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20 MARINE REVIEW. [June 19 COAL PRODUCTION IN 1901. According to returns to the United States geological survey from producers representing fully 97 per cent. of the entire coal output of the. United States, the production in 1901 amounted to 292,240,758 short tons ordered at $348,813,831. As compared with 1900, when the output amounted to 269,881,827 short tons, worth $306,891,364, this represents an increase of 22,358,931 short tons, or 8 per cent. in quantity, and $41,922;-: 467, or 13.6 per cent. in value. The production of Pennsylvania anthracite showed a phenomenal increase, from 51,221,353 long tons (equivalenc to , 97,367,915 short tons) in 1900 to 60,242,560 long tons, or 67,471,667 short tons, in 1901. This represented a gain of 17% per cent., the largest per- centage of gain made by the anthracite trade in twenty years. Part of this increase in 1901 was due to a decreased output of anthracite in. 1900 as compared with 1899, as owing to the historic strike of 1900 the output that year was reduced by over 2,500,000 long tons. The production last year shows an increase over 1899 of 6,297,913 long tons, and except for the strike of 1900 would have shown an increase over that year of 4,500,000 long tons, or about half the actual increase made, The increase in the value of the anthracite product is still more strik- ing, the amount received at the mines last year showing a gain of $27,- 746,169, or more than 31 per cent., over that of 1900. This was entirely due to the unprecedented period of prosperity, which enabled consumers generally to pay higher prices for their fuel. The average price for the marketed anthracite coal--that is, the product shipped to market or sold to local trade, and exclusive of the colliery consumption, which amounted to about 10 per cent. of the total--was $2.05, the highest figure obtained since 1888. The production of bituminous coal, lignite, cannel coal, etc., includ- ing a small amount of anthracite from Colorado and New Mexico, in- - creased from 212,513,912 short tons in 1900 to 224,769,091 short tons in 1901, indicating a gain of 12,255,179 tons, or about 6 per cent. The value of this product amounted to $236,309,811, as compared with $221,133,513 in 1900, an increase of $15,176,298, or a little less than 7 per cent. The price of the bituminous product did not show any material advance in 1901, the average being about 0.8 cent higher than in 1900. Of the twenty- seven states producing coal in 1901 all but four showed increased produc- tion. The four whose product decreased were California, Montana, New ice and Tennessee. The production by states is shown in the follow- ing table: COAL PRODUCTION OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1901., Bituminous. ~ Total product. Total value. Alabama 2k. Be ae 9,078,677 $9,987,811 PRCA de Pe ee cee 1,784,136 2,033,193 rl a 151,079 394,106 Reta) eS 5,699,016 6,441,891 Georgia' and North Carolina........ 354,825 426,658 cr LU. ee a 27,313,296 28,452,278 ee 6,962,940 7,078,342 Padian Vermitory 2.6. ise. eee 2,406,943 3,887,793 WOWa 6 ee... Ok. 5,978,522 8,016,274 KARSAS Cri 2. soe! ee 4,880,526 5,973,381 ly . §,487,994 5,208,094 Manylatid 25). 2...- ee). 5,113,127 5,046,491 ee 1,040,530 1,548,756 Missouri De i nS. 3,799,993 4,703,174 Mowtand 36. rs 1,396,081 * 2,009,316 Mew Mexieg 20.250. 2... 06. Ae 1,086,546 1,546,652 PT. hs 166,085 212,685 Oe 19,695,723 19,789,958 - Oregon es... PY 69,011 173,646 Penusvivania <.... >. eG. 82,914,840 82,099,906 Ce 3,546,551 3,969,249 Nees 1s ee 1,086,012 1,885,083 ee 1,322,614 © 1,666,082 Witeihia os. , &. ee es 2,953,999 2,523,270 Washington OO coe ie oo Zorselt 4,271,076 West MATa wok el), 6 Ve eas 23,816,434 20,908,705: Oe es, 4,485,374 6,060,462 Total TOS 8 eee es os 224,769,091 $236,309,811 Pennsylvania anthracite ........ 67,471,667 112,504,020 292,240,758 $348,813,831 _ The preliminary report issued by the inspectors of mines for Great Britain shows that the production of coal in the United Kingdom last year was 219,037,240 long tons, a decrease of 6,132,923 long tons from 1900. Reducing the product of the United States to the same unit, it is found that it amounted to 260,929,248 long tons, or 42,439,760 long tons (nearly 20 per cent.) more than that of Great Britain. The coal output of her colonies and dependencies (including India) aggregated in 1900 about 17,000,000 long tons, so that, taking all the British empire as one producer, it still falls short of the coal product of the United States last year by from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 long tons. Our coal production last year was nearly 80 per cent. larger than Germany's, nearly seven times that of Aus- tria~-Hungary and more than eight times that of France. . it @ LK: Stetson, Brewer, Me., are building a foursiasted spoodert schooner, to be christened Samuel W. Hathaway, for Crowell & Thur- law of Boston. The sch wil die ta a" € s¢ = oe 181...i4 long, 39% ft. beam and - A second large mortgage issued by the William R. Tri i I . Trigg Ca.,. Rich- mond, Va., has just been filed in the chancery court. It is a lien in favor of the Richmond Trust & Safe Deposit Co. for-a loan of $1,000,000, which -- is to be used in improving and enlarging the plant. _ Latimer Stone, North Beach, San Francisco, Cal., is building a three- masted wooden schooner for the Humboldt Lumber Co. of Oakland. The schooner will be 155 {t. long, 35 ft. 6 in. beam and 10 ft. 6 in, deep. GROWTH IN EXPORTS TO AFRICA. The expected increase in the exports to Africa has already begun. The exports from the United States to Africa in April, the latest month for which the details of our exports have yet been received by the treas- ury bureau of statistics, were greater than those to all South America, and were more than 50 per cent. greater than those of April in the pre- ceding year. For the ten months ending with April, 1902, they amounted to $28,956,179, against $22,070,133 in the corresponding ten months of the fiscal year, 1901, and $15,858,286 in the corresponding months of 1900. The chief increase, of course, is to British Africa, which takes