The Coming of Coal   By: Robert W. Bruere

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[Illustration: COAL FIELDS OF THE WORLD]

THE COMING OF COAL

BY

ROBERT W. BRUÈRE

OF THE BUREAU OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

Prepared for The Educational Committee of the Commission on the Church and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America

=ASSOCIATION PRESS=

NEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE

1922

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY ROBERT W. BRUÈRE

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FOREWORD

This book, important in subject and scientific in method, appears under religious auspices for a very definite reason. The Educational Committee of the Federal Council of Churches has sought to find concrete expression for those Christian principles which are too often confined to abstract statement. Christian ethics are well understood in theory. There is need now for a science of Christian conduct through which we may realize ethical ideals in our working life.

Because of its basic character and its present importance in the public mind the coal industry offers a field for this endeavor. Hence the Educational Committee presents through the medium of the Press of the Young Men's Christian Association, this book, addressed particularly to the people of the churches of America.

THE EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Challenge of Power 1 II. Coming of Coal 4 III. Drama of Civilization 10 IV. Coal in America 22 V. Awakening of the Miners 34 VI. Struggle for Organization 50 VII. Rise of Democracy 66 VIII. Rivals of Coal 78 IX. The Technical Revolution 90 X. The Strait Gate 102 Bibliography 114 Index 120

CHAPTER I

THE CHALLENGE OF POWER

Scientists tell us that the energy poured by the sun on the Desert of Sahara in a single day exceeds by fourfold the energy stored in the annual production of all the coal fields in the world. They dream of a time when the radiant energy of the sun will be captured and turned to the uses of man. Then the wheels of our myriad machines will spin with the sun and the stars. In the soft whirr of their motors men will hear the music of the spheres.

When that time comes, will it signal the triumph of man's will over nature, the end of the brute struggle with hunger? Will it find our ideals of cooperation, service, and brotherhood ripe for practical application? Or will it mark a new intensification of the exploitation of man by men, of the clash of groups for power, of international wars for possession? Shall we have the spiritual capacity to match our technical achievement? Shall we know what we mean when we pray Thy Kingdom Come on Earth as IT IS in Heaven?