
75.0
94.8
96.8
95.8
106.6
115.5
143.2
147.7
144.2
141.4
165.1
174.9

92.6
93.0
91.6

88.1

1945
1946
1947
II 1948
1I 1949

.....
........
........
..........
....... .

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

.....
.........
....... .
........
.....••••

114.5
113.8
129.0
149.2

95.9
97.8
97.8
108.9
119.2

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

........
........
........
...... .
........
........

159.9
164.3
166.9
179.2
193.3
212.5

147.8
152.5
150.3
150.2
175.7
189.0

11
1

••

mm

68.6

104.4

12 0 .1

Note: Indexes for 1920 to 1934, inclusive, have not been previously published. Indexes for 1960 are preliminary.
Index of output per production worker man-hour are derived from an index of coal production based on Bureau of Mines data
and from an index of man-hours based on BLS data on production worker employment and average weekly hours. The data on
average weekly hours cover payroll hours, which include hours at the mine plus company paid sick leave, holidays, vacations*
etc,, adjusted to exclude travel time for underground employees. Production worker employment covers production and related
workers through the working foreman level, BLS data for all employees cover production and related workers and adminis­
trative, supervisory, professional, and clerical employees.




Dashes indicate data not available.

93
621946 0 -6 1 - 7

Table 10B.

Bituminous Coal Minings

Indexes of Unit Labor Requirements, 1920-60
/I947-100?

Labor requirements per unit
Production
All
Production
worker
workers
employees
man-hours

Year

Year

Labor requirements per unit
Production
Production
All
worker
workers
employees
man-hours

1920 ........
1921... ...*.
1922 ........
1923 •*.......
1924 *.......

169.0
161*2
158*3
151.5
149*0

157.5
224.1
232.8
178.7
183.3

1940 ........
1941.......
1942 .......
1943 ........
1944 ........

140.1
124.4

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

........
........
........
........
........

149*9
151.3
149*0
144.0
140*0

161.8
148.1
164.1
149.2
134.6

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.......
.......
.......
........
.......

98.6
103.5

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

........
........
........
....... .
........

134.4
128.8
130.5
137*4
134*9

148.0
167.5
177.2
172.0
184.6

1950 .........
1951.....
1952 .......
1953 .......
1954 ........

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

........
........
........
........
..... .*.

131.4
125.4
122.5
116.5

183.7
160.6
162.1
183.0
147.6

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

Note:
table 10A.

145*7

1 1 2 .1

.......
.......
.......
........
.......
.......

120 .9
109.8
100.3

107.9
107.4
109.2
113.5
109.4

141.8
125.9
122.4

106.1

99.6
104.4

100.0

102.2
100.0

107.9
133.3

99.9
95.8

107.6
132.0

105.5
103.3
104.3
93.8

104.3

86.6

87.3
87.8
83.2
77.5
67.1

69.8
67.7
69.4
70.7
60.6
57.2

62.5
60.9
59.9
55.8
51.7
46.9

67.7
65.6
66.5

Indexes of unit labor requirements are the reciprocals of the indexes of output per man-hour, shown in
Footnotes to table 10A applicable*

Dashes indicate data not available*




Data for 1960 are preliminary*

94

1 1 1 .1
10 1.6

100.0

102.2
102.3
91.9
83.9

66.6

56.9
52.9

Table IOC.

Bituminous Coal Mining: Average Annual Rates of Change in Output per Man-Hour*
Selected Periods* 1919-59
Average annual
percent increase

Average annual
percent increase
Postwar and preceding periods:
1919-47 ................ .
1 9 4 7 - 5 9 ............ a. me...me

Note:

Decade changes:
1919-29 ....................
1929-39 ..... ...............
1939-49 ....................
1949-59 ....................

1.9
6.1

2.0
1.8
1.4
6.4

Average annual increases calculated by least squares of the logarithms.

Table 10D.

Bituminous Coal Mining: Average Annual Rates of Change in Output per Man-Hour and
Tons per Man-Day* 1949-59

Period

Output per man-hour
Production
All
workers
employees

Tons per man-day
All
mines

Underground

Strip

Average annual percent increase
1949-54 .................
1949-52 .............
1952-54 .............

6.0
4.3
10.7

6.5
4.2
11.5

7.6
5.0
12.6

7.7
5.6
12.0

4.8
3.0
8.2

1954-59 .................
1954-57 ..............
1957-59 .............

4.1
3.8
6.3

4.8
3.7
7.6

5.1
3.9
7.4

4.6
3.7
6.4

2.3
3.0
2.3

Note: Because of changes in the proportion of coal mined in underground and strip mines* the average
annual rates of change in tons per man-day of all mines may lie outside the range of average changes shorn
for the components. Average annual increases calculated by least squares of the logarithms. The indexes of
output per all employee man-hour* underlying these calculations* are described in table 10A. Proportions
mined in underground and strip mines are shown in table 7B.
Sources: Output per man-hour from U.S. Department of Labor* Bureau of Labor Statistics.
man-day from U.S. Department of the Interior* Bureau of Mines.



95

Tons per

Table 11 •

Indexes of Output per Man-Hour:

Bituminous Coal Mining and Selected Major Sectors of the Economy, 1939-60
/1947-1007

Year

Total private economy
| Agriculture
(Man-hours of all persons)

Bituminous coal mining
(Man-hours of all employees)

| Nonagriculture

89.0
92.6
93.6
92.5
89.4
93.0

80.2
84.1
88.8
89.7
91.0
97.2

89.5
88.7
97.1
101.4
94.6
97.3

84.7
88.3
91.2
91.2
92.5
99.2

...............
..............
..............
..............
..............

95.6
98.5
100.0
99.3
100.7

101.9
99.3
100.0
103.6
106.6

98.6
103.6
100.0
118.3
112.9

103.9
100.0
100.0
101.9
105.9

1950 ..............
1951..... .........
1952 ..............
1953 ..............
1954 ..............

111.6
111.3
115.8
124.6
141.0

114.2
117.1
119.6
124.5
126.8

128.4
126.5
137.6
153.1
163.9

111.6
113.4
114.9
118.1
119.9

153.3
157.4
158.1
164.7
178.5
192.5

132.4
132.7
137.5
141.1
146.9
150.7

169.6
172.8
184.2
200.7
200.9
212.5

125.0
124.6
128.4
130.9
136.5
139.3

1939 ..............
1940..............
1941..............
1942 ..............
1943 ..............
1944 ..............
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

..............
..............
..............
..............
..............
..............

Note: Index of output per man-hour of all employees in bituminous coal has not been previously published. This
index is based on an index of coal output and an index of man-hours for all employees derived from BLS published data
on average weekly hours and employment of production workers and from BLS data on employment of nonproduction workers
and an assumed constant 40-hour week* Proprietors and unpaid family workers are excluded from these estimates* The
indexes of output per man-hour for the total private economy, agriculture and nonagriculture, are based on indexes of
real product and indexes of man-hours of all persons engaged* Indexes of real product are based on a measure of value
added in constant dollars and differ in concept from the physical output index used in the bituminous coal index* The
man-hours indexes cover estimated hours of all persons engaged, including proprietors and unpaid family workers, and
are based primarily on BLS establishment data*
Indexes for 1960 are preliminary*




96

Table 12*

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Output per Man-Shift in Underground Coal Mines, United States
and Europe, 1947 and 1959

Country

1947

1959

Percent
increase,
1947-59

United States ..................... ............ .
F r a n c e .... .......................
United K i n g d o m ...... ................... ••••••••
West Germany ......................... .
Belgium ................ ................. .
The Netherlands ........................... ......
Poland ........................... .

5.49
1.05
1.61
1.32
.95
1.81
1.86

10.08
1.89
1.90
2.03
1.39
1.78
1.91

83.6
80.0
18.0
53.8
46.3
-1.7
2.7

Note: Data for the United States and other countries are not strictly comparable and may be used only as
broad indicators of long-term trends. U.S. data are on a man-day basis and include all production and develop­
ment workers engaged in bituminous coal and lignite production. European data are on an undefined man-shift
basis, include only underground workers, and exclude the production of lignite.




Source:

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe; U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

97

Table 13*

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Output Per Man-Day in the United States and U.S.S.R., Selected Years
Levels of output per man-day (short tons)
U eSeSeRe

United States

1940
1945
1950
1955
1957
1958
1959

...................
...................
...................
...................
.......... ........
...................
...................

Total

Underground

Strip

Total

5.19
5.78
6.77
9.84
10.59
11.33
12.22

4.86
5.04
5.75
8.28
8.91
9.38
10.08

15.63
15.46
15.66
21.12
21.64
21.54
22.65

1.46
1.07
1.43
1.84
1.91
1.95

Underground
1.42
.96
1.32
1.58
mm

Strip
3.19
3.92
4.61
8.41
mm

mm

mm

—

mm

Indexes of output per man-day (1945*100)

1940
1945
1950
1955
1957
1958
1959

....................
...................
...................
.................. .
...................
...................
...................

89.8
100.0
117.1
170.2
183.2
196.0
209.7

101.1
100.0
101.3
136.6
140.0
139.3

96.4
100.0
114.1
164.3
176.8
186.1
mm

136.4
100.0
133.6
178.5
178.5
182.2
mm

147.9
100.0
137.5
164.6

81.4
100.0
117.6
214.5

mm

« •« »

mm

mm

mm

mm

Note: U.S.S.R. data include anthracite production and are for mines under the Ministry of Coal Indus*
tries only*
Dashes indicate data not available*
Sources: Some Aspects of the Coal Industry of the U*S*S«R** Information Circular No* 7876 and published
materials* U.S. Department of the Interior* Bureau of Mines*




98

Table 14*

Year

Production
(thousands
of net
tons)

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Production Trends, 1920-60

Indexes of production
(1947-100)
Bitumi­
nous
coal

Year

Production
(thousands
of net
tons)

Indexes of production
(1947-100)
Indus­
trial
Produc­
tion

Indus­
trial
Produc­
tion

Total
private
GNP
45.0
41.0
48.1
54.3
54.1

1940 .....
1941....
1942 .....
1943 ....
1944 .....

460,772
514,149
582,693
590,177
619,576

73.1
81.5
92.4
93.6
98.2

105.7
126.3
124.3

100.1

....
.....
.....
.....
.....