about 85 per cent. of our exports to Africa. To British Africa alone our exports during the month of April, 1902, were $2,763,833, against $1,817,101 in April, 1901; and for the ten months ending with April, 1902, were $24, - 708,612, against $18,437,315 in ten months of 1901, and $13,168,062 in ten months of 1900. The prospective growth in the commerce of Africa and the probable increase in its consuming power with the return to peace and commercial activity are discussed in a statement furnished to the British South African Export Gazette by a leading Anglo-African mer- chant who had recently returned from a tout to South Africa. In this discussion the British merchant in question says: "With regard to the future of trade, with the advent of peace, there will undoubtedly be a great boom all through the country. A lull con- sequent on the removal of part of the military forces and the refugees may perhaps affect the trade of Capetown, which is, and always will remain, more or less local, and concerned with the western districts of Cape Colony; but no such effect will be felt elsewhere, for it will be necessary for some considerable time to keep a large military force in the country, and this will as a consequence involve a continuance of a considerable amount of military expenditure. Large camps will be set up at certain points, I have no doubt as to the certainty of the boom which will supervene after the war, but my only misgiving is that, with everyone rushing in to secure a share, it will be overdone, and a reaction set 1n. "As regards the Transvaal, and more particularly Johannesburg, no one with his eyes open can doubt of the great developments in mining and commerce which lie ahead. It is well known that, before the war, many mining properties were held back by those who foresaw what was coming and thought it better to wait until the trouble was over, rather than risk their chances under the then unfavorable economic and polit- ical conditions. The cancelling of all concessions and the reduction of the price of dynamite will unquestionably make it easier to work the mines at a profit, and many of the low grade properties will now be taken in hand and, what is more, made to pay. The chief danger that has to be feared is that arising from the opening which will be afforded for the launching of bogus companies, which can only create discredit and dis- couragement for 'bona fide concerns. "The immediate future of the Orange River colony, although afford- ing many hopeful indications, has, I think, several problems to contend with, The colony is a farming country in the main, and for some time to come will suffer from the depletion of population and the destruc- tion of property, and as a consequence the loss of farming capital. Gov- ernment assistance may do much to restore conditions of the earlier period, but recovery will be a work of time. Trade in the meantime will suffer. Rhodesia forms no exception to the rest of the country, and has, - in my opinion, a big future before it. "The question as to which of the ports on the south and east African seaboard will secure the bulk of future South African trade is, I think, not difficult to answer. My previous remarks as to the local nature of _ the trade of Capetown show that that port is out of the reckoning. The situation of East London and Port Elizabeth places both of those ports in a more advantageous position to cater for the interior trade than the metropolitan port. To Durban, however, I think will fall the bulk of at least the Transvaal trade, and that a very great future lies before it is unquestionable. It is the nearest of all the South African ports to the Rand, and owing to the high rents ruling in Johannesburg, merchants prefer to keep their stocks at the coast in bond. By this course they save the interest on the disbursement of money for the duties, drawing their goods from bond only as they want them. Delagoa bay may offer some rivalry on account of its slightly shorter distance and its through rate, and in the future will doubtless make further progress, but it will never be chosen voluntarily by merchant firms as a place of residence on account of the unhealthiness of the climate, and because it is a foreign port. Johannesburg merchants likewise, I should imagine, will. never use it, like Durban, as'a place to store their stocks at, It will remain purely a forwarding port, and a number of firms of forwarding agents may be established there. English merchants, and I should judge, American merchants also, will always prefer an English port to a foreign, and especially a Portugese port, on account of the unforeseen administration difficulties which are continually arising. If, as I think, Johannesburg merchants will continue to store their stocks at the ports in preference to removing them to Johannesburg, Durban will be the port chosen for this purpose, in which case its future is settled. "Of course the reason for the preference of Delagoa bay over Dur- ban by the Germans is that their ships, coming down the east coast, touch first at the former port. It must also be remembered that the German through rate to Johannesburg, via Delagoa bay, has enabled them to offer serious competition to British trade forwarded through Durban and other colonial ports; but this is a matter which our ship- ping companies will have to face by the institution of similar through rates via Durban. This, indeed, is the only way to do it. American, as well as British vessels, come round the coast from the west, and Durban is thus their proper objective rather than the Portugese port. Taking South Africa as a whole, the country will go ahead in coming years, and a big future lies before it. As to the immediate trade outlook, the impressions gathered from my visit are distinctly hopeful, tinctured with the fear that it will be overdone." iAt a meeting of the shareholders of the Dominion Iron & Steel Co. and! the Dominion Coal Co. at Montreal, a lease of the output of the coal company's mines was ratified. The lease is $1,600,000 per year and 7% cents a ton royalty on all coal mined in excess of 35,000,000 tons in any one year,