THE COAL CRISIS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." j Sia,—In the interesting article on the coal crisis in the Spectator of October 14th, it is implied that a small rise in the price of coal would disorganise 10 per cent. of English industries. Do figures support this view ? Evidence was given in the "Manchester Cotton Spinning Inquiry" that coal accounted for 2 per cent. of the total expense (wages, plant, profit, &c.) of manufacturing cotton. Hence a rise of even 10 per cent. in the price of coal would only make a difference of one-fifth per cent. in the price of cotton, which would inflict the same injury as the fall of 2d. in the exchange value of the rupee would (from the same evidence) be expected to cause in the Eastern trade,—an injury from which the industry has several times recovered. Deducting, then, the large number of men employed in textile trades and in other manufactures where coal is of the same importance, it seems at first sight unlikely that anything like " 10 per cent. of the working population" would be thrown out of work by any probable rise in the price of coal.—I am, Sir, &e., A. L. B. [Our correspondent forgets the metal trades, the glass trade, the brickmaking trade, and the greatest of all trades, the carrying trade.—En. Spectator.]
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