Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-07-17
The Reading Monopoly.
FURTHER MOTIF FROM cHAs. WARNER Il co
COAL AND TRANSPORTATION.

FURTHER NOTE FROM cHAs. WARNER x 90 -
COAL AND TRANSFORMATIONS
WILMINGTON, DEL, July II.
To dle Editor Of The Commercial
In replying to your article published III We'd
nesday's COMMERCIAL, we did not intend, nor do
not now purpose, being led into a newspaper
controversy, and would not now reply to your
"ccmments," Of yesterday, did you not intimate
therein that we desire the establishment of
monopoly in this city This we do not, unless
we are to be the Monopolist, piece of good
fortune too improbable to hope for. To your
comment No. l, we hatter ourselves you will
credit us with sufficient shrewdness not to pub.
ty publish our conclusions to twen-
ho or h.ta thirty connections, psd many
perience IN business that we have, and are not
expected to see any special advantage in the es-
tablishment of a Philadelphia & Reading yard
here. Suffice it TO say that we enjoy fully one
third Of the whole cold trade of this city, and do
not expect to lose any portion of it by the estab-
iishment OF yards in the interest of the Phiadel-
phia Il Reading Coal & Iron Co., nor do we
think this increased rom oettt.on will result in
monopoly ; it certainly cannot, so long as Shaw
nee coal il sold at minimum Scbuylklll prices.
To your No. 2, we reply that while the sMon-
opoly (D yard" would not toreutr glarant g
cheap fuel to our citizens and manufacturers.
the compel ton it would excite would have that
tendency
"
Reading Railroad ID owned, or at all events c. u
troled, by our warm personal friends we are
peculiarly infested i'll it; our original subAcrip-
ON as it stood, (with one exception was three
times that of any other merchant. We sincere
ly hope its efforts may be crowned with the sue
cess the present management deserves, and no
one regrets more than we do in this case, that
the /" iniqnity" of the father has been visited on
the child. Its value to our city can not be overes-
timated, while from selfish stand point we ex-
tn air in atah luhf Ma.
Electric Line for New York. Arrangements
have been concluded, which enable it to name
favorable ra,es Of fre ght from Reading and IN
teimediate points to New York. Boston, and
eastern cities, Utd Electric Line, SO that We can
not regard its success otherwise than largely
identical with our own.
On the other hand, the Philadelphia 4 Read
ing oppose us at every point; are our strongest
competitors III transportation for trade that by
situation IL legitlmately ours, but we have never
known them to resort to anything in this com
petition that we would not have resorted to, had
we held their position. That corporation has
always proved itself aDundantly competent to
defend its own "honorable or dhhonorable," ac-
tions, when necessary. We have no interest in
or connection with its most formidable rival,
fthe Lehigh and WIlkesbare Coal Companv,) anu
being the only dealers i'll this city who sell ex-
clusively coal from the Lehigh region makes us
its opponent in coal as well as transportation
At the same time we cannot permit ourselves to
be ured to unjustly assa it. or placed in the dis
honorable position of wilfully publishing pri-
vate interview.
From the fact of your reporter calling upon
us for information we inferred that we were the
only firm to whom the til eats had been applied;
if this il the fact, authority must be as sex
celent" as any you could have, and on that au-
thority we positively deny any "threat' having
been made, excepting in the one case, as stated
by us yesterday.
We shall not further continue this correspon-
dence. Very truly yours,
CHAs. WARNER & Co.
Comments by the Commercial
Our impression that our correspondents de-
sired the establishment of " Monopoly" (that
is to say Philadelphia and Readng,) retail coal
yard III this city, and that they considered such
a.yard would " forever guarantee "us cheap fu-
el, was formed from paragraph in their letter
of yesterday, as follows:-
"We have on several occasions requested the
Philadelphia aud Reading Coal and Iron Uo, to
establish retail yard in this city ~ nothing will
| add more to its Wealth, than the fact well es-
tablished that cheap fuel is forever guaranteed
u.s.
Whether the p. Il R. yard would become a
Monopoly, here or not, We cannot say. In Phil.
lelphia, the experience is that other retailers
of coal have been driven out of business.
| 2. The opinion entertained by our correspon
dents respecting the Wilmington Reading rail
road appear to be almost the same as our own,
and it gives us pleasure to print them.
8. Newspaper controversies" properly CON
Quoted often develop valuable truths.