in wide
electrification of present-day steam transport. The great practical
advantages are more uniform speed and the elimination of stops to take
water. It also affords improved acceleration, greater reliability as to
timing, especially on heavy grades, and stricter adherence to schedule.
There are enormous advantages to single lines like ours in South Africa.
Likewise, crossings and train movements can be arranged with greater
accuracy, thereby reducing delays. Perhaps the greatest saving is in
haulage, that is, in the employment of the heavy electric locomotive. It
all tends toward a denser traffic.

"Behind this whole process of electrification lies the need, created by
the Great War, for coal conservation and for a motive power that will
speed up production of all kinds. We have abundant coal in the Union of
South Africa and by consuming less of it on our railways we will be in a
stronger position to export it and thus strengthen our international
position and keep the value of our money up."

Since Sir William has touched upon the coal supply we at once get a
link,--and a typical one--with the ramified resource of the Union of
South Africa. No product, not even those precious stones that lie in the
bosom of Kimberley, or the glittering golden ore imbedded in the Rand,
has a larger political or economic significance just now. Nor does any
commodity figure quite so prominently in the march of world events.

In peace, as in war, coal spells life and power. It was the cudgel that
the one-time proud and arrogant Germany held menacingly over the head of
the unhappy neutral, and extorted special privilege. At the moment I
write, coal is the storm center of controversy that ranges from the Ruhr
Valley of Germany to the Welsh fields of Britain and affects the
destinies of statesmen and of countries. We are not without fuel
troubles, as our empty bins indicate. The nation, therefore, with cheap
and abundant coal has a bargaining asset that insures industrial peace
at home and trade prestige abroad.

South Africa not only has a low-priced and ample coal supply but it is
in a convenient point for distribution to the whole Southern
hemisphere,--in fact Europe and other sections. On past production the
Union ranked only eleventh in a list of coal-producing countries, the
output being about 8,000,000 tons a year before the war and something
over 10,000,000 tons in 1919. This output, however, is no guide to the
magnitude of