577,617
533,922
630,623
599,518
437,868

91.6
84.7

107.3
90.1

99.0
97.3

100.0

100.0

100.0

95.0
69.3

104.3
98.5

104.1
103.5

Bitumi­
nous
coal

Total
private
GNP

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

568,667
416,922
422,268
564,565
483,687

90.2
67.0
89.6
76.7

39.9
30.7
38.9
46.5
43.5

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

520,053
573,367
517,763
500,745
534,989

82.5
91.0
82.1
79.4
84.9

48.0
50.8
50.7
52.9
58.5

58.8
62.2
61.9
62.4

6 6 .1

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

467,526
382,089
309,710
333,631
359,368

74.2
60.6
49.1
52.9
57.0

48.7
40.3
31.6
37.2
40.4

59.2
54.7
46.1
44.3
48.2

1950 ....
1951....
1952 .....
1953 .....
1954 .....

516,311
533,665
466,841
457,290
391,706

81.9
84.6
73.9
72.4
62.0

114.1
123.7
128.5
139.2
130.8

113.0
119.9
123.5
130.2
127.5

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

372,373
439,088
445,581
348,545
394,855

59.1
69.6
70.7
55.3
62.6

46.8

53.4
60.3
64.6
60.9
66.4

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

464,633
500,874
492,704
410,446
412,428
413,000

73.6
79.3
78.0
64.9
65.2
65.5

147.1
152.2
153.3
142.4
160.6
165.7

138.9
141.8
144.6
141.6
151.9
156.0

66.0

55.4
60.6
47.9
58.4

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

66.9

8 6 .1

72.5
83.2
90.5
95.0

Note: The index of bituminous coal production is based on the total net production in tons. The index of industrial
production (from the Federal Reserve Board) combines indexes for bituminous coal and other industries with value added
weights; the index of private GNP is based on the value added in constant dollars for industries in the private sector.
Data for 1960 are preliminary.
Sources: Data on bituminous coal production are from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines; index of
industrial production are from the Federal Reserve Board; and index of private GNP, from the U.S. Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics.




99

Table IS.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Trends in Capacity and Capacity Utilization. 1920-60

Capaci ty
(millions
of tons)

Idle
capacity
(millions
of tons)

Percent of
capacity
utilized

Year

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

725
781
832
885
792

156
365
410
320
308

78.2
53.3
50.8
63.8
61,1

1940 ........
1941........
1942 ........
1943 ........
1944 ........

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

748
747
759
691
679

228
174
241
190
144

69.5
76.8

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

700
669
594
559
565

232
287
284
225
206

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

582
618
646
602
621

210

Year

179

200
253
226

68.2
72.5
78.8

66.8
57.1
52.1
59.7
63.6
64.0
71.0
69.0
57.9

Idle
capacity
(millions
of tons)

Percent of
capacity
utilized

663
626
624

178
152
80
36
4

72.1
77.1
87.9
94.3
99.3

........
........
........
........
........

620
699
755
774
781

42
165
124
174
343

93.2
76.4
83.6
77.5
56.1

1950 ........
1951........
1952 ........
1953 ........
1954 ........

790
736
703
670
603

274

65.2
72.5
66.4
68.3
65.0

........
........
........
........
........
........

620
655
680
625
614
591

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

63.6

Capacity
(millions
of tons)
639

666

202
236
203

211
155
154
187
215

202
178

74.9
76.5
72.5
65.7
67.1
69.9

Note: The Bureau of Mines defines capacity as the industry's potential output if all mines operated 280 days per
year at that year's average output per day* The 280-day standard was suggested by the American Institute of Mining,
Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. Idle capacity represents capacity less actual production. Percent of capacity
utilized represents production divided by capacity.
Data for I960 are estimated.

Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




100

Table 16*

Bituminous Coal Minings

Changing Structure of Employment Production, and Assets, Selected Years

Employment
1948

Percent change, 1948*58

Size class
Number of
employees

Number
of mines

Percent of
employment

Percent
of mines

Number of
employees

Number
of mines

All mines •••••••••••••••••••

386,263

7.633

100.0

-57.1

- 3.3

500 employees and over ••«...
100 to 499 employees
10 to 99 employees •••••••••.
1 to 9 employees

81,694
200,396
83,950
20,223

100.0
2 1 .1

1.5

927
2,864
3,731

-67.9
-62.4
-48.0

-63.1
-63.3
-29.5
33.5

111

51.9

2 1.8
5.2

1 2 .1
37.5
48.9
Production

1 .0

Share of
employment
mm

-25.2
-12.3

2 1 .1
136.5

Percent change, 1947*59

1947
Percent

Millions
of tons

Number
of mines

All mines

630.5

8.700

100.0

500,000 tons and over •••••••
100,000 to 499,000 tons .....
10,000 to 99,000 tons......
Less than 10,000 tons .••••«.

261.7
243.4
109.8
15.6

303
1,116
3,369
3,912

41.5
38.6
17.4
2.5

or to t a l

tonnage

Percent
of mines

Millions
of tons

Number
of mines

100.0

-34.7

-11.3

3.5

-21.5
-52.2
-36.2
29.5

-30.0
-54.4
-30.8
19.3

12 .8
38.7
45.0

Share of
production
mm

20.2
-26.9
- 2.3
96.0

Assets
1947

Percent change, 1947-57

Number of
corporate
returns

Total
assets
(thousands)

Percent of
industry
assets

Percent
of all
corporate
returns

All corporate returns ••••...

1.598

1.785,310

100.0

100.0

- 3.1

32.2

$50,000,000 and above .*•••••
$1,000,000 to $49,000,000 ...
$100,000 to $999,000 ......
Under $100,000

2

283,215
1,213,992
265,179
22,924

15.9
67.9
14.9
1.3

0 .1

260
730
606

16.3
45.7
37.9

250.0
-23.4
-22.7
28.5

246.9
- 4.3
-27.1
- 1.7

Note:

Number of
corporate
returns

Total
assets
(thousands)

Share of
assets

162.3
-27.7
-45.0
-23.1

See table 3A for comparison data*

Source: Employment data are from Accident Analysis Reports, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines;
production data, Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines; assets data, Statistics of Income,
Corporations, U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service.




101

Table 17A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Consumption of Mineral Fuels and Waterpower in the United States, 1920*60
/in trillion B.t.u.*si7

Year

Total

Bitu­
minous
coal and
lignite

Petro­
leum
prod­
ucts

Natural
gas

Other

Year

Total

Bitu­
minous
coal and
lignite

Petro­
leum
prod­
ucts

Natural
gas

Other

1,273

2,954
2,738
2,118
2,935
2,735

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

....
....
....
....
....

23,908
26,625
27*897
30,442
31,821

11,290
12,893
14,149
15,557
15,447

7,487
8,204
7,667
8,228
9,261

2,969
3,215
3,469
3,860
4,217

2,162
2,313
2,612
2,797
2,896

4,156
4,331
4,377
4,763
5,294

1,336
1,484
1,644
1,788
2,188

2,328
2,726
2,712
2,761
2,662

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

....
....
....
....
....

31,541
30,494
32,870
33,994
31,604

14,661
13,110
14,302
13,622
11,673

9,619
9,987
10,803
11,938
11,459

4,464
4,582
5,082
5,652
5,949

2,797
2,815
2,683
2,782
2,523

11,921
9,743
8,041
8,323
9,008

5,652
4,965
4,590
4,844
4,818

2 ,2 12

2,503
2,176
2,009
1,989
2,131

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

....
....
....
....
....

34,153
36,913
36,576
37,697
36,360

11,900
12,285
10,971
11,182
9,512

12*706
13,974
14,380
15,092
15,090

6,933

1,915
1,752
1,744
1,980

8,714
9,162
9,596

2,614
2,532
2,511
2,261
2,162

9,336
10,697
11,286
8,811
9,854

5,499
6,124
6,604
6,465
6,841

2,143
2,405
2,676
2,557
2,760

2,129
2,192
2,185
2,047
2,134

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

....
....
....
....
....
....

39,956
42,007
41,920
41,483
43,411
44,864

11,104
11,338
10,838
9,607
9,596
9,928

16,328
17,418
17,328
17,418
18,307
18,616

10,428
11,043
11,658
12,235
13,339
14,125

2,096
2,208
2,096
2,223
2,169
2,195

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

....
....
....
....
....

19,782
16,410
17,215
21,685
20,453

13,325
10,266
11,185
13,598
12,681

2,634
2,674
3,071
4,030
3,764

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

....
....
....
....
....

20,899
22,495
21,828
22,381
23,756

13,079
13,954
13,095
13,069
13,612

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

....
....
....
....
....

22,288
18,799
16,392
16,900
17,937

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

....
....
....
....
....

19,107
21,418
22,751
19,880
21,589

869
732
841

1 ,1 2 2

8 ,1 2 2

Note: Data through 1959 are on a 48-State basis, except bituminous coal and lignite, which Include Alaska for all
years* Data for 1960 are on a 50-State basis* Other includes sum of waterpower and anthracite* In I960, waterpower
equaled 1,766 trillion B.t.u.'s and anthracite, 429 trillion B.t.u.'s.
Data for 1960 are preliminary.
Source:

U*S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




102

Table 17B.

Year

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Total

Bitu­
minous
coal end
lignite

Petro­
leum
prod­
ucts

Percent Distribution o£ Consumption of Mineral Fuels and Waterpower in the
United States, 1920-60

Natural
gas

Other

Year

Total

Bitu­
minous
coal and
lignite

Petro­
leum
prod­
ucts

Natural
gas

Other

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

67.4
62.6
65.0
62.7
62.0

13.3
16.3
17.8
18.6
18.4

4.4
4.4
4.9
5.2
6.2

14.9
16.7
12.3
13.5
13.4

1940 ....
1941....
1942 ....
1943 ....
1944 ....

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

47.2
48.4
50.7
51.1
48.5

31.4
30.8
27.5
27.1
29.1

12.4
12.1
12.4
12.6
13.3

9.0
8.7
9.4
9.2
9.1

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

62.6
62.0
60.0
58.4
57.3

19.9
19.3
20.0
21.3
22.3

6.4
6.6
7.5
8.0
9.2

11.1
12.1
12.5
12.3
11.2

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

....
....
....
....
....

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

46.5
43.0
43.5
40.1
36.9

30.5
32.8
32.9
35.1
36.3

14.1
15.0
15.5
16.6
18.8

8.9
9.2
8.1
8.2
8.0

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

53.5
51.8
49.1
49.2
50.2

25.4
26.4
28.0
28.6
26.8

9.9
10.2
10.7
10.4
11.1

11.2
11.6
12.2
11.8
11.9

1950 .....
1951....
1952 ....
1953 ....
1954 ....

