When anthracite coal hit a production peak of 99,611,811 tons in 1917, the industry was Pennsylvania's No. 1 source of income. By 1932 it was her No. 1 headache. Of last year's estimated 48,800,000-ton output, about 8% was cut from abandoned workings and peddled by some 10,000 bootleg miners. Otherwise unemployed, they made an average $19.50 a week, undersold legitimate producers as much as $2 a ton. On the ropes from soft coal, oil and gas competition, high freight rates and depression, producers were in no shape to fight back. State or...
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