, 1881-08-28
and the history Of the gigantic corporation
which Is now prepared to

|
cially Of anthracite, in which The
public seem to be most. deeply in,
terested, has been brought. about b,
variety Of causes which are both natura
matter Of surprise that coal, in common with
all other mercantile commodities, should
have advanced in price during the last three
years, on account OF better times. the greater
aP1naance az n1a1 @ Of money, and the higher rates
commercial value. This would be quietly
acQulescetl in by the general public, and
no complaint would BE- made were the
matter to rest here. But beyond this lesiti
mate advance in'the price OF coal during the
past three years, prices have also beef,
largely Increased BY artificial Means In q
word, this has been done:oy:a powerful com.
nlnatlon of the anthracite coal Operators and
the transportation companies in the coal
regions. This combination WAS formed some
two years ago, and that its plans have been
successfully carried out can be seen in the
fact that anthracite coal is to-day 81 per ton
hlgter ln this market than it was two years
! Sold on its merits and Independent Ut the
| action OF combinations, has advanced less
| than 81 per ton during this periutl. The
latter has sold anu is selling ut re1nEneratiye
orders they can get cars to take care OF. It
can therefore be safely stated, in plain Ell
glislt, tlat the anthracite combination is
| \ GIGANTIC SwISDLE,
ana that its artificial prices are not only ex-
aoW92st 9oboerv eS5 ~ H. 51s pnn nt's e. Of
tions Of this, monopoly. consists chiefly
in making coal scarce by limiting the output
Of the mines, ~ accordance with resolutions
passed at meetings held from time to time at
that when any article OF such prime neces-
sity as coal becomes scarce, prices become
] high, and the sellers have matters wholly in
their own hands, and you may rest assured
that neither modesty or conscience will pre-
from the public rs they possibly can In the
past, coal has sold as high as So, and 1t may
be forced to that figure again."
Even now, when coal is scarce, and the
demand is far greater than ever before in
country are running but about hatf-time. As
aconseQlence there are but hight stocks at
all the principal points, and it Is not at I'LL
unlikely that there will be. this winter just
season."
"To what do you attribute this increased
ITO the wonderful deyelopement OF the
and Missouri. and more especially to the enor-
nous increase i'll the manufacturing i'll
tcrests- When wages are high, the laboring
classes consume more coal than in har1
times.
NEW TOWNS ARE srnISG1SG UP,
and the railroads carry immense amounts OF
coal from this market to supply the demand,
and yet there is still great deal OF
suffering. The greatest cause OF
ae,s the increased :; as CONSUMPTION & is the In.
is due to protection We are now in a pt,si-
ton where, in the summer months, there
seems to be an equilibrium between the sup
ply Rnd demand, while in the winter the de-
ma1Mi exceeds the SUPPLY"
"I1ow is this monopoly made upe"
1.-The combination consists in all Of about
twenty NEIL, who, in secret cOnclaye, meet
nearly every month to carry Oh their wicked
conspiracy against the interests of the gen
eral public; and their star chamber decisions.
BY their agents implicitly and to
the very letter. An agent of these
parties here would no more dare to violate
an order from heatlquarters thar would 4
of all order to advance prices here would
cost the unfortunate offender his business
head. No. sir, these agents trenlbfe in their
boots when they get IN order from the Pres
i ident Of the company, but they try to pull
are scarce, vessel rates lave gune up, rates
Of mining are higher, and such other plattsi-
bic but pretcilti0us excuses as appear from
time to tlnle in the papers. The
GREED AND RArACrTY
Of this monopoly Is growing keener day by
day. No later than three days ago thesa
people held Il secret meeting III Saratoga to
determine whether the public would Stand
another advance. The result was 4 tie yUte,.
and they postponed action for thirty days.
AS sure rs the 1st day Of October comes
round just 50 surely will another advance in
hard coal take place"
Can you give me some figures On the
price ct coal. with items?'
Willingly. Range and chestnut on yes
sells now costs S4.95 per ton Vessel rates
amount to st 20; unloading and insurance,
30 cents; dockase and screening, 80 cents,
and delivering ~ cents, making the total cost
s. IS per ton, leaving 2 profit. at $7.75, Of
down here in May and June costs about Is
cents per ton less, aud it has generally been
sold At correspondlnEly low rates."
NoW :; X; can ySn tel! n'e what coal should
'.The answer lies in the fact that it was
laid down here just two years ago at about:
$40 per ton, and with this as basis to start
upon, 4 calculation should embrace the en-
l,anced cost OF labor and transportation, with
wider profits, justified by the bet
ter times. After allowing wide margins for
MI these things, we find that 10 sucli advances
in PRICES is warranted by any process OF
figureB or of,lntelligent reasoning. Coal is to
day at Malch Chunk twice what it sold for
two years since At present the miner gets
20 cents per ton, or less than one-tentil Of the
cost Of coal i'll this market
THE OTHER NISE:-TENTHs
Ire used up.in f1eigtts, handling, and profits.
The combination III its advances simply
wholesale rates at Buffalo, and to
Whenever an advance is made. the carrying
from the mines to Buffalo receive
~ per cent, and the operators receive the
c;N per cent remaining. It has been demon
tFated BY expersce that % gf freEht a
argc profits on rates OF freight,
which afford them an annual average OF be-