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

34.8
33.3
30.0
29.7
26.2

37.2
37.9
39.4
40.0
41.5

20.3
22.0
23.8
24.3
26.3

7.7
7.8
6.8
6.0
6.0

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

48.9
49.9
49.6
44.3
45.6

28.8
28.6
29.1
32.5
31.7

11.2
11.3
11.7
12.9
12.8

11.1
10.2
9.6
10.3
9.9

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

27.8
27.0
25.8
23.1
22.1
22.1

40.8
41.5
41.4
42.0
42.2
41.5

26.1
26.3
27.8
29.5
30.7
31.5

5.3
5.2
5.0
5.4
5.0
4.9

Note: Based on table 17A.
end anthracite, 1*0 percent*




Other includes sum of waterpower and anthracite*

Data for 1960 are preliminary*
Source:

....
....
....
.....
....
....

U.S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

103

In 1960, waterpower equaled 3.9 percent

Table 18A*

Consumption of Bituminous Coal, by Major Consumption Classes, 1933-60
j£ln thousands of tons7
Retai1
deliveries

Industrial use,
except coke

Coke ovens

glectric
utilities

Exports

72,548
76,037

77,396
83,507

100,564
108,585

40,089
45,978

27,088
29,707

9,037
10,869

366,068
418,948
443,922
346,711
387,688

77,109
86,391
88,080
73,921
79,072

80*444
80,044
76,331
66,498
68,770

117,322
137,812
150,819
112,796
122,438

50,515
65,942
74,502
46,626
63,514

30,936
38,104
41,045
36,440
42,304

9,742
10,655
13,145
10,430
11,590

1940 .....
1941.....
1942 .....
1943 ......
1944 .....

447,376
512,855
562,993
619,633
615,631

85,130
97,384
115,410
130,283
132,049

84,687
94,402
102,141

12 0 ,12 1
12 2 ,112

130,581
147,303
158,177
166,897
153,486

81,386
93,138
100,850
102,460
105,296

49,126
59.888
63,472
74,036
76,656

16,466
20,740
22,943
25,836
26,032

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

587,523
541,595
614,558
565,839
473,380

125,120
110,166
109,296
94,838
68,123

119,297
98,684
96,657
86,794
88,389

148,198
139,505
149,129
135,351
117,180

95,349
83,288
104,800
107,306
91,236

71,603
68,743
86,009
95,620
80,610

27,956
41,209
68,667
45,930
27,842

1950 .....
1951.....
1952 .....
1953 .....
1934 .....

479,670
525,630
466,400
460,558
394,101

60,969
54,005
37,962
27,735
17,370

84,422
74,378
66,861
59,976
51,798

116,704
125,175
113,011
113,930
93,266

103,845
113,448
97,614
112,874
85,391

88,262
101,898
103,309
112,283
115,235

25,468
56,726
47,643
33,760
31,041

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

474,689
501,411
490,114
416,983
403,483
416,861

15,473
12,308
8,401
3,725
2,600
2,113

53,020
48,667
35,712
35,619
29,138
30,405

106,992
110,987
104,137
97,851
89,549
93,037

107,377
105,913
108,020
76,580
79,181
81,000

140,550
154,983
157,398
152,928
165,788
173,811

51,277
68,553
76,446
50,280
37,227
36,495

Year

Total domestic con­
sumption and exports

1933 .....
1934 .....

326,722
354,683

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

.....
.....
.....
......
.....

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

Railroads

See note and source in table 1 SB, p« 104*




104

Table 18B*

Year
1933 .....
1934 .....
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

......
.....
......
......
......

1940 ......
1941......
1942 ......
1943 ......
1944 ......
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

......
.......
......
......
......

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

......
......
.....
......
......

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

.......
......
......
.......
......
......

Percent Distribution of Consumption of Bituminous Coal* by Major Consumption Classes* 1933*60

Total domestic con*
sumption and exports

100.0
100*0
100.0
100.0
100*0
100*0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

Retai1
deliveries

Industrial use*
except coke

Coke ovens

Electric
utilities

Exports

23.7
23.5

30.7
30.6

12.3
13.0

8.3
8.4

2.8

21.4

13.8
15.7
16.8
13.4
16.4

8.5
9.1
9.2
10.5
10.9

2.7
2.5
3.0
3.0
3.0

1 1 .0

3.7
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.2

Railroads

22*2

3.1

2 1 .1

22.0

20.7
19.8
21.3
20.4

19.2
17.2
19.2
17.7

31.9
32.8
34.0
32.6
31.6

19.0
19.0
20.5
21.4

18.9
18.4
18.1
19.4
19.8

29.2
28.7
28.1
27.0
25.0

18.2
18.2
17.9
16.5
17.1

11.7
11.3
11.9
12.5

21.3
20.3
17.8
16.8
14.4

20.3
18.2
15.7
15.3
18.7

25.2
25.8
24.2
23.9
24.7

16.2
15.4
17.1
19.0
19.3

12.7
14.0
16.9
17.0

12.7
10.3

17.6
14.2
14.3
13.0
13.1

24.4
23.7
24.3
24.8
23.7

2 1 .6
2 1 .6

18.4
19.4

20.9
24.5
21.7

22.2

10.8
10 .2

24.4
29.2

7.3
7.9

1 1 .2

22.5
21.3
23.4
22.3
22.3

2 2 .6
2 1 .1
22.0

29.6
30.9
32.1
36.7
41.1
41.7

10.8

9.7
7.3
8.5
7.2
7.3

2 1.0

8 .1
6.0
4.4
3.3
2.5
1.7
0.9

0 .6
0.5

2 2 .1

18.4
19.6
19.4

12 .2

4.8
7.6

1 1 .2
8 .1
5.9
5.3

13.7
15.6

1 2 .1
9.2

8.8

Notes Consumption cannot be precisely reconciled to production because data for calculating changes in inventories*
the major difference between production and consumption* are incomplete*




Sources

U*S* Department of the Interior* Bureau of Mines*

105

Table 19.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

United States Exports to Major Markets, 1947-60

Exports (thousands of short tons)
Year

Exports as
percent of
total U.S.
production

Imports

Total

Canada

Europe

All
other
areas

1935-39 average

11,125

10,105

49

971

2.8

266

1940-46 average *•»,.. .................

25,883

20,693

3,127

2,063

4.7

508

1947 .................. ...............
1948 .................................
1949 .......................... ......

68,667
45,930
27,842

25,848
25,843
15,982

36,703
16,093
8,862

6,116
3,994
2,998

10.9
7.6
6.4

290
291
315

1950 .................................
1 9 5 1 .................................
1952 ......... ...................... .
1953 .................................
1954 .................................

25,468
56,722
47,643
33,760
31,041

23,009
22,823
20,957
19,584
15,911

794
27,926
20,672
8,312
10,471

1,665
5,973
6,014
5,864
4,659

4.9
10.6
10.2
7.4
7.9

347
292
262
227
199

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

51,277
68,546
76,445
50,293
37,227
36,495

17,185
20,654
18,445
12,238
12,400

28,677
41,156
49,701
32,889
19,109

5,415
6,736
8,299
5,166
5,718

mm

mm

mm

11.0
13.7
15.5
12.3
9.0
8.7

337
336
367
307
375
260

................ .................
.................................
............................ .
.................................
.................................
.... .............................

Note:

Dashes indicate data not available.

Sources! Data for the years 1935-39 are from the Bituminous Coal Annual. 1950: and data for 1940-60,
from Bituminous Coal Data, 1960, National Coal Association. Figures on total exports differ slightly from
Bureau of Mines data.




106

Table 20*

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Coal Requirements per Unit of Production, Selected Industries and Years

Industry

1920

1947

1959

Electric power generation:
Pounds of coal per kilowatt-hour ....... *..... ...... ...........
Index (1920-100) .................................................

3.00
100.0

1.31
43.7

0.89
29.7

Blast furnaces:
Pounds of coal per ton of pig iron and ferroalloys ...............
Index (1920-100) ..................... ...........................

3,055
100.0

2,755
90.2

2,297
75.2

1927

1947

1959

132
100.0

123
93.2

105
79.5

Cement production:
Pounds of coal per barrel of cement .......... *......
Index (1927-100) ............................................. .

Sources: Data on pounds of coal per kilowatt-hour are from Federal Power Commission; on pounds of coal
per ton of pig iron and ferroalloys, for 1920 and 1947, from National Coal Association, for 1959, from
American Iron and Steel Institute; and on pounds of coal per barrel of cement, from U.S. Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Mines*




107

Table 21A.

Bituminous Coal Minings

Employment Trends— Production Workersf 1920-60

/in thousands/

Year

Production workers
(Bureau of Labor
Statistics
data)

Number of men
working daily
(Bureau of Mines
data)

Year

Production workers
(Bureau of Labor
Statistics
data)

Number of men
working daily
(Bureau of Mines
data)

439 .I

704.8
619.6

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

........
.........
.....
...... .
.......

416.4
413.0
454.4
418.5
401.3

457.0
462.0
416.0
393.3

537.0
541.7
542.0
476.5
459.0

588.5
593.6
593.9
522.2
503.0

1945 ........
1946
1947 ........
1948 ........
1949

366.5
355.1
402.1
410.8
367.8

383.1
396.4
419.2
441.6
433.7

1930 ..... .
1931
......
1932
1933 .........
1934 .... .

441.0
408.0
350.0
366.0
423.0

493.2
450.2
406.4
418.7
458.0

1950 .......
1951...... .
1952 .........
1953 ...•••••.
1954

343.7
348.0
304.4
267.5
209.0

415.6
372.9
335.2
293.1
227.4

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

436.0
450.0
461.0
406.0
371.7

462.4
477.2
491.9
441.3
421.8

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

200.5
208.8
208.4
173.8
149.2
139.4

225.1
228.2
228.6
197.4
179.6
164.2

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

.........

639.5
663.8

........
........
.........

566.3
594.3
621.8
643.2
565.4

........
..... .
.....
....... .
.........

__......
.........
.......
.........

688.0

.......
........
••••....
........
.......

Note: Bureau of Labor Statistics annual data on employment are the average of 12 monthly employment estimates*
They refer to persons on establishment payrolls who received pay for any part of the pay period ending nearest the 15th
of the month. Production and related workers include all nonsupervisory workers and working foremen engaged in produc­
tion operations; excluded are salaried officers, supervisory, professional, technical and, generally, clerical employees.
Bureau of Mines data represent the average number of men working daily during the year; included are workers in produc­
tion, maintenance* and repair and some supervisory and technical personnel.




