Herbert,

Thanks for sharing this important information. Readers should know that demand for coal was growing exponentially during Lincoln's Presidency. This idea - proposed by unknown gentlemen intent on speculation - suggests that wealthy white men enlisted Lincoln in a scheme to engage Black labor in the expansion of the majority white-owned coal industry under the auspices of Black entrepreneurial emancipation. I can't imagine a more lop-sided, disingenuous, and disrespectful proposal.