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1930-1939 operation. The shortwalls or longwall machines are unassailable wherever the extracted portion of the seam is thin, a long- wall face is available, or where the miners cut their own faces mechanically. Of these latter types of machines the Consolidated Coal Co. has 96, eight being longwall units." Wherever possible, Consol had invested in mechanization and was using four of the major types of loading and transporting machines, both in high and low coal. These included Joy, Myers-Whaley, Goodman and the Jones Co.'s "Coloders." "Conveyors and scrapers fill an operating need in low coal where mine-car transportation is difficult or costly. Loading machines and pit-car load- ers are employed in mines in thicker seams." The company had also installed newly per- missible telephones throughout each mine "principally for car dispatching and trans- acting the business of normal operations, " of safety, and he is consulted on the pur- chase of merchandise such as goggles, caps, shoes, gloves, overall, etc., before they are put in stock. In fact, there is no branch of the operating department where the engineer of safety is not consulted or where he does not have jurisdiction over equipment and prac- tices." Earlier, when the department had been reorganized, it was tasked with the cre- ation of a set of company-wide rules, later termed "Safety Standards." These were later printed, bound and distributed to all operat- ing officials and bosses who, in turn, trained their crews to follow each standard. Violations, early on at least, could lead to forced appearances before unique "safety courts" where men would be adjudicated for infractions. But normalcy did not appear in 1930, and it would not return for some time, if ever. The only real hope for the industry was Rogers, Coal Division, U.S. Bureau of Mines, summed up coal's precarious posi- tion. Titled "Drastic Liquidation of Excess Mine Capacity Brightens Prospects for Future," the authors cataloged that "since 1920, a total of 1,665 operators have been forced out of the bituminous coal indus- try." From a post-war high of 6,277 corpo- rations, by 1929 that number had fallen to 4,612. "The elimination of these unlucky producers bears mute testimony to the ruthlessness of the competitive struggle in recent years, but in ones sense it represents progress. It is a sign of the drastic liquida- tion of excess productive facilities which the industry has already accomplished." Espousing a Darwinian theme, the whole, they postulated, was stronger because of the demise of the weaker, generally smaller and mid-size producers that had shut down. According to their findings, large Granting that mechanization would lead to some job-loss, without further inroads, the entirety of the industry was in jeopardy. [but] management also desired to insure, if possible, a reliable means of rapid commu- nication in case of emergencies." As early as 1908, Consol had put into effect "radical" safety practices, often far ahead of other producers. "Draeger oxygen apparatus for mine rescue work was pur- chased in Germany, recue crews were orga- nized and trained, making the company among the pioneers, if not the first, to install such apparatus on a large scale." Chemical fire-fighting skills, gas inspection and rock dusting had become standard practice in the 1920s. By 1930, Consol had given the Safety Department "jurisdiction from the general plans to the last detail in all ventilation prob- lems; preliminary and final projection con- trol maps, matters of haulage (including signal systems, dispatching, etc.), electrical wiring, new construction and new equip- ment, all bear the approval of the engineer mechanization and finding more ways to cut costs. In the January 1931 editorial, Hale wrote, "the machine is coming to be recog- nized as the means by which the coal indus- try is enabled to compete successfully with rival fuels. [But yet]…further mechanization is necessary, however, if the business now led by coal is to be retained and the jobs of the coal miners are to be made secure." Granting that mechanization would lead to some job-loss, without further inroads, the entirety of the industry was in jeopardy. Ominously, Hale signs off that "had the machine not arrived, the story of coal in 1929-1932 would have been far different from what it will be when the record of those years is finally written." Mechanize or Die: Liquidation Comes from a Failure to Adapt A review in the February 1931 issue written by F.G. Tryon, R.W. Metcalf and H.O. mines and mining companies, those pro- ducing more than 200,000 tons a year, were less likely to close than smaller producers. And companies that extracted more than 500,000 tons annually were growing in number, mostly through combination. In 1929, there were 218 such mining compa- nies, a 15% increase since 1920. At the time of the crash, these companies accounted for almost 60% of total production. But, as Hale reminded, "for business in general, taking stock at the end of 1930 con- sisted largely in dolefully entering up the losses in red ink." By comparison with the rest of the economy, coal was doing about par. Bituminous production was down about 14% or 73,359,000 tons and anthracite dropped to just under 70 million tons, or about 5.5%. According to McGraw-Hill's sis- ter publication The Business Week, the whole economy had contracted by another 15.9% year-over-year. 64 www.coalage.com 100th Anniversary Special Issue August 2012 "