108

Table 21B,

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Employment Trends— All Employees, 1939-60

/Indexes, 1947-1007
Bituminous coal

Manufacturing

Year
Thousands

Index

Thousands

Index

91.2

10,078
10,780
12,974
15,051
17,381
17,111

100.0
100.2

Total nonagricultural
(private)

Farm
Thousands

Index

11,338
10,979
10,669
10,504
10,446
10,219

109.2
105.8

Thousands

Index

65.9
70.5
84.9
98.4
113.7
111.9

26,316
27,856
31,560
34,296
36,026
35,491

69.3
73.3
83.1
90.3
94.8
93.4

10 0 .1

89.7
94.0

100.0
10 2 .1

92.7

34,093
35,692
37,988
38,798
37,459

98.6

10,295
10,382
10,363
9,964

1939 .................
1940 .................
1941...... ..........
1942 .................
1943 .................
1944 .................

388.3
434.9
431.4
474.6
437.2
419.2

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.................
..................
.................
.................
.................

383.7
372.7
425.6
436.1
393.3

102.5
92.4

15,302
14,461
15,290
15,321
14,178

1950 .................
1951.......... *......
1952 .................
1953 .................
1954 .................

367.9
372.0
327.8
288.9
228.5

86.4
87.4
77.0
67.9
53.7

14,967
16,104
16,334
17,238
15,995

97.9
105.3
106.8
112.7
104.6

38,712
40,958
41,694
43,036
41,680

101.9
107.8
109.8
113.3
109.7

9,926
9,546
9,149
8,864
8,639

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

218.7
228.6
230.0
195.2
168.1
158.9

51.4
53.7
54.0
45.9
39.5
37.3

16,563
16,903
16,782
15,468
16,168
16,337

108.3
110.5
109.8

43,142
44,489
44,536
42,650
43,848
44,440

113.6
117.1
117.2
112.3
115.4
117.0

8,364
7,820
7,577
7,525
7,384
7,118




.................
.................
.................
.................
..................
.................
Notes

102.2
101.4
111.5
102,7
98.5
90.2
87.6

100.0

10 1.2
105.7
106.8

Farm employment data include proprietors and unpaid family workers*

Source:

U*S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; U*S. Department of Agriculture,

109
621946 0

94.6

-

61 - 8

10,000

102.8
10 1.2
100.6
98.4
96.3
99.2

100.0
99.8
96.0
95.6
91.9

88.1
85.4
83.2
80.6
75.3
73.0
72.5
71.1

68.6

Table 22A.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Unemployment Rates in Selected Major Areas of Substantial Unemployment,
Selected Months
Unemployed
as percent >f labor force
May 1950
March 1959

Area

Number in labor force
May 1950

March 1959

Areas with bituminous coal m i n i n g ..... •••••

10.2

12.1

527,952

493,900

Nonbituminous coal mining areas •••••••••••••

7.1

9.2

2,253,347

2,409,800

Note: Data for 1950 include 5 bituminous coal mining areas and 11 nonbituminous coal mining areas.
Data for 1959 include 5 bituminous coal mining areas and 12 nonbituminous coal mining areas.

Table 22B.

Distribution of Unemployment Rates in Selected Small Areas of Substantial Unemployment,
Spring 1959

Unemployed
as percent of
labor force
Total .....................

Bituminous
coal mining
areas

Nonbituminous
coal mining
areas
Percent

100

100

17 percent and over ••••••«•

32

11-16 percent
10 percent or les.s »••««»••»

Bituminous
coal mining
areas
Number

Nonbituminous
coal mining
areas

25

28

11

8

3

52

25

13

7

16

64

4

18

Note: An area where substantial unemployment is "chronic" is one that has had an unemployment rate 50
percent above the national average during 4 of the previous 5 years. Major areas are those which have a
central city with a 1950 population of at least 50,000. Smaller areas have a labor force of 15,000 or more.
Source:

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security.




110

Table 23.

Changes in Bituminous Coal Production and Employment, and Population, Households, Personal Income, and
Retail Trade Receipts, Five Counties in Kentucky and Rest of State, Selected-Years

Item

Five counties in Kentucky
Percent
1959
change

Rest of State

1950

1950

1959

Percent
change

Bituminous coal $
Production (thousands of tons) •••••••••..

38,447

23,755

-38

40,049

39,055

- 2

Employment, total

42,186

13,408

-68

29,074

13,948

1950

1960

Percent
change

1950

I960

-52
Percent
change

-23
-25
-25
37

2,652
921
1,507
225

2,812
1,037
1,497
278

6
12
- 1

-15
Percent
change

715,828

797,511

11

1947

1955

- 5
Percent
change

$2,383,000

$3,728,000

1948

1958

- 2

$1,555,905

$2,455,737

Population, total (thousands) ...... ...... .
Under 18 years...... ............... .
18*64 years ....... •••••••••••••«••.•••••
65 years and over

292
137
144

11

226
103
108
15

Households ....... .......... ...... ••••

63,841

54,356

1947

1955

$208,582

$207,444

1948

1958

$126,902

$124,780

Personal income (thousands) •••••••••••••••..

Retail trade receipts (thousands)
Note:

23

Percent
change
56
Percent
change

Five county area includes Floyd, Harlan, Letcher, Perry and Pike counties.

Sources: Data on production and employment are from the Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Mines; population, households, and retail trade, from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census;
personal income, from estimates by Bureau of Business Research, University of Kentucky.




Ill

58

Table 24A.

Year

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

Bituminous Coal Mining: Average Weekly Hours of Production Workers in Bituminous Coal Mining and Manufactur­
ing and Average Number of Days Worked per Year in All Bituminous Coal Mines* 1920-60

Average weekly hours
(production workers)
Bituminous
Manufac­
coal
turing

Average number
of days worked
(all bituminous
coal mines)

220

Year

Average we<ekly hours
(oroductio a workers)
Bituminous
Manufac­
coal
turing

Average number
of days worked
(all bituminous
coal mines)

202

37.3
30.0

47.4
43.1
44*2
45.6
43.7

149
142
179
171

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

.....
.....
.....
.....
......

28.1
31.1
32.9
36.6
43.4

38.1
40.6
42.9
44.9
45.2

216
246
264
278

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

34,2
37.7
33.5
35.6
38.4

44*5
45.0
45.0
44.4
44.2

195
215
191
203
219

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

42.3
41.6
40.7
38.0
32.6

43.4
40.4
40.4
40.1
39.2

261
214
234
217
157

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

33.5
28.3
27.2
29.5
27.0

42.1
40.5
38.3
38.1
34.6

187
160
146
167
178

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

35.0
35.2
34.1
34.4
32.6

40.5
40.7
40.7
40.5
39.7

183
203
186
191
182

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

26.4
28.8
27.9
23.5
27.1

36.6
39.2
38.6
35.6
37.7

179
199
193
162
178

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

37.6
37.8
36.6
33.9
36.4
36.0

40.7
40.4
39.8
39.2
40.3
3^.7

214
203
184
188
190

mm
mm
—

210

Note: Data on average weekly hours of production workers in bituminous coal and manufacturing are from the
U.S. Department of Labor* Bureau of Labor Statistics and cover the average hours for which pay is received. They differ
from standard or scheduled hours. Data on average number of days worked are from the U.S. Department of the Interior*
Bureau of Mines and cover men employed in all bituminous coal mines.
Dashes indicate data not available.




Data for 1960 are preliminary.

112

Table 24B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Inside
(mobile loading
machine operator)

Effective
date of
agreement
Oct. 2,
Apr. 1,
Oct. 1,
Apr. 1,
Apr. 1,
Jan. 1,
Nov. 3,
Apr. 1*
May 22,
July 1,

Daily Wage Rates and Normal Work Schedules o£ Mine Workers, by Date of
Contract Agreement, Selected Years

1933 ....
1934 ....
1935 ....
1937 ....
1 9 4 1 ....
1943 ....
1943 ....
1945 ....
1946 ....
1947 ....

Outside
(car
repairmen)

$5.80
6.20
6.90
7.60
9.00
9.00
10.93
12.43
14.28
15.48

$3.84
4.24
4.74
5.24
6.24
6.24
7.91
8.98
10.83
12.03

Effective
date of
agreement

Inside
(mobile loading
machine operator)

July 1, 1948 ....
Mar. 5, 1950 ....
Feb. 1, 1951 ....
Oct. 1, 1952 ....
Sept. 1, 1955 ....
Apr. 1, 1956 ....
Oct. 1, 1956 ....
Apr. 1, 1957 ....
Jan. 1, 1959 ....
Apr. 1, 1959 ....

$16.48
17.18
18.78
20.68
21.88
22.68
23.88
24.68
25.88
26.68

Outside
(car
repairmen)
$13.03
13.73
15.33
17.23
18.43
19.23
20.43
21.23
22.43
23.23

Normal Schedule of Work

Effective date of agreement

Oct.
Apr.
Jan.
Nov.
Apr.
July




2,
1,
1,
3,
1,
1,

1933—
1934—
1943—
1943—
1945—
1947—

Mar. 31, 1934 ...........
Dec. 31, 1942 ...........
Nov. 2, 1943 ............
Mar. 31, 1945 ...........
June 30, 1947 ...........
........................

Days
per
week

Inside worker
Iday and piece rate;
._ DailIv hours paid for—
Total Work Travel Lunch

Outside worker
Days
Dsilv hours
per
____ paid forweek
Lunch
Total Work

5
5
5-6
5-6
5-6
5-6

8
7
7
8 3/4
9
8

5
5
5-6
5-6
5-6
5-6

8
7
7
8

0
0
0
3/4
8 3 /4
7 1n

_____ !
1______

113

0
0
0
0
1/4
1/2

8
7
7
8 1/4
8 1/4
7 1/4

8
7
7
8 1/4
8
6 3/4

0
0
0
0
1/4
1/2

Table-25A«

Employment Structure in Bituminous Coal Mining and Selected Industries, 1947,

Type of worker

All employees (thousands) ..................
Production w o r k e r s .......... ....................
Nonproduction workers ...............................
Nonproduction workers as percent of all employees .....

1959 and 1960

1947

1959

1960

425.6
402.1
23.5
5.5

168.1
149.2
18.9
11.2

158.9
139.4
19.5
12.3

Percent of nonproduction workers to all workers, by industry, 1947 and 1959

Industry

Bituminous coal mining t.*.********.*.**.».**.»*
Steal
Petroleum refining
Autocnobiles
All msnufActurine ..............................

1947

1959

1947-59

5.5
12*1
23.0
16.4
16.3

11.2
20.2
33.4
21.5
24.3

103.6
66.9
45.2
31.1
49.1

Note: For definitions of production and nonproduction workers, see table 21A.
preliminary.




