in other districts. The exhibit which I have presented shows that the production in the southern Illinois district increased from 11,321,671 tons in 1933 to 27,864,829 tons in 1944, an increase of 16,543,158 tons or 146 percent, and that the production in Illinois as a whole increased from 38,320,125 tons in 1933 to 77,400,041 tons in 1944, an increase of 102 percent. Such exhibit shows that in contrast with this increase in production in southern Illinois and in Illinois as a whole, the production in the United States as a whole increased during the same period by 85,8 percent. These figures clearly demonstrate the tremendous productive capacity of the mines in the southern Illinois and other Illinois districts, and their ability to so gear operations as to meet the requirements of the coal consumers in the entire Midwest territory.

Large investments of money have been made by the southern Illinois and other Illinois coal producers in their mines for the purpose of producing and preparing these large quantities of coal which are required to meet the normal needs of consumers in the midwestern territory, and which were required to meet the needs of consumers in other parts of the country during the war emergency. This investment would be impaired, if not in a considerable part destroyed, if the project which is here under consideration is approved and coal from eastern Kentucky and West Virginia is transported by barge on a waterway constructed and maintained at the taxpayers' expense, including the taxpaying coal producers of Illinois and their employees, hundreds of miles into the back yard and normal markets of the Illinois mines, for the purpose of displacing the coal which such mines produce.

With the return of normal conditions during and following the postwar period, it is obvious that the production and consumption of coal in all territories will substantially decline. The southern Illinois and other Illinois mines are almost solely dependent for their existence and continued operation upon their ability to market their coal in their normal markets in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota. As previously stated, they have no other outlet for the coal which they produce. Contrasted with this, the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines have numerous outlets and markets for the coal which they produce. They ship their coal to the vast industrial sections of the eastern part of the United States by rail, and rail and lake, and by tidewater, that is, by rail to the eastern seaboard and by boat beyond. They ship vast quantities of such coal by rail to points in the South and to points throughout the central and midwestern part of the United States. They also ship large quantities of such coal by rail to ports on Lake Erie for transshipment beyond by boat to ports on the other Great Lakes, such as Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, and Lake Superior. They have a large market for their coal in Canada to which they ship by rail and by rail and lake. They also ship their coal for export through the eastern seaboard and south Atlantic ports.

None of these markets are available to the Illinois mines, except those in the Midwestern States, which I have previously named, and a very small proportion of those in Canada.

There is absolutely no necessity for the construction of the proposed canal here under consideration from the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia coal counties involved from a transportation, economic, or marketing standpoint. The coal mines in such counties are served by two railroads which are generally recognized as the largest, most efficient, and best equipped coal carrying railroads in the United States. Because of the numerous outlets and markets which they have for their coal, and of the satisfactory rates and service afforded by the railroads which serve them, the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines, which the proposed canal would serve, have been able even during the prewar period to operate almost full time throughout the year and to increase their production and shipments far more than have other mines in the same territory, and to substantially increase their production even while the production of coal in, and the shipments of coal from other districts, such as the southern Illinois and other Illinois districts were substantially declining. For example, in 1940, the mines in Floyd, Johnson, and Pike Counties in eastern Kentucky operated an average of 208, 226, and 209 days, respectively. In eastern Kentucky as a whole, the mines operated an average of 210 days, and the mines in McDowell and Mingo Counties in West Virginia, operated an average of 219 and 199 days, respectively, during that year. During the same year, the mines in Franklin, Saline, and Williamson Counties in Illinois, which comprise the southern Illinois district, were able to operate an average of but 150, 176, and 159 days, respectively, because of a lack of markets for their coal, while the mines in the State of Illinois were able to operate an average of but 169 days during that year.

The avowed purpose of the proposed canal here under consideration, according to its advocates, is to provide a waterway to be constructed and maintained at the taxpayers' expense, including that of the coal producers, their employees, and other taxpayers in Illinois, for the purpose of permitting coal to be shipped hundreds of miles down the Big Sandy and Ohio Rivers, and up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to points in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, for the purpose of displacing coal which is now moving in large part from the Illinois mines which lie in close proximity to such destination territory.

In the survey which has been submitted by the Board in support of this proposed project, no consideration whatever was apprently given to the ability and capacity of the Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky mines to supply the coal requirements of most of the coal consumers, in the midwestern portion of the United States, to the utter dependency of such mines for their future existence and operation upon the availability of such markets to them, of the dependency of the employees of such mines for their future means of livelihood upon the ability of such mines to supply such markets, and of the tremendous loss in freight revenue which the railroads which serve such mines would suffer by a diversion of the tonnage which they are now transporting from such mines to destinations in such territory which, in turn, would vitally affect their employees and undoubtedly require them to increase their rates on their remaining traffic for the purpose of attempting to offset the loss of revenue occasioned by the diversion of the coal tonnage which they now transport from the Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky mines to destinations in such territory to barges operating on the proposed canal from eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.

It would seem obvious that the Board should view the economic aspects of this proposed project from the standpoint of the United States as a whole, and not from the narrow view of the few who would presumably be benefited by the alleged low barge-transportation costs which would result from the construction and maintenance of the proposed canal at the expense of the taxpayers of the United States as a whole.

In 1944 the southern Illinois mines employed 11,495 employees at their mines and several thousand additional employees in other capacities. During the same year the mines in Illinois, as a whole, had 32,019 mine employees and several thousand additional employees in other capacities. The railroads serving the Illinois mines employ thousands of workers, and approximately 20 to 80 percent of such individual railroads' total traffic is represented by the coal tonnage which they originate at and transport from such mines. The substantial diversion of tonnage from the Illinois mines and such railroads to the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines and the proposed canal, proposed by the advocates of such project, will jeopardize and destroy the means of livelihood of many of the employees of such mines and railroads and the ability of such mines and railroads to maintain an adequate and efficient operation and service.

