The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1871-03-28
For The Bloomfield Times.
The Coal Difficulty.
POTTsNILLE. Ia. Mnrch N. 1S

anthricte coal regions. The miners still hold
out, the strike continues, and the probability is
will continue until the last of April. The
companies still keep up the TOLL and coal oper-
ators cannot start if the miners would agree to
go to work. The country is at the mercy of
the railroads, and in order to put stop TO the
continued coal troubles, the Legislature should
first encourage farmers to improve the lands
near the mines. Farmers can get no surface
titles, because the mineral or coal lands will
bring from three hundred to one thousand dol
lars per acre, and is not very good for farming
purposes, yet, poor as IL is, thousands of farm
! crs could make money if they could get sur
face titles to the mining lands. The brush and
wood would get cleared off, and highway mur-
ders and crimes could not be committed in
broad day light with impunity. When the
markets would get overstocked, part of the
miners coHld quit work and assist the farmers,
and so in turn, when coal would be high, part
of the farmers could help the miners, and by
the mutual exchange of men, business would
become regular. But this great farming busi-
ness can never be successfully carried out in
the mining regions unless the land owners
are taxed so heavy for wild unimprovcd
surface land that they will be obliged to have
the surface all titled and improved. Suppose
the Legislature would fix a tax of ten dollars
per year on every acre of unimprovcd land
that is within one mile of any coal mine, or
unmined coal veins, and have the tax on i'm
proved land reduced to fifteen or twenty cents
per acre and when such law is passed, our
broad mountains and wild, ,swampy.yalleys will
soon be covered with grain-felds and meadows.
Under the present law, the rich land owners
pay little or no tax on the best mineral lands
in the State. Another great evil to regular
coal trade is the coal leases to operators.-
When man wishes to open or operate coal
mine, he goes to the woods and hunts place
that suits him he must then hunt the land
owner, who, after considerable coaxing, is will
ling to give him ten years lease if he is
willing to pay forty cents ton on all he
mines put up large coal breaker within one
year, which will be worth at least one hundred
thousand dollars lay branch railroad to the
nearest main line, and each year after the first,
unless prevented by hands being on strike,
agree to ship not less than two hundred tons of
good coal each day. Failing to comply with
the conditions of the lease in any form, the
lease is to be forfeited, and revert to the land
owner. Such is the condition of almost every
lease and all the operators are running leased
mines. Now, simply ask, would not the for
ty cents ton royalty pay the land owners
enough without compelling the operator to put
up costly buildings, and live up to the condi-
tions of a hard leasel About the average
shipment of each coal operator is four hun
dred tons per day, which at forty cents per ton
royalty, gves the land owner one hundred and
sixty dollars. If there were no leases, any
person could go and dig coal and pay the land
owner forty cents n ton, and run his own mine,
and having an interest in it, he would not
care about striking or stopping, and the strik-
ers would soon be in the minority. Little CO.
operative companies would soon be formed and
the miners would be stock holders, and being
interested, would work steady, and the small
cooperative companies would soon become
large and powerful. But what shall / say
about the railroad and canal monopoly
Nearly all the railroads in the State own thou
sands of acres of the best coal lands to be
found, and year after year they buy more
Some of them are to-day running their own
coal mines, and if no laws passed to pre-
vent carrying companies from owning mines
and shipping coal over their own roads or ca
mails, ere long they will undertake to run all
the mines, and put up the toll so high that all
other coal operators must quit business. No
railroad company should be allowed to own
coal land or run coal mine, and all coal land
or unimproyed la nd held by any railroad or
canal company within mile of any coal mises
or coal veins should be taxed twenty-five dol
lars per acre each year. No railroad company
should be allowed to own freight or coal cars,
and for every car owned by such company
there should be n tax of at least dollar per
day. If possible, all freight or coal cars
should be owned by individuals or other COM
panies, and the rates of toll should be fixed at
about fifteen mills per ton mile and when
company charges any additional toll,
one half should go to the Government as tax.
We should have the same law for canal COM
panies, and by such laws, in a few years no
gions and the price of coal would always be
moderate, and the trade always brisk enough
to supply the demand.
JAMES ii. GRIER.