The Tribune Almanac and Political Register

Unappropriated lands on July 1, 1912, embraced 682,984,762 acres, of which 185,362,030 acres were surveyed and 497,622,732 acres were unsurveyed.

The figures showing the withdrawals up to July 1, 1912, and the purposes for which they have been made, are as follows

The report of the National Conservation Commission shows the area of swamp and overflow lands, by states, to be as follows in 1908:

By the act of June 17, 1902, known as the Reclamation Act, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to engage in the construction of works of irrigation in the arid land portion of the United States. These works were to be self-supporting, their cost being met from charges for irrigation. The reclamation service having, however, somewhat outstripped in development the resources of the reclamation fund, Congress passed a law in 1910 authorizing the issuance of certificates of indebtedness against the reclamation fund to the amount of $20,000,000, payable from future re-ceipts of the fund. The number of projects and the amount expended on them to June 30, 1912, are shown in the following table:

The following table shows the estimated gain made in November 1, 1912, as a result of the irrigation projects partly completed.

Trinity Church of New York City has 8,610 members, the largest Protestant member

ship in the world.

Acreage in partly completed reclamation projects and acreage irrigated in 1912,

THE BUREAU OF MINES.

Congress by the law approved May 16, 1910, established a Bureau of Mines in the Department of the Interior, for the purpose of making scientific inquiries and investigations for the benefit of the mining industry, especially such as might aid in making mining in the United States less wasteful of life and resources. These inquiries and investigations are intended to help the states in the enactment of better and more uniform mining laws and regulations, to be of service to state mining inspectors, operators and miners, supplying them with data concerning explosives, gas, dust, mine fires and other factors entering into the problem of mine safety, and to encourage a more efficient treatment and economical use of metallic mineral products. For the full text of the law see page 133 of The Tribune Almanac for 1911.

The chief experimental station of the bureau is at Pittsburgh, where there is a completely equipped plant for the investigations of the problems intrusted to the bureau. The work in the laboratories on mine accident problems is supplemented by experiments conducted in a small coal mine under the conditions of actual mining. At this station the bureau is also conducting a number of investigations in connection with the use of explosives and electricity.

As a means of carrying on an educational campaign in behalf of mine rescue and first aid to the injured work, the bureau has purchased and equipped with rescue apparatus, first aid and firefighting devices, seven cars of standard type. These cars, one stationed in each of the important coal fields or coal mining regions of the country, are visiting the important groups of coal mines, where demonstrations and illustrations of this work are given.

The calendar year 1907 was the most disastrous of all the years of American coal mining. During that period 3,125 miners lost their lives. That represented 4.70 men killed for every thousand employed. In European coal mining countries between one and two miners are killed in every thousand employed. In December, 1907, Congress made an appropriation of $150,000 to investigate the causes of mine disasters. At the end of the calendar year 1910 the deaths in the coal mines had been reduced to 3.91 killed in every thousand employed.

The following tabulation shows the number of men killed per thousand in the coal mines of various countries from 1906 to 1910:

Gross receipts of the United States Steel Corporation have ranged as high as $757,014,767 in a single year.

United States figures are subject to slight change owing to following causes: Oklahoma returns are according to fiscal years. Complete data for Maryland for 1907 and 1908 and for Wyoming for 1907 have not been obtained.

Perhaps the most notable achievement of the Bureau of Mines so far has been the demonstration to the satisfaction of operator and miner that coal dust in a bituminous mine is more dangerous and more deadly to the miner than gas. Its testing of explosives to determine which are the safest to use in dangerous mines has been another large influence in the reduction of the number of deaths in the mines. These tests, begun in January, 1908, by the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey, are being continued by the Bureau of Mines at the Pittsburgh experiment station, and already a sufficient number of explosives have passed the tests to enable operators and miners to select types which are comparatively safe.

As a result of the government's efforts the use of black powder in dangerous mines has been prohibited in certain states, and in other states operators are using the permissible explosives voluntarily. In 1908 the coal mines used 2,000,000 pounds of short flame explosives; in 1910 they used almost 12,000,000 pounds. The rescue corps of the bureau has been instrumental in saving the lives of more than twenty-five miners in the last two years and have probably prevented the loss of several hundred lives. Seven fully equipped rescue cars Rescue Work. have been placed in the principal coal fields of the country.

