Of the important coal-producing countries, only the German Empire, more or less openly, has fostered in peace times the coal industry and to some extent controlled it. In France there was only an indirect control, through the control by the government of the concessions and taxation of revenues and through tacit knowledge of the operations of the French coal syndicate, which ostensibly at least obtains and disseminates information and conducts mine safety investigations. In the United States, Great Britain, and other countries free competition has been permitted. Free competition does not seem serious in countries like France, where the supply of coal is limited, but it has had more or less serious financial effects where the supply of coal has been very large. In Germany before the formation of the syndicates the coal mining industry had periods of overproduction and serious financial depression; and at other, rarer, periods there was great prosperity. In Great Britain there have been similar times of depression and prosperity, but generally the business has been profitable. In the United States, except in the anthracite district, where for more than twenty years the operations have been in the hands of comparatively few companies, depression and prosperity have alternated rapidly. The statistics obtained by the census show that the average profits of the bituminous industry prior to 1917 were smaller than those of any other great industry, and this has had an unfortunate effect on the best development of the coal resources. The companies generally have had little or no surplus to develop properly in the lean years; hence they have mined only the best or thickest coal, and in short periods of great prosperity many mines not directly owned by the railroads and steel companies have been worked so as to lead to “squeezes” and great loss of coal. Moreover, these conditions have also been unfortunate for labor; in times of prosperity too many new mines were opened, because of the tremendous and easily accessible resources, and in times of depression the number of days the miners worked has been so reduced that their monthly or yearly earnings have been low enough to make their living a hard one. The average number of days worked per year from 1901 to 1915 was 213. Some system of limited control of trade combinations by the government would appear to be highly advantageous for both the operators and the miners, and should insure a steady supply of coal to the consumers and steady prices with reasonable profits.