New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-11-30

4be Morris Canal the stock and bonds of which
amount to S3.325, 1919 The total amount OF CAP,
tai. therefore, invested in the railroads ana calais
that carry coal from Easton 70 tide-water IA pi'v
073 1G7, not counting The Delaware and BelVldere
Adm ADM TPs s o tbS Ss9 invested in roads
and canals TO take the coal TO Eason, we have the
enormous sum of $1G1,373167. seventy ave mn
lion dollars, wisely invested aud properly managed,
would IL seems To me- have given us all the trans
pOrtation facilities we need"
But" said l, w Id there not then have been a
monopoly Of the coal carrying trade that would
have beer equally oppressive to the producer and
consumer"
Certainly not" was the reply "When the coal
reached Eason il would not have been obliged to 60
to tide-water over the NewJersey Central; besides
the canal there would have been the Morris and Es-
and Belviderc and Delaware Roads ready TO take
share of it. The mischief has been done by load
ing these roads one upon another and all of them
upon the coal. From the Lehigh Region there would
have been the canal to compete with the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, and from the Wyoming Region
there was still the Delaware Lackawanna and
Western, with its line from Scranton. So you see
the coal operators here would still have had the
choice of two routes from here to Easton and of
three from that point to tide-water Besides all these
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company was
taking coal out of this region by the way OF Homes
dale and ROndOut, and the Pennsylvania Coal Com
pany over it's own line of transportation Leaving
out of the account the Philadelphia and Reading
Road and the product of the Schuykll Region winch
that road and its canal takes to market the amount
of coal sold last year 13,970599 tons, ana the
amount of money invested IN coal roads, and the
roads which they lease control and have 70
support is, in round numbers, S21o,0OO, oOO., VI
course part of this is irretrievably lost, and no
attempt is now made TO pay the interest on IL, pul
enough is still left to swamp us ALL"
81 can see how il is that these excessive invest
ments in rail roads absorb the profits that would
otherwise 20 to the mining operators, and increase
wages" l remarked, but will not the market de-
mand for coal, when manufacturing establishments
resume work, such an advance in price that,
although 1t may not pay the interest upon unwlse
investments in coal railroads, 1t VIII give pr0ht 10
the OPERATOR and fair wages to the mnerP
Never without combination" was the emphatic
reply. "These very investments of which | have
been speaking, stimulate an unnatural development
of coal operations, without any regard whatever to
the ability of the market to take product Take
the present situation example. The openings
that were worked last year in the Anthracite Re
gons. if operated to their full capacity, would
have sent TO market fifty per cent more coal than
could be sold. Now, under these clrcum-
stances, you would hardly expect that any
of the producers of coal would this year be
striving to increase their output by making
new openings, erecting new breakers putting IN
new machinery, and in every way exerting them
would rather look to see them working along with
their present means IT, indeed, they did not close
up some Of their mines, and waiting for the demand
to grow ND to the supply before adopting meas
ureS to increase that supply But when
YOU 90 up TO the Schuylkll Region yon Will
find just the opposite policy pursued II You
to cotton manufacturer OF an lron-lnasicr
building new factories, putting In new machinery,
erecting new furnaces, hiring new workmcn and
straining every nerve to turn out an increased
amount of cloth or iron when the market was al
ready largely OveTsOcked and prices were ruinously
low, Won would think he crazy, and yet this IS
just the policy that is pursued in some one or other
of the coal regions all the time The tonnage OF the
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Com
pany Will be twice as great tins year as IL
last, and this is a. much due to the rapid de-
vel0pment Of its mines rs to It's uninterrupted WORK;
Read the last report of that company and Won viii
see that the Pottsville COlliery, with productive
capacity in December last of 800 tons daN, IS
beng developed 50 that il will Dee increased IN the
year 1878 to 1000 tons per day and the wear lsf
10 100 tons per day, ana there are several oihei
shafts and tunnels which are either new or nave
been improved as greatly 10 increase their out
put.
"As said before this unnatural state Of things is
entirely the result Of the enormous investments in
transportation facilities, of which | have already
spoken. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
Company is in such a condition that It must increase
the production and shipment of coal from the
Schuylkill Region over its lines, IT will 20 into the
hands of receiver and in this respect j, no worse
of than some of the other companies. And so Mr..
Gowen goes on developing his coal, and his
success depends upon his ability 10 crowd out OF
the marker part Of the coal from these regions.
Next year the tables may be turned, and the great
coal companies here may be in the asceudency aud
TIA, Schuylkill Region on strike. Then you would
see these companies stranng every nerve 10 increase
production. And 50 the capacity of all the regions
taken together is almost sure 20 increase more rap
idly than the demand for coal unless il Is limited by
a combinations and experience has shown that a
combination is only a temporary eXpcdient."
The conversation closed with the remark that the
coal question, whether viewed a branch of the
great labor controversy, from the point of view of
operators and carriers is one of the most complex
with which the people have had TO deal aud that the
solution of ii has not yet been suggested