The Mining Company of Shantung, producing 400,000 tons a year, formerly owned by the Germans, is now run by the Japanese military organization. Thus only one of the large producers is under Chinese control, though many smaller mines are worked by Chinese. The Chinese law designed to prevent foreign control of this sort is not effective. It requires that the share of a mining industry held by foreigners shall not be over one-half; but if a foreign company owns half the shares and finances the Chinese half by a loan, the foreign control may be complete. There is a further control of mining, through the ownership of railways. All the larger producers must ship coal by rail, and foreign nations are allowed to finance railways. The difficulty of a government exercising adequate political and commercial control when it grants concessions in this way is evident.
General mining affairs in China are supervised by a Bureau of Mining Affairs. Any specific enterprise is controlled by a commissioner of finance in each province. It is questionable, however, whether governmental control will be strong enough to overbalance commercial and financial control, and diplomatic pressure from outside. Those companies incorporated under Hong Kong law can count on British protection. Japanese demands on China have been very insistent, and it is said that about a third of the production of the country is now controlled by Japan.
As a whole, China seems to take a small part in the control of her own coal. The opportunity for other powers to get financial, and, through that, industrial favors may be involved in the problem of financing the central government.
Table 7.—Production, Exports and Imports for 1913[8]
Millions of metric tons
| Country | Kind of coal | Production | Exports | Imports | Remarks (1919) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Anthracite | 85 | 4.1 | ... | Resources greater than those of any other country; can easily increase ocean exports withmore shipping available. Present exports chiefly to Canada. Value of coal-tar products imported in 1913, $10,962,000. | ||||||||
| Bituminous | 432 | 18.0 | 1.4 | ||||||||||
| Coke | 42 | 1.0 | 0.1 | ||||||||||
| Bunker coal | ... | (7.7) | ... | ||||||||||
| Great Britain | Anthracite | 5 | ... | ... | Chief coal-exporting country; before war had virtual monopoly of ocean exports. Exportcontrol imperiled by shortage from labor conditions. | ||||||||
| Bituminous | 282 | 73.4 | ... | ||||||||||
| Coke | 20.5 | 1.2 | ... | ||||||||||
| Briquettes | ... | 2.1 | ... | ||||||||||
| Bunker coal | (21.0) | ... | |||||||||||
| German Empire | Bituminous | 191 | 34.6 | 10.5 | Coal needed for Central Europe. Exports by rail and canal. Distance fromseaports prevents oversea exports. Westphalia has largest coking coal resources in Europe. Ownership ofSaar mines transferred to France by Treaty of Peace. | ||||||||
| Lignite | 87 | ... | 7 | ||||||||||
| Coke | 32 | 6.4 | 0.6 | ||||||||||
| Coal Briquettes | 5.8 | 2.3 | 0.3 | ||||||||||
| Lignite Briquettes | 21.4 | 0.9 | 0.1 | ||||||||||
| Saar District (Included under German Empire, above) | Bituminous | 17.0 | |||||||||||
| Coke | 2.0 | ||||||||||||
| Upper Silesia (Included under German Empire, above) | Bituminous | 49.1 | Nationality of Upper Silesia to be determined by plebiscite; coal productionvital to eastern Germany, Poland and Austria. | ||||||||||
| Lignite | 2.3 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Coke | 3.1 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Austria-Hungary | Bituminous | 17.6 | 0.7 | 13.7 | Austria, already deficient in bituminous coal, under the Peace Treaty losespractically all coal fields to Poland and Czecho-Slovakia. | ||||||||
| Lignite | 36.4 | 7.0 | ... | ||||||||||
| Austria (Included under Austria-Hungary, above) | Bituminous | 16.3 | ... | ... | Hungary always lacked enough bituminous coal, and under any political controlmust continue to import coal from Upper Silesia. | ||||||||
| Lignite | 27.4 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Coke | 2.6 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Hungary (Included under Austria-Hungary, above) | Bituminous | 1.3 | |||||||||||
| Lignite | 9.0 | ||||||||||||
| Coke | 0.2 | ||||||||||||
| France | Bituminous | 40.0 | 1.3 | 18.7 | France consumed in 1913 (millions of tons)
| ||||||||
| Lignite | 0.8 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Coke | 4.0 | 0.2 | 3.0 | ||||||||||
| Briquettes | 3.7 | 0.1 | 1.1 | ||||||||||
| Russia (Included in above is the Dombrova field of Poland) | Bituminous chiefly | 32.3 | ... | 8.1 | Russia, with poorly developed fields and great future needs, has imported from Great Britain andGermany; through loss of the Dombrova field (extension of Upper Silesian basin) needs more coal than can produce and isunlikely ever to be an exporting country. | ||||||||
| Bituminous (Some brown coal) | 7.0 | ||||||||||||
| Belgium | Bituminous | 22.8 | 4.9 | 8.9 | Belgium has high-grade steam coals and some coking coal; beds are deep and difficult to mine.Its exports to Holland and France probably will in future continue to be exceeded by imports from Westphalia and Great Britain. | ||||||||
| Coke | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.4 | ||||||||||
| Briquettes | 2.6 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
[8] Compiled by George S. Rice.
Table 8.—Countries in Europe Largely Dependent on Imports of Fuel. Production and Imports, 1913[9]
Millions of metric tons
| Country | Kind of coal | Production | Imports | Remarks (1919) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holland | Bituminous | 2.0 | 12.0 | Holland, in the small Limbourg basin, has an extension of the Aix-la-Chapelle basin of Germany. The output is increasing, but as the basin is small Holland will import from Westphalia, Belgium and Great Britain or America. |
| Italy | Anthracite and Lignite | 0.7 | 10. | Italy has insignificant and poor resources in thin anthracite beds and in lignite deposits; has depended on Great Britain for imports, but now the United States is furnishing some coal. Water-power developments are large; opportunity for further development. |
| Spain | Bituminous | 4.3 | 3.6 | Spain has a number of small coal basins. It must continue to import. |
| Sweden | Bituminous | 0.4 | 4.8 | Sweden has a few thin impure beds, but has relied on imports from Great Britain. |
| Norway | 2.3 | Norway has no coal resources and has imported coal from Great Britain. | ||
| Switzerland | 1.6 | Switzerland has no coal worthy of mention; it has relied on imports from Westphalia. Since the armistice, Switzerland has imported coal from the United States, but this movement is abnormal. |
[9] Compiled by George S. Rice.