The Portland daily press., 1873-08-06
TERMS $500 PER ANNUMIN ADy.NCp

DraVura singer OF European reputation .,a
IamDerJlk, once the prince of tenors. she Will
| give us two short seasons of opera AZ tba
west side Opera House. But it is to the old
er and the favorite home of italian opera in
irving place that we must look this season
Tor perfection of ensemble, operatic novelty
and magnificence of vocalization. Miss Nils
son and the three prime donne, Mile. Tori
am, fresh from success in London, Nine.
Maresi, engaged for the higher dramatic parts,
and Miss Cary, an old-time favorite, together
with Capoul, Campanini and Bonfratelli,
the tenors, and Maurel aud Del Puento, the
baritoneS, form company Of singular and
unusual strength and give promise OF fully
satisfying the cultivated people to whose taste
they come to minister and to whose decision
they submit their claims 10 artistic merit.
The Times, in a leading article on "The
Coal Combination" takes the ground that
the control OF the coal business by the ring
must be only temporary, as they assume to
handle only the anthracite coal, and the great
bitumnous coal regions will send their prod
uct into the market to meet the emergency.
as people will use that in place of anthracite
for most purposes, rather than submit 10
extravagant exac:ions. 1t says:
All the anthracite coal Of the United States,
worth mentioning, Is mined IN the State of
pennsylvania, in a comparatively small area
OF country, covering not more than 500 square
miles. This territory Is mountainous ard Is
accessible only by few avenues, which are
in the hands OF the combination. The an
thracite coal Is nearly one-half Il all the coal
consumed in the United States.
The value Of the despotic command OF such
an enormous market is hardly to be calcu-
lated. 1t is worth to those who possess it, If
they have the sense to use it prudently, any
amount they may choose 10 derive from it.
But the command of this market, though
despotic now, is so only temporarily. A COM
bination controlling the anthracite fields may
this yea:, or even next, exact any price they
may fix upon for the average pro" uct of the
mines. But there is a limit, which, if it car
not be precisely defined, will be acknowledged
| by all familiar with the subject, to exist.
| Those who suppose that the combination
| among the anthracite coal and transportation
companies crn extort any price it may elect,
as long as it chooses to insist nron it, are
leaving out of sight some important facts.
We may be sure that the shrewd men who
have devised this giant combination are not
| themselves believers in its unlimited power.
| They know perfectly well that the hold they
have on the consumers of coal, if stretched
| beyond certain point, will call into activity
reacting and competing forces, of which no
! one knows better than they the enormous
power, and we may add, the enormous elias
| ITCHY. -. ....... ..-...
Btuminous coal is, therefore. formidable
rival to anthracite coal. Nothing would tend
to make it still more formidable, so rapidly or
| so powerfully, as an unreasonable advance in
! anthracite. The first effect would be a check
| ON the Industries now using anthr acite; but,
| inst in proportion to the stringency of that