The Watchman And Southron

OIL FOR COAL,

Bituminous coal operators in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma have had their share of labor troubles in recent years, but inasmuch as none of the nation's coal fields has been free from discontent and disturbance their report to the United States Coal Commission does not stress this point alone.

Instead the producers are complaining that the competition of oil and gas, combined with continued labor difficulties, has worked their undoing. They cannot sell coal at the prices which the increasing cost of production makes necessary.

The railroads of the Southwest are turning from coal to oil-burning locomotives.

Public utilities, packing houses and industrial plants of every description find the use of fuel oil cheaper and the supply of it more dependable.

Householders are learning the same lesson.

In Kansas City 1,000 oil burners in dwellings and apartment houses have displaced a half million tons of coal. In Arkansas the use of gas for fuel has resulted in a corresponding reduction in coal consumption while Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma are each burning oil enough to take the place of a million tons of coal a year. For some reason, the oil industry seems free from the inconveniences incident to labor disputes, and it gains and prospers accordingly.

If coal operators and coal miners could get together and face the situation as it is instead of as they think it ought to be, they would undoubtedly find that there is plenty of market for both coal and oil. It's very plainly one of these "United we stand, divided we fall" situations.