114

Data for 1960 are

Table 25B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Occupation

Occupational Structure in Underground Mines, Illinois, Selected Years

Number

1923
Percent

Number

1933
Percent

Number

1947
Percent

Number

1956
Percent

All workers ............. .........••••

98,640

100.0

38,812

100.0

25,790

100.0

8,819

All surface workers •••»»•#«•..... .

9,691

9.8

5,219

13.4

5,779

22.4

2,014

100.0
22.8

All underground workers •••••••••••••••

88,949

90.2

33,593

86.6

20 ,0 11

77.6

6,805

77.2

Direct production workers •••••••••*••••»
Miners
Mechanical loading machine operators
and helpers ................
Machine runners and helpers ••«»••••••*
Shot firers and runners ••»••»•••••••••
Shooters and drillers •••....••*«••••«

65,362
59,311

66.2

20,585
17,208

53.0
44.3

6,005
2,277

23.3

1,540
183

17.5

839
2,054
484

2 .2

1 ,1 1 2

5.3

1,502
1,114
---

4.3
5.9
4.3

505
473
142
237

5.7
5.4

Other underground workers ••••••••••••••»
Mine managers and assistants ....... .
Mine examiners ...................
Electricians and helpers ••••«»••«••••*
Timbermen and roofbolters ••••*••••••••
Stablemen ................... ......
Motormen and assistants •••••••••••••••
Shuttlecar operators and drivers ••••••
Cagers and spraggers «#•.*•••••##••#*•#
Trackmen and bratticemen ...... •»•••««
Beltmen
Unclassified............... .......

23,587
683
642
1,014
2,165
190
3,008
4,361
1,299
3,657

5,265
417
140
694
597

59.7
4.7




Note:
Source:

mmm

60.1
m mm

5,243
808

5.3

m mm

mmm

mmm

6,568

.8

mmm

24.0
.7
.7

1 .0
2 .2
.2
3.1
4.4
1.3
3.7
...
6.7

1 .2
mmm

13,008

33.6

626

1 .6
.8
2.0

291
764
1,188
52
2,224
1,041
434
1,854
mmm

4,534

54.3
3.2

1 ,2 1 2

4.7
6.4

1,648

.1

20

5.7
2.7

2,653
371
287
2,109

4.8
...
11.7

mmm

14,006
839
305

3.1

1 .1

8 .8

m mm

4,562

1 .2
.1
10.3
1.4

1 .1
8 .2
mmm

17.7

. . .

713
255
53
361
76
1,959

Dashes indicate group not reported.
Derived from Coal Report of Illinois. Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals, Springfield.

115

2 .1

1 .6
2.7

1 .6
7.9

6.8
. . .

8.0
2.9

.6
4.1
.9

22.2

Table 26A.

Year

Bituminous Coal Minings

Per million man-hours
Fatal

Nonfatal

Injury Rates, 1930-59, and Major Disasters, 1910-59

Per million tons
Fatal

Year

Per million man-hours
Fatal

Nonfatal

Nonfatal

Per million tons
Fatal

Nonfatal

„ ++
.....
t....
,,....

1*9
1*6
1*8
1*3
1*4

83.8
80.0
72.6
68.9
69.4

3.5
2.8
3.1
2.5
2.7

152.3
141.3
127.1
131.7
130.7

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

......
.....
......
.....
.....

1.1
1.1
1.3
1.2
.9

56.5
58.8
57.3
56.3
51.7

1.6
1.5
1.6
1.5
1.1

80.1
80.3
73.3
71.0
63.2

1935
1936 t....
1937 .....
1 9 3 8 .....
1939 .....

1*5
1.4
1.5
1.5
1.4

71.5
65.6
68.1
63.5
60.5

2.6
2.5
2.7
2.5
2.2

127.6
115.7
118.2
105.3
97.2

1950 .....
1 9 5 1 .....
1952 .....
1953 .....
1954 .....

•9
1.2
.9
.9
1.0

47.7
46.6
47.6
45.3
43.7

1.1
1.3
1.0
.9
.9

54.8
52.7
50.5
44.1
37.6

1940 .....
1 9 4 1 .....
1942 •....
1943 ......
1944 .....

1.7
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.2

61.3
58.9
60.2
57.8
56.0

2.6
2.1
2.1
2.1
1.8

95.4
90.4
91.4
86.1
82.5

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

1.0
1.0
1.2
1.2
.9
1.2

42.8
43.0
43.7
43.9
41.4
42.2

.8
.8
.9
.8
.6
.7

34.5
33.2
32.5
29.8
26.9
25.3

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934

.....
.....
.... .
.....
.....
.....

Major Disasters
Years

1910-19............ ....... ......
1920-29 .... .....
1930-39 ......... ................ .
1940-49 ....... ...... .............
1950-59 ......... .................

Sources

Number of disasters

Number of men killed

116
110
49
52
19

2,932
2,409
740
1,072
316

Accident Analysis Reports* U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*

Data for 1960 are preliminary*




116

Table 26B.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Year

Average Number of Days Lost per Injury, 1945-58

All injuries

Permanent-partial
injuries

Temporary-total
injuries

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

........................ ...........
............ .......................
....................................
....................................
......... ..........................

161
152
172
167
167

704
622
729
638
756

27
29
29
28
36

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

........ ...........................
....................................
.....................................
....................................
....................................

173
206
173
174
190

701
739
674
708
679

34
35
37
36
35

1955
1956
1957
1958

....................................
....................................
....................................
....................................

187
189
206
224

624
663
584
663

33
31
32
41

Note: Data on average number of days lost due to permanent-partial injuries cover days lost from work
due to permanent impairment or loss of some body functions. Temporary-total injuries cover work injuries,
other than death or permanent impairment, which completely incapacitates the worker from work for 1 or more
days following the injury. The data on days lost due to all injuries cover, in addition to the above types
of injuries, days lost due to permanent total injuries and fatal injuries.




Source:

Accident Analysis Reports. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.

117

Table 27A.

Average Hourly Earnings of Production and Related Workers in Bituminous Coal and
Manufacturing Industries, 1923-60

Bitu­
minous
coal

All
manufacturing

$0.84
.81

$0.52
.55

.......
.......
.......
....___
.......

.80
.79
.75
.72

.55
.55
.55
.56
.57

1930 .......
1 9 3 1 ......
1932 .......
1933 ......
1934 ..... .

.6 8

Year
1 9 2 3 ___ t__
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

.6 8
.65
.52
.50
.67

Sources
Table 27B.

.55
.52
.45
•44
.53

Year

Bitu­
minous
coal

All
manufac­
turing
$0.55
.56
.62
.63
.63

1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

......
......
......
......
......

$0.74
.79

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

.... .
......
......
......
__ ....

.8 8

.6 6

•99
1.06
1.14
1.19

.73
.85
.96

1945 ......
1 9 4 6 ......

.8 6
.88
•89

1.0 2
1.0 2

1.24
1.40

1.09

Year
1947 ......
1948 ......
1949 .......

Bi tu­
rn!nous
coal

All
manufac­
turing

$1.64
1.90
1.94

$1.24
1.35
1.40

2 .0 1
2 .2 1

1.47
1.59
1.67
1.77
1.81

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

......
......
......
......
......

2.29
2.48
2.48

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

......
......
......
......
......
......

2.56
2.81
3.02
3.02
3.25
3.27

1.8 8
1.98
2.07
2.13

2 .2 2
2.29

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Estimated Average Annual Wage of Wage and Salaried Workers in Bituminous Coal and Selected Industries

Year
1947 .................
1 9 5 1.................
1954 .................
1955 .................
1959 .................

Bituminous
coal
$3,223
3,857
4,090
4,602
5,348

Petroleum and
Primary
coal products
metals
(Current dollars)
$3,607
4,639
5,351
5,591
6,952

$3,128
4,165
4,628
5,156
6,329

All
manufacturing
$2,802
3,625
4,135
4,371
5,231

Note: Average annual wages are derived from data on average annual employment and total annual wages of
workers covered by State unemployment insurance laws. Average annual wages shown tend to be overstated because
the number of different workers actually employed during the year is substantially larger than average annual
employment. Relative wage levels however are about the same as those indicated by wage records of the Bureau of
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.
Source:

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security.




118

Table 28*

Year

Compensation of Employees in Bituminous Coal Mining and Indexes of Change, 1939-60

Wages and salaries
Index
Amount
(1947-100)

/Dollars in millions?
Suppleminti to
wages and salaries
Index
Amount
(1947-100)

Compensation
of employees

Supplements
as percent
of employees1
compensation

1939 .........

$456

33.1

$24

28.2

$480

5.0

1940 .........
1941.........
1942 .........
1943 .........
1944 ...... .

542
678
823
918
1,052

39.3
49.2
59.7

28
34
35
39
39

32.9
40.0
41.2
45.9
45.9

570
712
858
957
1,091

4.9
4.8
4.1
4.1
3.5

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.........
.........
.........
.........
.........

1,020

74.0
77.3

42.4
54.1

100.0
1 1 1 .0

36
46
85
123

1,056

1,065
1,378
1,529
1,166

100.0

84.6

111

1,463
1,652
1,277

3.4
4.1
5.8
7.4
8.7

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

.........
.........
.........
.........
.........

1,291
1,425
1,256

93.7
103.4
91.1

1,2 1 2

88.0

204.7
228.2
209.4
231.8

922

66.9

174
194
178
197
170

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960

.........
.........
.........
.........
.........
.........

1,0 0 1

72.6
83.6
85.8
68.4
67.2
64.4

203

238.8
260.0
256.5
215.3

1,152
1,182
942
926
887

66.6
76.3

144.7
1 *0 .6

200.0

221

218
183
187
189

220.0
222.4

1 ,1 1 1

1,465
1,619
1,434
1,409
1,092
1,204
1,373
1,400
1,125
1,113
1,076

11.9

12 .0

12.4
14.0
15.6
16.9
16.1
15.6
16.3
16.8
17.5

Note: Data on wages and salaries cover total payrolls of establishments in the industry and cover all employees*
Supplements to wages and salaries include payments covering total employer contributions for social insurance, employer
contributions to private pension and welfare funds, and compensation for injuries, military reservist pay, and similar
payments* Compensation of employees is the sum of wages and salaries and supplements*
Sources: Survey of Current Business, July 1961; and National Income Supplements, 1959 and 1954 editions,
U*S* Department of Commerce*




119

Table 29.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Indexes of Hourly Compensation and Unit Employment Cost, 1939-60
(1947-100)

Year

Employee compensation
per man-hour

Employment
cost per ton

Employment cost per
ton as a percent of
average mine value

1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.............. .........

