ABSTRACT The United States bituminous coal mining industry anticipates record prosperity during the next several decades as national energy demands soar to unprecedented levels. However, it is highly improbable that each of the country's numerous and diversely constituted coal producing areas will share equally, or at all, in the expansion. The objectives of this study are twofold: 1) to propose a method for differentiating between long term growth and non-growth conditions in the coal mining industry, and 2) to apply this criterion geographically in an attempt to forecast future local and regional responses to the forthcoming increase in national demands for energy. The chartist technique, involving determination of past long term coal production trends by graphic procedures, is utilized to differentiate between growth and non-growth situations among the 169 major bituminous coal mining counties (out of a total of 306 counties in which coal has been mined) in eastern United States during the period 1898–1963. Important spatial homogeneities and differences thus become apparent. Extrapolation of these local and regional trends permits an estimate to be made of the reactions of each of the 169 counties under study to the anticipated future increase in the national coal market. A total of eighty-two Appalachian and twenty-one Eastern Interior counties are rated as potentially increasing in future production, whereas a total of thirty-eight Appalachian, twenty-six Eastern Interior, and two Northern Interior counties are rated as not significantly sharing in the future expansion of coal mining. The remaining 137 counties in the three coal districts will produce only irregularly.

The following list of address changes for members of the Association of American Geographers, and addresses of new members of the organization, has been prepared b y the Editors from data supplied by Central Office personnel of the Association. The list updates membership and address information contained in the 1961 edition of the Handbook-Directory. It is the plan of the Editors to include a similar annual list in each May issue of The Professional Geographer.