Uncertainty of future supplies of bituminous coal was set at rest in January by the action of the operators and miners in renewing the wage agreement at the instance of the United States Coal Commission. The new agreement was to run until March 31, 1924. Nevertheless, active buying continued throughout the summer, as consumers sought to build up their depleted stocks. Especially heavy purchases were made by the railroads, partly because of an order issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission in June, abolishing the practice of assigning cars for railroad fuel, an order since temporarily suspended. The results of this heavy summer buying were remarkable. Production instead of showing its characteristic seasonal decline continued steadily throughout the year. The congestion of traffic, formerly so common in the fall, was thereby avoided, and the spot price, which had dropped to $2.56 in June-a level below the cost of production at many mines-continued to decline slowly throughout the year. In fact, by the end of the year severe depression had again descended upon the industry, and though production continued large, many mines were forced to close.

The total output for the year was nearly 564,600,000 short tons, a figure exceeded but twice in the history of the industry, making 1923 second only to 1918 and 1920. The average value of all the soft coal produced was $2.68 a ton.

In the anthracite trade also the controlling influence in 1923 was the after effect of the strike of 1922, intensified, however, by apprehension over another suspension when the existing agreement should expire. The great strike had left a deficit of 40 per cent in the supply of household anthracite. In the effort to make up the loss, operators and men joined to set new production records in the first quarter of the year. The output during the first quarter amounted to 25,298,000 short tons and for four weeks in that period exceeded 2,000,000 tons. Voluntary control of prices and distribution under authority of the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission and the Federal Fuel Distributor achieved conspicuous success but could not entirely prevent anxiety and distress in some communities of New England before the winter passed. Premium prices for the domestic sizes of independent operators and an active demand for the steam sizes therefore continued for several months. The anthracite wage agreement had been extended to expire September 1, 1923. Negotiations to renew it were begun early but ultimately deadlocked. Warnings by the United States Coal Commission that the public interest required a peaceful settlement yielded place to mediation by the governor of Pennsylvania. The principal feature of the settlement arranged was a 10 per cent increase in wages, and production continued with the loss of only a few days' time. Demand for domestic sizes continued active and absorbed the heavy tonnages offered, in spite of advances in price of 75 cents to $1 a ton, which were considered necessary to meet the higher wage. Demand for the steam sizes, on the contrary, began to drag, and sharp reductions. in the prices of these sizes followed. In spite of the brief suspension the production for the year was one of the largest on record, second only to the figures for the war years 1917 and 1918.

The shortage of household fuel and the great activity of the iron and steel industry stimulated the production of coke, which rose

to 56,978,000 short tons, an amount slightly greater than the record set in the war year 1918. In 1923 by-product ovens contributed 66 per cent of the total coke-oven output and beehive ovens 34 per cent. The output of by-product coke set a new record. The year's production-37,598,000 tons-was an increase of 6,764,000 tons over the 1920 output, hitherto the maximum. One new plant began operation in 1923. The market for coal by-products was stimulated for a time by the shutting off of German supplies that followed the French occupation of the Ruhr, but the improvement due to this cause was offset by a decline in the price of benzol, which followed the price of gasoline and other petroleum products. The output of beehive coke in 1923 was 19,380,000 tons, more than twice as great as in 1922, when production in the Connellsville region had been curtailed by the coal miners' strike.

In 1923 all prior records were broken in the production of petroleum in the United States. The total was 732,407,000 barrels. This was an increase of 31 per cent over the production of 1922, was more than double the production of the United States in 1918, and was 37 million barrels more than the entire world produced in 1920. In addition to this tremendous domestic output, imports of crude petroleum, although considerably less than in 1922, amounted to 82 million barrels, and in spite of exports of 17 million barrels of crude oil and of unprecedented consumption (indicated deliveries to consumers were 714 million barrels), stocks of crude oil increased nearly 72 million barrels. At the end of the year stocks of crude petroleum, exclusive of consumers' stocks, amounted to 344,624,000 barrels, a supply sufficient for 172 days at the average daily rate of deliveries to domestic consumers plus exports for the year. On the last day of December over 33 million barrels of crude oil was held at refineries.

The increased output was due to flush yield from a number of highly productive new fields in California, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, marking the culmination of the discovery during the last six years of more than a score of extraordinarily large pools, among which are the Elk Hills, Sante Fe Springs, Long Beach, and Huntington Beach, in California; West Columbia, Hull, Ranger, Burkburnett, Mexia, and Powell, in Texas; Hewitt, Beggs, Bristow, Burbank, and Tonkawa, in Oklahoma; Homer and Haynesville, in Louisiana; Eldorado-Towanda, in Kansas; and El Dorado and Smackover, in Arkansas.