46.7
49.5
56.0
58.7
62.5
70.7

52.6
53.4
59.9
63.4
69.8
75.9

66.3
64.9
63.5
62.3
60.2
60.3

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................

75.4
88.6
100.0
118.0
126.7

78.9
89.7
100.0
118.5
125.9

59.8
60.5
55.3
55.1
59.8

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................

136.4
145.8
153.0
165.7
169.5

122.4
130.6
132.3
132.8
120.3

59.8
61.6
62.6
62.6
61.7

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................

171.8
186.1
193.9
194.7
208.5
216.8

111.2
118.1
122.4
118.5
116.7
112.2

57.3
56.8
55.9
56.4
56.6
55.7

Note: Indexes of employee compensation per man-hour are derived from an index of compensation of
employees as described in footnote, table 28 and an index of man-hours of all employees as described in
footnote, table JUL. Indexes of employment cost per ton are derived from data on compensation of employees
and tons of coal produced as described in footnote, table 11. Employment cost per ton as a percent of
average mine value represents the proportion that employment cost per ton is to the Bureau of Mines average
value received or charged for a ton of coal f.o.b.




120

Table 30.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Trends in Unit Costs, 1929-58
Percent change—

19:>9-54

1929-39
Item
Total

Employment cost per ton ................ .
Material and other cost per ton ..................
Material cost per ton ............ .
Other cost per ton ............. ........... .
Average value per ton shipped (Census of Minerals)

Average
annual
rate
0.5
- .3
1.0
-1.7
.2

5.0
-3.3
7.1
-15.7
1.6

Total

106.3
230.5
273.3
196.4
147.0

19:>4-58

Average
annual
rate
4.9
8.3
8.9
7.5
6.2

Total

-2.3
26.2
10.7
47.0
9.8

Average
annual
rate
-0.6
6.0
2.6
10.1
2.4

Unit Costs as Percent of Unit Value

Average value per ton shipped (Census of Minerals) ...
Employment cost per ton ....... .....................
Material and other cost per ton ....... .
Material cost per ton ................ ....... .
Other cost per ton ................ .

1929

1939

1954

1958

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

66.5
33.5
15.4
18.2

68.6
31.4
16.2
15.1

57.3
42.7
24.5
18.2

51.0
49.0
24.7
24.3

Note: These estimates have been computed primarily from data shown in the Census of Mineral Industries.
1954 and 1958, U.S. Department of Comnerce, Bureau of the Census. In deriving employment cost per ton,
Census data on wages and salaries have been adjusted to include estimated supplementary payments. Data on
"other costs per ton" have been computed as a residual, after deducting employment and material cost per ton
from average value per ton shipped. Data on employment cost per ton and average value per ton shipped from
the Census of Mineral Industries are not strictly comparable with other data on these subjects, based on
National Income (U.S. Department of Commerce) and Bureau of Mines data, because of differences in coverage
and definitions. Average value represents value received or charged for coal, f.o.b. mines.




Because of rounding, sums of percentages may not equal totals.
121

Table 31A#

Year

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Bituminous coal
(ton)

Crude petroleum
(bbl.)

Average Values of Selected Fuels at Production Sites, 1920*60

Natural gas
(M c.f.)

Indexes (1947-100)

Value

159.1
89.6
83.4
69.4
74.1

150.5
255.8
283.7
245.9
234.1

1.78

49.0
49.5
47.8
44.7
42.8

87.0
97.4
67.4
60.6
65.8

...
...
...
...
...

1.70
1.54
1.31
1.34
1.75

40.9
37.0
31.5
32.2
42.1

...
...
...
...
...

1.77
1.76
1.94
1.95
1.84

42.5
42.3
46.6
46.9
44.2

...
...
...
...
...

$3.75
2*89
3.02

1925
1926
1927
1928
1929

...
...
...
...
...

2.04
2.06
1.99

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939

2.68
2.20

1.8 6

Bituminous coal
(ton)
Value

90.1
69.5
72.6
64.4
52.9

1920
1921
1922
1923
1924

Year

I

Crude petroleum
(bbl.)

Natural gas
(M c •f•)

Indexes (1947-100)

1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

...
...
...
...
...

$1.91
2.19
2.36
2.69
2.92

45.9
52.6
56.7
64.7
70.2

52.8
59.1
61.7
62.2
62.7

75.0
81.7
85.0
86.7
85.0

224.5
234.9
228.1
227.2
212.9

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

...
...
...
...
...

3.06
3.44
4.16
4.99
4.88

73.6
82.7

63.2
73.1

81.7
88.3

100.0
120.0

61.7
33.7
45.1
34.7
51.8

217.7
237.2
244.2
232.7

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

...
...
...
...
...

50.3
56.5
61.1
58.5
52.8

96.7
91.7
85.0
81.7
81.7

1955 ...
1956 ...
1957 ...
1958 ...
1959...
1960 ...

1

100.0

100.0

100.0

117.3

134.7
131.6

108.3
105.0

4.84
4.92
4.90
4.92
4.52

116.3
118.3
117.8
118.3
108.7

130.1
131.1
131.1
138.9
144.0

108.3
121.7
130.0
153.3
168.3

4.50
4.82
5.08
4.86
4.77
4.73

108.2
115.9

143.5
144.6
160.1
156.0
150.3
149.2

173.3
180.0
188.3
198.3
215.0
226.6

12 2 .1
116.8
114.7
113.7

Note: Average value per ton represents the value received or charged for coal, f.o.b* mines. Average value of
crude petroleum per barrel and average value of natural gas per thousand cubic feet represent value received or charged,
f.o.b., at wells.
Data for 1960 are preliminary.
Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




122

Table 31B*

Year

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Average
value
of coal
per ton
f*o*b* mines

Effect of Transportation Costs on Average Coal Value, 1948*60

Average rail revenue
per ton of coal
Percent of
average
value of coal
Amount
per ton
f*o*b* mines

Indexes (1948-100)
Average value
plus average
rail revenue
per ton of coal

Average value
of coal
per ton
f»o*b* mines

Average
rail
revenue
per ton
of coal

Average value
plus average
rail revenue
per ton of coal

1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953

*•**
....
....
....
....
....

$4.99
4.88
4.84
4.92
4.90
4.92

$2.74
3.00
3.09
3.16
3.35
3.33

54.9
61.5
63.8
64.2
68.4
67.7

$7.73
7.88
7.93
8.08
8.25
8.25

100.0

100.0

100.0

97.8
97.0
98.6
98.2
98.6

109.5

101.9

112 .8

102.6

115.3
122.3
121.5

104.5
106.7
106.7

1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

....
....
....
....
....
....
....

4.52
4.50
4.82
5.08
4.86
4.77
4.73

3.23
3.24
3.45
3.57
3.58
3.57
3.42

71.6
72.0
71.6
70.3
73.7
73.5
72.3

7.74
7.74
8.27
8.65
8.44
8.43
8.15

90.4
90.2
96.6

117.9
118.2
125.9
130.3
130.7
130.3
124.8

100.1
10 0 .1

10 1.8
97.4
97.4
94.7

107.0
111.9
109.2
109.1
105.4

Note: Average rail revenue is based on gross freight revenues from transporting coal and tons of coal originating
on railroads*




Source:

U*S* Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines*

123

Table 31C*

Bituminous Coal Minings

Electric power utilities
f*o*b* plant

Year

1948 ........
1949 ........
1950 ........
1951........
1952 ........
1953 ........
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959

........
........
........
........
........
........

Average Fuel Price in Selected United States Industrial Markets, 1948*59

Coal (ton)

Oil (bbl.)

$6.69
6.50
6.38
6.42
6.54
6.52

$2.79
2.15

6.25

2 .1 1
2 .12

6 .0 1
6.29
6.62
6.55
6.28

2.00
2 .1 1
2.14
2.05

Steel
f*o«b* merchant ovens

Rai1roads
f*o*b* mine

Coal (ton)

Coal (ton)

$0 ,1 10
.123
.118
.136
.147
.167

$8.74
9.33
9.39
9.50
9.85

10 .0 1

$4.34
4.36
4.49
4.54
4.59
4.77

.183
.188
.189

9.57
9.16
9.85
10.76
10.74
10.49

4.60
4.65
5.03
5.53
5.67
5.69

Gas (m c.f*)

2.42
2.79
2.47

.201
.219
.236

2.22

Sources: Data on prices of fuels for electric power utilities are from Annual Statistical Bulletin, Edison Electric
Institute, New York* Data on prices of coal for steel and railroads, from U*S* Department o£ the Interior, Bureau of
Mines*




124

Table 31D.

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Year
Coal (ton)
1948 ........
1949 ........
1950 .........
1951........
1952 ........
1953 ........
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959




........
........
........
........
........
........
Source:

Indexes of Average Fuel Prices in Selected United States Industrial Markets, 1948*39

(1948-100)
Electric power utilities
f.o.b. plant
Gas (m c.f.)
Oil (bbl.)

Rai1roads
f.o.b. mine
Coal (ton)

100.0
97.2
95.4
96.0
97.8
97.5

100.0
77.1
71.7
75.6
76.7
73.5

100.0
111.8
107.3
123.6
133.6
151.8

100.0
106.8
108.7
108.7
112.7
114.5

100.0
100.5
103.5
104.6
105.8
109.9

93.4
89.8
94.0
99.0
97.9
93.8

75.6
76.0
86.7
100.0
88.5
79.6

166.4
170.9
171.8
182.7
199.1
214.5

109.5
104.8
112.7
123.1
122.9
120.0

106.0
107.1
115.9
127.4
130.6
131.1

See table 31C for underlying data*

125
621946 0 - 6 1 - 9

Steel
f.o.b. merchant ovens
Coal (ton)

Table 31E,

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Area

Bituminous
coal

Prices of Selected Fuels in the United States, 1959

Fuel
oil

Natural
8“
per million B,t .u. *a

Other fuel prices
as percent, of coal

Percent of total B,t,u.»fs consumed

Fuel oil

Gas

Coal

Oil

Gas

Electric utilities (wholesale)
United States total ,••,,,••,

$0.27

$0.35

$0.22

129.6

81,5

66

8

26

New England
••••••,,,•«•
Middle Atlantic .................
East North Central ,,,,,,,,,,,,....
West North Central
South Atlantic
•«•••,«•••
East South Central ,,,,«••••,•••••,,
West South Central ..... •••,,«•••••
Mountain .........,,,,........,,,,
Pacific......................

