The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-03
p o TT 8 " 4 T. II.


crntic Convention, Etc. Etc. Etc.
IRON O16 Oton Correspondents
PoTTsvTLLE, Aug. 2 1869.
This week looks as though il was to be another
spell of vexation and trouble in this locality. At
no time since the discovery of the anthracite
coal beds in this region has there been so much
mined and shipped ~ in the past month, and
that the hour for paying off the miners is
drawing near the operators are looking out for
the most favorable locality whereat they may be
enabled to draw sufficient funds to meet all the
demands that may be made upon them. The
mere fact that the miners and others engaged in
the coal operations IN this region are to be paid
off is of little import TO those who are unac-
quainted with the locality, or who mingle no
more in the ''black diamond trade than TO
consume a few tons during the winter
season; and yet when ! state
that the combined cash on hand of all the banks
in the city of Philadelphia put together is proba-
bly, but little more than enough to meet the de-
mand make a statement which carries with
it an air of improbability and yet it is a literal
fact.
Ouer one million and a qua,i,, dollars will be
necessary to pay off all the employees of the diff
ferent collieries, during the coming week, in
Schuylkill county alone. consideration
this fact will give the reader some idea of tn
amount of money invested and in course of use
in the great coal-bearing State of Pennsylvania.
It certainly cannot fall short of thirty millions n
month when all the collieries are in active opera
tion.
With this immense amount of money passing
through the hands of the capitalists. with this
most potent lever of power, it is little surpris
ing that the people who depend upon the coal
fields to carry on their business should be in the
hands of the miners and yet such is the veritable
truth of the matter, as the frequent ''strikes"
will testify. This month year ago the miners
struck for eight hours labor and ten hours pay.
The market was glutted with coal, and the re-
suit that the operators cared little for the
'strike" men could; and, in fact, in some
cases actually advised the miners to continue on
the Strike The miners accepted the advice,
and the result was that by the time they were
ready to go to work coal had become scarce and
prices had advanced This was what the opera
tors desired, and, for once, they were suited.
Some time in May last the miners again went
out on ''strile, and kept it up until few
weeks since, at which time all the shafts were
again worked, except those in that
part known as the Scranton region.
Here the miners generously permitted the
pumps to be kept going, that the mines might
be clear of water but refused to cut any more
coal until the operators acceded to their de-
q
character, that one is surprised to learn that the
operators didn't fall into the proffered terms inn
mediately. All they wanted was advance in
wages, and that the operators should cease sell
ing their coal at auction. This is another evil
dence of the powerless condition of those who
are masters but in name. That the men should
ask for an advance in wages is nothing par
tcularly alarming or strange; but when they
commence to dictate as to how the coal, for
which they are paid all they ask, shall be dis
posed of, a train of thought is suggested which,
if traced along all its various windings, may
solve the problem. Competition is one
of the greatest incentives to brisk
trade. We find it in all callings,
and the coal trade is certainly no exception.
Quite the contrary, in fact, for if the truth be
known there is scarcely any mercantile business
on this continent wherein there is more rivalry
than in the mining and shipping of coal There
are great and small concerns. Concerns where
the capital is large and where the operators can
afford to await the most auspicious time to place
their coal in the market Concerns where the
capital is limited, and each ton mined must be
forwarded to market and turned into money
in the shortest possible time, the concern
fails for want of capital. | do not say
this is the case, but l presume
it is fair for us to suppose tina
there are Just such cases in the coal business as
there are in all other businesses; and this calls
us again to the main point, namely, the miners
asking that coal shall not be disposed of at auc-
ton AS auction sales of coal generally amount
to many thousands of TONS does it not look as
though the little concerns were advising the
miners TO make the demands they do that the
market may not become glutted, and they forced
to hold their coal or sell at a reduced figure ?
To me it looks both possible and probable and
! think proper investigation of the matter
would in all probability develop the correctness
of my views. Of course, the operators will
scout the idea and why shouldn't they, since il
is against them?
Coal at the mines is worth S475 per ton, and
to-day the Reading Railroad adds fifty cents pei
ton to its freight charges, so you see that the
probability is that before Christmas shall have
come Philadelphia will pay in the neighborhood
of $40 per ton for every ton consumed
The following dialogue, from an old story, viii
no doubt be aprOpoS next winter. The partie.
concerned are supposed to be engaged in the
retail coal business, in very small way
Sammy, is it cod!"
''Werry cold, dad"
''Freezin, Sammy"
''Freezin hard, dad
add another penny to the price of coal pei
bucket, Sammy-Lord help the poor !"
But few people outside of those actively en-.
gagged in the coal trade are at all familiar will
its ins and outs, and therefore we who live Sc
distant from the mines must expect to paw thu
1, piper, while the miners and operators do thu
dancing at their own good leisure,