During 1923 the daily average production steadily increased from 1,676,000 barrels in January to a maximum of 2,161,000 barrels in November. The new California pools attained their maximum in September, but the Powell field, in Texas, which is estimated to have produced a maximum of 315,000 barrels a day, maintained production on so high a level that the peak for the entire country was not reached until November. The output of these fields, however, declined sharply in December, when the daily average decreased to 1,900,000 barrels, or less than that of April, a drop in daily average yield of 261,000 barrels.

Imports of crude oil in 1923 were 45 million barrels less than in 1922. This marks the first large decrease since imports began, in 1909, and emphasizes the changed conditions in Mexico due to the

falling off in the production of the Southern field, where so-called "light" oil is produced. A change in the sources of imported crude oil was evident in 1923, when over a million and a half barrels more than in 1922 was imported from other countries than Mexico, chiefly from Peru.

Decreased production and imports of Mexican petroleum, coinciding with the increased production in California, resulted in a novel feature in petroleum marketing-the shipment through the Panama Canal to Atlantic and Gulf ports in the United States of about 53 million barrels of California crude oil, having an average gravity of approximately 30° A. P. I. (0.8762), and the shipment of some 4 million barrels of California oil to Mexico. These unusual shipments of California crude oil, amounting to more than onefifth of the State's production, greatly relieved the strained storage facilities.

Consumption continued to expand and, as measured by indicated deliveries to consumers (a calculated item that includes losses), increased from 592 million barrels in 1922 to about 714 million barrels in 1923, an increase of 21 per cent. For the first few months of the year indicated deliveries were greater than production, but later they did not keep pace with the increasing output, and from May to November they were less than production. The sharp reduction in production during December, however, reversed conditions, and deliveries to consumers were not only greater than production but were almost equal to the sum of production plus imports.

Prices of crude oil in 1923, reflecting the conditions of oversupply, trended downward. Toward the end of 1922 and during the first few months of 1923 prices of Mid-Continent oil, for example, in apparent accord with the slackening rate of increased supply, advanced, and on February 17 the price of petroleum of gravity between 33° and 34.9° was increased to $1.85 a barrel, as contrasted with $1.25 in December, 1922. But the increasing supply forced prices down, and on November 8 the price of Mid-Continent oil between 33° and 39.9° had declined to $1 a barrel, the low level reached during the period of deflation in 1921. However, on January 9, 1924, after the marked decline in production during December and apparently in anticipation of a decreasing supply, the price of MidContinent oil between 33° and 39.9° was increased to $1.25 a barrel. This advance followed advances in Pennsylvania grade crude oil from $2.50 to $3.25 a barrel, made during December.

The production of gold in 1923 was about as had been expected as the cost of mining siliceous ores of low grade did not decline sufficiently to stimulate mining to any large extent. The output was $51,734,000, an increase of 6 per cent over that of 1922 and the largest output since 1919. This increase was almost entirely due to a greater output of base metals recoverable from ore containing gold in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana, the increase of gold in those four States being nearly $4,200,000, while the output of gold in California, Alaska, South Dakota, and Colorado, which comes mainly from siliceous ore and placers, decreased nearly $2,350,000.

The production of silver in 1923 increased 17,095,000 ounces, or 30 per cent, over that in 1922, amounting to about 73,335,000 ounces, an output exceeded only in 1915 and 1916. Production was very large in the first six months of 1923, owing to the desire of domestic

miners and smelters to sell their silver under the Pittman Act. So much silver was sold that in June the Treasury announced that the amount to be repurchased under the act had been reached and thereafter ceased buying. After June the average price of silver was from 63.1 to 65.1 cents an ounce, slightly more than was expected, and the range of prices was unusually stable, owing to a steady demand from the Orient. It was lowest in August and highest in December. The average price of silver not derived from domestic mines was 65.2 cents an ounce in 1923, compared with 67.9 cents in 1922. The large increases in silver production in 1923 were made in those States that are large producers of copper and lead, such as Utah, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho. The combined increase from these five States was nearly 17,000,000 ounces.

