How would life go on without coal? The housewife is inclined to think of it in terms of baskets decanted into her coal house, and she finds it very inconvenient if there is any hitch in its delivery. But there is vastly more to it thab that. Coal is the bedrock on which the life of a modern community is built up. It counts for more than anything else except food and drink. Cut off the supply of coal and Shanghai's life would come to a standstill.
To say that if there was no coal one could use electric light or gas would be to copy Queen Victoria's famous remark when she was told that the Irish were without bread—"Why don't they eat cake?" For coal is behind electric light and power and gas. Streets would therefore be dark, the trams would cease to run. It would be no use trying to telephone for a taxi for the telephones would automatically have stopped. Houses and offices would be mot only dark but very cold. There would be nothing but raw food obtainable and cold drinks—think of a raw egg (none too fresh) eaten with a slice of raw ham and washed down with a nourishing glass of orange juice as a breakfast on a cold morning. Where would be that stimulating cup of tea, that warming draught of coffee, the soothing cup of hot milk? Even the baby's bottle would suffer, for milk could no longer be pasteurized. Cleanliness is next to godliness, but who would spring into an icy bath to achieve it? Nor would much washing of clothes be done if there was nothing but cold water to do it in. There would be no amusements, for cinemas could no' run and chilly night clubs and ballrooms lighted and heated with oil would scarcely be inspiring. No newspapers or printed matter of any kind could be produced—a daily broadsheet set up by hand would be something to be thankful for. There would be no radio for lack of power to receive it. The river would be paralyzed to a great extent for steamships and launches would not be able to move. Operating rooms in hospitals would be put out of action and hospital routine would go back at once to the days of the Lady with the Lamp, lacking any way of quickly generating light and heat.
It is possible to continue indefinitely. The picture of a coalless Shanghai is a black one indeed. If such a calamity came on this city how readily would its citizens pay any price if only the black diamonds could be brought up the river again to the rescue. Even the contemplation of such a dismal state of affairs while sitting in a well-heated room sends cold shivers down the spine. The clang of the trams on the Bund strikes soothingly on the ear, the whistle of a steam launch on the Whangpoo is as the liquid note of a well-played flute, the grains of grit which enter from chimneys connected with the heating arrangements of our neighbours are recognized as the friendly little fellows that they really are. One feels inclined to shake the coal box by the hand. It is with the idea that as long as we can get coal at all we ought to be very thankful that these meditations are brought to an end.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.