$0,38
.31
.26
.28
.27
.19
.16
.21

$0.36
.36
.73
.47
.36
.47
.43
.24
.35

$0.35
.33
.24
.22
.30
.23
.15
.26
.32

94.7
116.1
280.8
167.8
133.3
247.4
268.8
114.3

92.1
106.4
92.3
78.6
111.1
121.1
93.7
123.8
—

56
76
95
48
77
91

39
14

5
10
5
52
13
9
100
64
68

$1.83
2.07
2.26

$1.59
1.28
1.46

155,1
128,5
104,1

mm

mm

mm
mm

10
mm
mm

27
mm

9
32

Space heating (retail)
Baltimore «•„••....,,,,,,
Chicago
Seattle....•••,,,••......
Note:

$1.18
1.61
2.17

134.7
79.5
67.3

Dashes indicate insignificant use.

Sources: Data for electric utilities are from Steam Electric Plant Factors, July 1960, National Coal Association#
Data for space heating, from 1960 Gas Facts, American 6as Association,




126

Table 31F,

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Retail Price Indexes of Energy Fuels., 1948-60

/T948-100/

Year

Bituminous coal

Fuel oil No. 2

Gas for space heating

1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953

100.0
103.6
107.5
109.9
112.0
114.3

100.0
94.8
95.8
101.3
103.6
109.0

100.0
101.3
101.7
102.7
105.9
111.6

1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

114.2
115.4
120.0
124.4
126.3
128.5
129.5

109.8
113.4
119.0
125.1
117.9
119.5
117.4

114.7
120.1
121.6
122.9
130.0
134.6
147.2




127

Table 32A*

Bituminous Coal Minings

Selected Data on Corporate Income, 1928-58

Number of
returns

Number with
net income

Number with
no net income

1928 .............
1929 .............
1930 .............
1931.............
1932 .............
1933 .............

2,705
2,469
2,239
2,095
1,864
1,851

863
934
781
582
289
396

1,842
1,535
1,458
1,513
1,575
1,455

.$24,508
- 11,822
- 42,071
- 47,745
- 51,167
- 47,549

-$27,950
. 15,822
. 44,708
. 48,784
- 51,944
- 48,578

1934
1935
1936
1937
1938

.............
........... .
.............
.............
.............

2,017
1,975
1,945
1,815
1,887

660
591
590
539
363

1,357
1,384
1,355
1,276
1,524

- 7,584
- 15,576
. 3,310
777
- 26,667

- 10,892
- 18,326
. 6,524
- 3,985
- 29,328

1939 .............
1940 .............
1941.............
1942 .............
1943 .............

1,820
1,756
1,722
1,737
1,623

505
676
859
906
975

1,315
1,080
863
831
648

-

-

1944
1945
1946
1947
1948

.............
.............
.............
.............
.............

1,584
1,544
1,640
1,837
2,163

932
915
1,013
1,371
1,434

652
629
627
466
729

92,737
71,293
80,537
258,658
309,626

43,811
35,680
50,562
168,434
196,588

1949 .....*.......
1950 .............
1951.............
1952 .............
1953 .............

2,070
1,988
1,813
1,665
1,572

1,033
1,104
912
789
632

1,037
884
901
876
940

97,323
163,188
113,695
69,194
41,555

54,285
93,765
56,599
33,481
12,730

1954
1955
1956
1957
1958

1,424
1,592
1,800
1,750
1,481

462
823
900
816
761

962
769
900
934
720

15,247
67,417
119,275
89,488
46,792

701
36,999
70,473
44,689
21,190

Fiscal year

.............
.............
............
............
.............
Note:

Data on number o£ returns are for all bituminous coal corporations*

Net income or loss
After taxes
Before taxes

6,168
14,396
42,651
67,915
96,157-

9,012
7,803
23,586
34,125
46,913

Data for 1958 are preliminary*

Source: National Coal Association, Statistics of Income, Corporations; based on data from U*S* Treasury Department,
Internal Revenue Service*




128

Table 32B*

Year

Bituminous Coal Mining:

Net Income as a Percent of Net Worth and Business Receipts, 1939-58

Before taxes
~
Net Income as percent of—
Net woi■tki
Business receipts
Bituminous
Manufac­
Bituminous
Manufaccoal mining
turing
coal mining
turing

M After taxes
H
Net Income as percent of—
II
Net worth
Business receipts
1I Bituminous
Manufac­
Bituminous
Manufac­
coal mining
turing
coal mining
turing

1939 ......
1940 .....
1941.....
1942 ......
1943 .....

-0.4
1.5
4.2
7.0
9.7

8.4
12.0
21.3
24.6
27.1

-0.6
1.7
3.8
5.6
6.9

0.6
8.2
1.2
11.6
11.5

-0.7
.8
2.4
3.6
4.8

6.9
8.5
11.2
9.8
9.9

-1.0
1.0
2.2
2.9
3.4

5.2
5.8
6.3
4.6
4.2

1944
1945
1946
1947
1948

.....
......
.....
.....
.....

8.9
7.2
8.0
19.6
20.6

23.4
15.9
17.0
21.5
21.4

6.1
4.9
5.2
11.5
11.8

9.8
7.4
8.5
9.4
9.2

4.3
3.7
5.0
12.8
13.1

8.6
6.4
10.3
13.3
13.3

2.9
2.5
3.2
7.5
7.5

3.6
3.0
5.2
5.8
5.7

1949 .....
1950 ......
1951.....
1952 .....
1953 .....

7.1
10.9
7.6
4.6
3.1

15.9
24.3
23.6
18.5
18.7

5.3
7.0
4.6
3.1
2.3

7.8
11.0
9.9
7.9
7.8

4.0
6.3
3.8
2.2
1.1

9.8
13.4
10.2
8.1
8.1

3.0
4.0
2.3
1.5
.9

4.8
6.1
4.3
3.5
3.4

1.2
4.2
9.5
5.4
3.0

15.3
19.7
19.1
15.5
11.9

1.0
3.3
6.9
3.6
2.4

7.0
8.6
8; 7
7.0
5.7

.1
2.2
6.1
2.8
1.4

7.4
9.9
10.0
7.7
5.7

.1
1.8
4.4
1.8
1.1

3.4
4.3
4.5
3.4
2.8

1954
1955
1956
1957
1958

......
.....
.....
......
.....

Note: Net worth (sometimes called stockholders equity, net assets, or net investment) is the sum of common and
preferred stock, surplus reserves, paid in surplus, earned surplus, and undivided profits. Business receipts represent
receipts from sales and services.




Data for 1958 are preliminary.
Source:

Statistics of Income, Corporations, U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service.

129

Table 33.

Bituminous Coal Minings

Source

Tot$l
Government ••••••••»••••••«#•»••
Commercial coal companies.... .
Captive coal companies ........
Equipment manufacturers.... .
Other industrial •••••••#•«••••»
Universities and unidentified ..

Distribution of Research Expenditures by Source and Purpose,1955

Expenditures
(in
thousands)

Percent
of
total

$17,382

100.0

$5,443
2,452
1,207
3,221
4,955
104

31.4
14.1
6.9
18.5
28.5
0.6

Expenditures
(in
thousands)

Purpose

Total .............. .
Coal resources ............. .
Coal production ••#••#•••••«•»«•••
Coal utilization............ .
Physical and chemical properties •

Notes: Coal production includes mining, preparation, storage, and transportation.
combusftion, chemicals, gasification, hydrogenation.

Percent
of
total

$17,382

100.0

$1,479
3,743
11,154
1,006

8.5
21.5
64.2
5.8

Coal utilization includes

Sources: Outlook and Research Possibilities for Bituminous Coal. Information Circular No. 7754, May 1956, U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.




130

Table 34A*

Bituminous Coal Mining:

generic

Year of Major Changes in Wages and Related Benefits in Union Agreements

Underground workers
Day
Piece rate

Outside
workers

Audiwions
Expanded into National Wage Agreement*
the basic collective bargaining agreement
in-the industry*

First Appalachian agreement ••••••••....

1933

1933

1933

7-hour day established •••••••••••.... .

1934

1934

1934

Premium pay provided for—
Overtime ••••••••••••.... ••••••••*
Late shift.................. .
Hoiidays •••••••*•••••••••••••*•••••

1937
1945
1943

1943
1945
1943

1937
1945
1943

Changed in 1943* 1945* 1946* 1947* and 1955*

Payment for lunchtime •••••*••**•••••••••

1945

1945

1945

1945— 15 minutes; 1947— 30 minutes*

Travel pay included (portal to portal) ••

1943

1943

Allowance for reporting to work *•***••••

1933

”■

m»e»

Minimum of 2 hours9 pay for entering mine in
morning*

Paid vacations ••**•*•••••••••••*••••*•••

1941

1941

1941

Increased from $20 and 10 days in 1941* to
$200 and 14 days in 1959 (changes in 1943*
1945* 1946* 1955* and 1956)*

Geographic differentials eliminated •••••

1941

••

1941

1941 agreement eliminated North-South
differential; 1934 contract eliminated the
northern West Virginia-northern Appalachia]
differential*

Tools and equipment provided •••••**•••*•
Health and welfare funds created •*••*•••

1943
1946

1943
1946

1943
1946




Welfare
1946—
Medical
Fund*
Note:

1943— time and a half; 1956— double time*

1943**maximum of 45 minutes (paid at
two-thirds time); 1945— considered as
regular working time*

and Retirement Fund: Financed by contributions based on coal produced for use or sale:
$0*05 per ton; 1947— $0* 10 per ton; 1948— $0*20 per ton; 1950— $0*30 per ton; 1952— $0*40 per ton*
and Hospital Ftmd: 1946— financed by wage deductions; 1947— combined with Welfare and Retirement
financed by operators9 contributions*

Dashes indicate data not applicable*

131

Table 34B.

Stoppages
beginning in year
Workers
Number
involved

Bituminous Coal Mining!

Man-days idle II
during year
||
(all stoppages) y

1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932

22
30
58
52
57
43

176,000
63,300
18,100
26,800
52,400
63,600

23,000,000
5,940,000
182,000
883,000
1,540,000
5,910,000

1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938

102
78
42
38
54
27

142f000
110,000
421,000
19,600
99,300
9,510

2,210,000
1,560,000
2,970,000
533,000
1,920,000
133,000

1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944

25
34
75
96
400
792

355,000
24,400
593,000
43,800
487,000
230,000

7,300,000
153,000
6,750,000
264,000
7,510,000
1,060,000




Work Stoppages, 1927-60

Year

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949

.... .
.....
.....
.......
.....

1950 .....
1951.....
1952 .....
1953 .....
1954 .....
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960

.....
.....
.....
.......
.....
.....