There was a tremendous increase in the smelter production of copper from domestic sources in 1923, 51 per cent more copper being produced than in 1922. The value of smelter production in 1923 increased 64 per cent. This increase in production was due mainly to the high prices prevailing during the first quarter of the year, as at the end of the year prices were at a lower level than the average for 1922. There was also a large increase in domestic consumption, which showed the highest rate since 1918 and except for that in the abnormal years 1916, 1917, and 1918 the highest recorded. Domestic production of new refined copper from domestic and foreign sources has kept pace with consumption and except for that in the years noted was also the highest recorded. For this reason, and also because of the unfavorable conditions in Europe, which have retarded consumption there, and the greatly increased production in South America and Africa, which has brought about increased competition for European and other markets, the price of copper is still below what the producers had expected. Costs of production have been cut by increased efficiency of operation and of labor, by consolidation of mining companies, and by closer cooperation between producers and manufacturers. Stocks of refined new copper increased from 216,000,000 pounds at the end of 1922 to 264,000,000 pounds at the end of 1923, and there was also an increase in stocks of blister copper and materials in process of refining. Exports of metallic copper amounted to 829,000,000 pounds in 1923, compared with 926,000,000 pounds in 1913, and general imports of unmanufactured copper to 676,000,000 pounds in 1923, compared with 409,000,000 pounds in 1913.

The price of zinc averaged 1 cent a pound higher in 1923 than in 1922, by virtue of which the industry was in an active condition through the year, smelter production proceeding at an even pace. The price started the year at 7 cents, rose in March to 8, then dropped to less than 6, and during the second half of the year ranged from 614 to 62 cents. The general result was a good increase in the mine production of zinc (29 per cent) and a larger increase (44 per cent) in the smelter output of primary zinc. The largest increase in mine output was made in the Joplin region, which produced nearly 60 per cent of the total mine production of zinc in the country and made a gain of 28 per cent on its output for 1922. Oklahoma had the largest individual State output, with 242,000 tons of recoverable metal, a gain of 16 per cent on the output in 1922 and equal to 40 per cent of the country's mine output. This is more than any other

State has ever produced and, in fact, is more than the mine output of the whole country in 1908. Oklahoma was also first among the zinc-smelting States, but had a much smaller output than in her banner years during the World War. The output of zinc pigments and salts was about the same as in 1922, but the production of lithopone showed an encouraging increase of about 18 per cent.

Lead mining was more active in 1923 than in 1922, being stimulated by the higher price of lead, which averaged 12 cents a pound above the average in 1922. This gain followed a steady rise through 1922 of 22 cents a pound, which had put the lead industry in a thriving condition. In the early part of 1923 the price rose to 8.6 cents, but through most of the remainder of the year it was between 6 and 7 cents, coming back to 8 cents only at the end of the year. This fluctuation in price tended to discourage the reopening of old mines. and any further expansion in development, so that spot lead was scarcely equal to the demand and the result was a near-panicky fear of a lead shortage, which early in 1924 forced the price up to 9 cents a pound. However, there was an increase of 15 per cent in the output of the mines in 1923, and of 16 per cent in the refinery output of primary lead. The principal gain in the mine production of lead was made in the Western States, to which Idaho and Utah made the greatest contribution; Colorado also made a big gain. The production of the Joplin region was slightly less than in 1922, and that of the southeastern Missouri district decreased 5 per cent. The strength of the foreign market led to a good increase in the exports of lead from warehouse and of articles under drawback. The year closed with record stocks of lead in ore and bullion in bonded warehouses. The sales of white lead declined 16 per cent, owing to high prices, but lead oxides increased 25 per cent in quantity and 20 per cent in average value.

The year 1923 was one of the most noteworthy years the iron and steel industry has known. A new record was made in the production of pig iron, and the output of steel fell only slightly short of equaling the record made in 1917. This increased activity was naturally reflected in iron-ore mining and resulted in a production that is the fourth highest in the history of the iron-ore industry, having been exceeded only by that of 1916, 1917, and 1918. There was an increase in the demand for manganiferous ore and low-grade manganese ore, but the larger part of the manganese ore used in making ferromanganese was imported. The consumption of limestone and fluorspar for fluxes increased, but this increase did not result in larger shipments of fluorspar, as the shipments to steel plants were about 20 per cent less than in 1922, the additional fluorspar being withdrawn from consumers' stocks or imported.

The tariff on manganese, which became effective September 22, 1922, stimulated domestic production in 1923, though the production of high-grade ores was considerably smaller than was generally hoped for. Domestic shipments (exclusive of fluxing ore) increased from 13,404 long tons in 1922 to 31,500 tons in 1923, but the average value of the ore shipped decreased, chiefly because of the high-grade ore shipped in 1923 a larger part than in 1922 contained only about 35