Many of the railroads serving such mines, such as the Wabash, Missouri Pacific, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and Alton, have been or are in the hands of receivers because of bankruptcy proceedings and their inability to secure sufficient revenue to meet operating expenses. They are in no position to stand further diversions of the coal traffic which they now originate and transport.

In conclusion, I would like to point out that the returns to questionnaires which have been submitted in support of the proposed project, and which purport to show the prospective tonnage which would move over the proposed canal, are inaccurate and unsound. For example, the distance from Huntington, W. Va., which is immediately east of the mouth of the Big Sandy on the Ohio River, to Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa, is 1,155 miles. To obtain the total distance over the proposed canal to Rock Island and Davenport, the distance from the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines to Huntington would have to be added to the 1,155 miles from Huntington to such point.

According to such returns to questionnaires, the advocates of such project hope to obtain a barge rate for this more than 1,200-mile haul low enough to displace coal tonnage now moving from the Fulton County, Ill., mines to Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa, an average distance of but, approximately, 100 miles, and on a present rail rate of $1.25 per ton. According to such questionnaires the advocates of such proposal also hope to obtain a barge rate for this more than 1,200-mile haul from the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines to Rock, Island low enough to displace substantial tonnages of coal now moving from the southern Illinois mines to such point at a rail rate of $2.25 per ton and an average distance of approximately 330 miles. Such advocates, ac

cording to such questionnaires, also hope to obtain a barge-rail rate for a total distance of approximately 1,425 miles from the eastern Kentucky mines to Mason City, Iowa, low enough to displace 50,000 tons of coal now moving from the southern Illinois mines to such point, an average distance of approximately 540 miles, and on a present rail rate of $3.15 per ton.

The nearest river port to Mason City is Davenport, Iowa, the distance from such port to such point being approximately 225 miles. It is impossible to ascertain from the survey or questionnaires which are before you, what rail rate the advocates of the proposal under consideration hope to obtain from Davenport to Mason City on barge coal moving from the eastern Kentucky or West Virginia mines.

The mileage scale applicable on coal in this territory, which was prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission, would produce a rate for this distance from Davenport to Mason City of approximately $2.31 per ton, which is but 84 cents per ton less than the total rail rate from the southern Illinois district to Mason City. This would mean that in order to be competitive from a rate standpoint, that the barge rate for the more than 1,200-mile haul from the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines to Davenport could not exceed 84 cents per ton. It is obvious that a barge rate as low as this could never be obtained. The rate on bituminous coal via the Federal Barge Lines from East St. Louis and Alton, Ill., to St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn., for a distance of approximately 659 miles is $1.65 per ton. This is but approximately one-half the distance from the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia mines via the proposed canal to Davenport, Iowa, Moline, Rock Island, and Chicago, Ill. Various other illustrations of the unsound estimates of prospective tonnages to be obtained for the proposed project could be cited from such questionnaires, but those given should suffice.

For all of the reasons we have stated, we respectfully submit that the proposed project is unnecessary and economically unsound, and that if constructed and if it accomplishes the results which its advocates say it will, that it will cause a very serious and injurious dislocation of the coal-mining industry in the midwestern coal field in the United States, consequent unemployment of railroad and mine employees, and a large loss of traffic to the eastern and midwestern railroads which, in turn, would undoubtedly necessitate increases in freight rates on the traffic which such railroads continue to transport.

We respectfully request that this subcommittee disapprove such proposal.

Statement showing the number of tons (2,000 pounds each) of bituminous coal produced in the United States, in the State of Illinois, and in the southern Illinois group during the years 1933 to 1944, inclusive

Authority: U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines: Annual Reports, State of Illinois, Department of Mines and Minerals.

1, 184, 366

15.0

17, 009

32.0

4, 403

38.6

13, 055

34.3

21, 207

41.2

March..

55, 674

36. 1

1,344, 437

17.0

19, 863

37.4

5, 615

49.2

16, 689

43.8

25, 221

49.0

67, 388

43.7

April.

1, 325, 343

16.8

20, 949

39.4

4,920

43.1

17, 582

46. 2

24, 867

48.4

May.

68, 318

44. 4

1, 356, 670

17.2

26, 713

50.3

5, 395

47.3

21, 446

56. 3

27, 883

54.2

June.

81, 437

52.9

1,356, 123

17.2

27, 636

52.0

5, 081

44.5

21, 402

56. 2

30, 249

58.8

July.

84, 368

54.8

1, 353, 220

17.1

27, 467

51.7

5, 122

44.9

20, 887

54.9

28, 803

56.0

82, 279

53. 4

August

1, 380, 114

17.5

25, 406

47.8

5, 277

46.2

19, 656

51.6

September.

27, 721

53.9

78, 060

50.7

1, 391, 790

17.6

23, 104

43.5

5, 293

46.4

19, 721

51.8

26, 752

52.0

October.

74, 870

48.6

1,399, 638

17.7

22, 400

42. 2

5, 420

47.5

19, 074

50. 1

27, 257

53.0

November.

74, 151

48. 1

1,396, 342

17.7

22, 318

42.0

5, 211

45.7

18, 469

48.5

December

25, 158

48.9

71, 156

46.2

1, 399, 115

17.7

21, 981

41.4

5, 332

46. 7

16, 970

44.6

23, 932

46.5

68, 215

44.3