_______________

132

Stoppages
beginning in year
Workers
Number
involved

Man-days idle
during year
(all stoppages)

598
485
415
561
421

581,000
834,000
490,000
582,000
1,130,000

5,010,000
19,500,000
2,190,000
9,560,000
16,700,000

430
549
560
392
208

165,000
213,000
472,000
130,000
81,900

9,320,000
887,000
2,760,000
418,000
344,000

292
266
161
136
146
120

77,500
84,800
46,400
29,700
64,000
37,200

273,000
377,000
136,000
102,000
1,560,000
137,000

Selected Bibliography
I. Government Documents




A. U.S. Department of Labor Publications

"Wage and Price Structure of the Bituminous
Coal Industry," Witt Bowden, Monthly
Labor Review. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Washington, August 1941, pp. 293-313.

The Changing Status of Bituminous-Coal
Miners. 1937-46, Bull. 882, Bureau
of Labor Statistics, Washington, 1946.

The Wage Chronology Series— Bituminous
Coal Mines. 1933-48. No. 4, and Supplements, bureau o i Labor Statistics,
Washington. Supplements*
No. 1 (1950-51),
No. 2 (1952),
No. 3 (1952-56),
No. 4 (1956-57),
No. 5 (1959).

Characteristics of the Insured
Unemployed, Bureau of Employment
Security, Washington, June 1957.
Chronic Labor Surplus Areas. Bureau of
Employment Security, Washington,
July 1959.
Coal and Nonferrous Metals Mining. A
Guide to Labor-Management Relations
in the United States. Pts. 3:63 and
3*13, Bull. 1225, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Washington, March 1958.

Work Stoppages. Bituminous-Coal Mining
Industry. 1927-^4. Report 95, Bureau
of Labor Statistics, Washington,
August 1955.

"The 43d Convention of the United Mine
Workers of America," Harry P. Cohany,
Monthly Labor Review. January 1961,
pp. 27-31.

B. U.S. Department of the Interior Publications
Administration of the Federal Coal Mine
Safety Act. 1952-59. Information
Circular No. 74'74, Bureau of Mines,
Washington, I960.

Indexes of Output per Man-Hour for
Selected Industries. 1939 and 1947-59.
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Washington, July I960. Table 2.

Bituminous Coal and Lignite Distribution,
Mineral Market Report, MMS No. 3035,
Bureau of Mines, Washington, March
1960.

Productivity in the Bituminous-Coal
“"“Mining Industry. 1.93$-5l. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, Washington,
June 1952.

133

Coal Reserves of the United States%
January 1, I960, U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 400-B,
Washington, I960.

C. The Congress of the United States
Coal Hearings. House Committee on Interior
and Insular Affairs (84th Cong. 2d sess.),
June 4 and 6; July 19, 1956.

Injury Experience in Coal Mining.
Information Circular No. 7^87,
Bureau of Mines, Washington,
October 19, I960.

Coal Hearings. House Committee on Interior
and Insular Affairs (85th Cong. 1st sess.),
February 13, 15 and 22; March 9-26, 1957.

International Coal Trade, Bureau of
Mines, Washington.
(Monthly.)

Coal Research. Findings of the Special
Subcommittee on Interior and Insular
Affairs (85th Cong. 1st sess.), 1957.

Mechanical Mining in Some Bituminous
Mines. Information Circular No. 7696,
Bureau of Mines, Washington,
September 1954.

Coal Research, Hearings. Senate Commit­
tee on Interior and Insular Affairs
(86th Cong. 1st sess.), June 10, 1959.

Mechanization. Employment and Output
per Man in Bituminous Coal Mining.
Vols. I and II, Bureau of Mines
jointly with Works Projects Admin­
istration, Washington, 1939.

Energy Resources and Technology. Hearings.
Joint Economic Committee (86th Cong.
1st sess.), October 12-16, 1959.
Resources for Freedom. A Report to the
President, by the President's Materials
Policy Commission Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union
(82d Cong. 2d sess.), June 1952.

The Minerals Yearbook, Bureau of Mines,
Washi ngton• (Annual•)
Outlook and Research Possibilities for
Bituminous Coal, Information Circular
No. 7754, Bureau of Mines, Washington,
1956.

Unemployment Problems. Hearings, Senate
Special' Committee on Unemployment
Problems (86th Cong. 1st sess.), Pt. 1,
October 5-7, 1959.

Some Aspects of the Coal Industry of the
U.S.S.R.. Information Circular No. itiS*
Bureau of Mines, Washington, 1956.




See testimony of Michael F. Widman, Jr.,
Assistant to President and Director of
Marketing Department, United Mine Workers
of America; and Joseph E. Moody, Presi­
dent, National Coal Policy Conference,
Inc.
134

D. Other Government Publications

Bituminous Coal Wages. Profits and
Productivity. Jules Backman, Southern
Coal Producers Association, February 1950

The 1954 Census of Minerals Industries.
ti.S. Bureau oi the Census, Washington,
1958.

Capital and Output Trends in Mining Indus­
tries. 1.870-1948. Israel Borenstein.
Occasional ^aper No. 45, National Bureau
of Economic Research, New York, 1954.

Industry and Product Reports. Bituminous
Coal and Lignite (MIC (P)-12A-1 and 2).
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington.
May 1960.

Coal. Productivity Team Report, AngloAmerican Council on Productivity,
London, 1951.

Consumption of Fuel for the Production «
of Electric Energy. Federal Power
Commission, Washington, 1952.
Impact of Electric Power Production on
the Coal Industry, Francis Adams, Chief,
Bureau of Power, Federal Power Commission,
Address Before the Annual Meeting of
Northern West Virginia Coal Association,
November 14, 1958.

The Economics of the Coal Industry.
Hubert E. Risser, University of Kansas,
Lawrence, 1958.
The Economics of Strip Coal Mining.
Herman D.' Graham, Bull. 66, University
of Illinois, Bureau of Business Research,
Urbana, 1948.

II. Books and Reports




Coal Wages. Productivity and Prices. Talk
by Edward G. Fox, Cheat Lake, W. Va.,
April 17, 1959, W. Va. Coal Mining
Institute and The American Institute of
Mining Engineers.

The Age of Coal Chemicals, pamphlet,
U.S. Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, Pa.,
1958.

The Efficiency of the Coal Industry.
James M. Henderson, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, 1958.

Anti-trust Policies. Vol. I,
S. N • Whitney, The Twentieth Century
Fund, New York, 1958.

Energy in the American Economy. 1850-1975.
Sam H. Schurr, Bruce C. Netschert, el. al
Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, I960.

"The Bituminous Coal Industry,"
Jacob Schmuckler, (in The Structure of
American Industry. Walter Adams) The
Macmillan do., New York, 1954.

135

The United Mine Workers: A Study on
How Trade Union Policy Relates to
Technological Change. Stanley Miller,
Doctoral Dissertation Series No. 24,312,
University of Wisconsin, 1957.

Energy Sources? The Wealth of the World,
Eugene Ayers and Charles A. Scarlott,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1952.
Measuring Productivity in Coal Mining.
Charles M. James, Wharton School of
Finance, Industrial Research Depart­
ment, Report No. 13, Philadelphia, 1952.

Wages and Inflation. An Appraisal.
Waldo E. Fisher, Paper delivered before
the Personnel and Industrial Relations
Association of Los Angeles, Calif.
June 25, 1959.

The Miners* Fight for American Standards.
John L. Lewis, Bell Publishing Co.,
Indianapolis, 1925.

Periodicals

The Mining Industries. 1899-1939.
Harold Barger and Sam H. Schurr,
National Bureau of Economic Research,
New York, 1954.

"Automation Today— Mining and Processing
Coal, Staff Report," Automation,
Cleveland, Ohio, February 1961, p. 62.

Minimum Price Fixing in the Bituminous
Coal Industry. Waldo E. Fisher and
C. M. James, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1955.

"Bureau of Mines Research in Hydraulic
Mining," J. J. Wallace, Mining Congress
Journal, Washington, June 1961, p. 52.
"Coal by Remote Control," Mining Englneering, New York, January 1953, p. 49.

More Capital Equipment. 0001*8 Foremost
Economic Need. D. R. G. Cowan, National
Coal Association, Washington, July 1948.

"Coal: Our Number One National Resource,"
Fortune, New York, March 1947, p. 49.

Are Safety Regulations Adequate for
Small Mines?— What the Record Shows.
Talk by W. A. Edwards, Mine Inspectors
Institute of America, Pittsburgh, Pa.
June 19, 1961.

"Coal: The 'Pitt-Consol* Adventure,"
Fortune, July 1947, p. 101.
"Changing Fortunes of Bituminous Coal,"
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland,
Monthly Business Review, February, April,
July-August, November 1956.

The Union and the Coal Industry,
Morton §. Karats, Yale University
Press, New Haven, 1955.




136




"Continuous Coal Mining," Fortune
June 1950, p. 127*
—
—

"T.C.I. Coal Mines Training Program,"
Whiter Fleming, Coal A g e . October 1960,
p. 108.

"Continuous Mining Productivity,"
R. L. Anderson, Mining Congress
Journal, May 1958, p. 54*
"Continuous Transportation in Special Mine
Layout Paces High Productivity, Staff
Report," Coal A g e , New York, April 1960,
p, 72.
"Developing the Wheel for American Coal
Stripping," Frank F. Kolbe, Coal A g e ,
March 1955, p. 58.
"John L, Lewis, Labor Leader and Man:
A n Interpretation," J. B. S* Hardman,
Labor History, New York, N.Y.,
Winter 1961, pp, 3*29,

"Thin Seam Continuous Mining Pays Off At
T.C.I.," Coal Mines Staff, Tennessee
Coal and Iron Division, U.S. Steel Corp.,
Coal A g e , February 1960, p. 98.
"Underground Planning and Control Using
Electronic Computers," W. L. Zeller,
Mining Congress Journal, January 1961,
p. 43.
Bituminous Coal Facts and Figures (and
its predecessors), National Coal
Association, Washington, D. C. (Biennial.)
Coal Age— Mining Guide Book. McGraw-Hill
Publishing Co., New York. (Annual.)

"The Lovebridge Story, Staff Report,"
Coal A g e . December 1959, p. 78.

Keystone Coal Buyers Manual. McGraw-Hill
Publishing Co., New York.
(Annual.)

"More Machines, Fewer Men--A Union That's
Happy About It," U.S, News and World
Report. Washington, November 9, 195$,

United Mine Workers Journal, United Mine
Workers of America,' Washington.
(Semimonthly.)

"Radioisotopes in the Coal Industry, Staff
Report," Mining Congress Journal,
February 1961, p. 58.
"Soft Coal, How Strong a Comeback,"
H. Solow, Fortune, October 1957, p

136.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1961

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