Not only was there a decrease of many thousands in the number of men employed in the production of coal, but also in many mines efficiency was lessened by the hatreds and suspicions of the different racial representatives--Magyar, Pole, Italian, Slovak, Jugo-Slav, with their animosities bred in the bone, brought with them from Europe and fanned into fresh activity by the war. Each furbished up anew his old grudge and carried it on his shoulder, where it quickly received the knocking it challenged, and old racial battles were fought over again while the mining of coal was laid aside. To better conditions and stimulate effort a Production Bureau was formed in the Fuel Administration whose representatives were sent to every mine. There they worked with and through a committee composed of mine operators and mine workers. The Bureau bent its energies incessantly to the influencing of mine operators and managers to establish such conditions and methods as would keep the miners satisfied and busy and of the miners to put forth their utmost efforts. Its representatives dealt tactfully with the racial hatreds, using the foreign language newspapers read by each group and also dealing with individual men in person, allaying suspicions, and showing each group what the success of the Allied and American armies would mean for its people in Europe. Officials of the United Mine Workers toured the mining regions, addressing the workers, informing the men on the questions involved in the war and urging them to do their best. Other speakers, including men returned from army service in France, went up and down through the mining regions, holding meetings, talking to the workers. The President’s proclamation addressed to all engaged in coal mining and appeals from other men of influence among them were distributed everywhere. The result was a hearty response from the mining men. They dealt amicably with the production committees, they kept the peace with their racial enemies, they agreed to forego holidays and the usual laying off for funeral days, they worked even on Labor Day, they plunged into the increased production program with enthusiasm, they worked more efficiently and many old men who had quit active work on account of age voluntarily took up again the pick and shovel. The average number of days worked by each miner in the bituminous fields was increased over that of the previous year by twelve and by twenty-five over that of 1916. From week to week during the summer and fall of 1918, until November, the weekly production of coal showed an increase in the neighborhood of a million tons over the same week in the previous year. During the half-year period from the first of April to the end of September more coal was mined than ever before in any half year in the history of the American coal industry. In that time the bituminous production was twelve per cent greater than in the corresponding period in 1917, which had itself established a record.