Looking Into the Future of the Coal Industry

AS a member of the Institute and as the president of the National Coal Association, I come before you today in a dual role. As an Institute mem-ber I welcome the opportunity to make complimentary reference to the growing support which bituminous coal operators are giving to programs looking to the advancement of the engineering profession, and to suggest plans whereby these programs may be enlarged to mutual advantage. As a representative of the bitu-minous industry, it gives me special pleasure to express the appreciation of the industry for the services ren-dered to it by members of your profession. Needless to say, there is a close relationship between the engineer and the coal operator. With increasing frequency and in the interests of the industry, the engineer is becoming more of a factor in the business of producing coal. I need look no further for an out-standing example of this encouraging trend than to Samuel A. Taylor, who not only is a bituminous coal producer but also has risen to such eminence in the engineering profession as to have been chosen the head of this great body of technical men, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. There are many coal operators whom I might mention as having achieved distinction in the engineering world, such as Howard. N. Eavenson, chairman of the .Coal and Coke Committee. And I would be guilty of a serious .oversight if I failed to make reference to Eckley B. Coxe, one of the founders of the Institute in 1871, a prominent anthracite operator and credited with several important inventions. While it is true that a. considerable number of execu-tives of coal-producing companies in this country came up through the engineering ranks. the proportion of mine executives in England, France, and Germany who are graduate engineers is much larger than it is in the United States. In France all members of the staff are engineers and such is the case in Germany up to the owner of the mine. In Germany the owner is not so frequently an engineer as is the rule in France.