One

car has headquarters in Wilkes-Barre, Penn,; a second at Trinidad, Col.; the third at Evansville, Ind.; the fourth at Rock Springs, Wyo.; the fifth at Billings, Mont.; the sixth at Huntington, W. Va., and the seventh at Pittsburgh. In addition the bureau maintains rescue stations at Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Urbana, Ill.; McAlester, Okla., and Seattle. The Bureau of Mines is charged with an investigation of the fuel resources of the United States with a view toward stopping the waste in mining and increasing the efficiency with which the fuels are used. The Fuel Investigations. fuel resources of this country are being used and wasted at a tremendous rate. The consumption of coal in the United States has doubled with every decade since mining began. Without a serious lessening of the present rate of coal consumption, either through more efficient use of this fuel or the extensive developments of substitutes for it, the middle of the next century will find the nation's supply of easily workable coal so largely depleted as to bring serious hardships and a curtailment of manufacturing industries. The total production of coal in 1909 was 460,000,000 short tons. Investigations into the waste of coal in mining have shown the enormous extent of this waste, aggregating probably 200,000,000 tons yearly, of which at least one-half might be saved. No accurate estimate can be made as to the total unnecessary losses in connection with the use of coal for different purposes, but line of urgently needed investigation and inquiry are indicated by the facts that in the vast majority of the power plants of the country less than 10 per cent of the heat units in the coal are converted into actual work, and that in lighting plants not more than 1-7 of 1 per cent of the heat value of the coal is converted into electric light.

From the 40,000,000 tons of coal which are converted into coke each year, byproducts are wasted, which, if completely saved, would have an aggregate annual value of more than that of the coke itself. This would include ammonium sulphate, 2,400 tons, sufficient to fertilize our farms; creosote, for the preservation of our timber, and pitch enough for briquetting slack coals, roofing houses and repairing roads. It is of the utmost importance to the nation as a whole that our fuel supplies be used without unnecessary waste and with the highest obtainable efficiency, in order that it may decrease rather than increase the cost of power, heat and light to the American people, in spite of the necessary future increase in the cost of mining operations resulting from sinking deeper shafts and taking coal from thinner seams. These are the reasons for the fuel investigations of the Bureau of Mines.

The Bureau of Mines has wielded a large influence in the abatement of smoke in the large cities of the country. It has not only given its counsel as to the best methods of carrying on a campaign against the smoke nuisance, but has also demonstrated to those interested that coal can be burned without objectionable smoke. Its plant at Pittsburgh is a model to the entire country in the absence of smoke, and its experts are always willing to explain how this is accomplished.

The Smoke
Problem.

The investigations into smoke abatement have indicated clearly that each type of coal may be burned practically smokelessly in some type of furnace or with some arrangement of mechanical stoker, draft, etc. The elimination of smoke means more perfect combustion of fuel, and consequently less waste and higher efficiency.

THE PATENT OFFICE.

The report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year ended December 31, 1911, shows that there were received at the Patent Office 67,370 applications for mechanical patents, 1,534 applications for design patents, 217 applications for reissues of patents, 7,085 applications for registration of trade marks, 969 applications for registration of labels and 337 applications for registration of prints. There were 33,927 patents issued, including designs, 157 patents reissued and 4,205 trademarks, 659 labels and 248 prints registered. The number of patents that expired was 19,875. The number of allowed applications awaiting the payment of final fees was 11,803, and the number forfeited for non-payment of the final fees

Since 1900 the importations of potash salt into the United States have aggregated approximately $75,000,000 in value.

7,028. The total receipts were $2,019,388.03, the expenditures $1,953,689.91 and the surplus of receipts over expenditures was $65,698.12. The total balance to the credit of the Patent Office in the Treasury of the United States on January 1, 1911, was $7,063,925.76.

The patents issued to citizens of the United States in 1911 were distributed by states and territories as follows:

Year.

1871.

1872.

*Not including 157 reissues and 68 patents withdrawn.

The number of patents granted to citizens or subjects of foreign countries was 4,058. The following table presents a comparative statement of the business of the Patent Office from 1871 to 1911: