Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-07-28
PUBLIC GRIEVANCES
The Monopoly I'm Coal.

sOrLs, anu WQ6Q the OAcS6S are Sluuy
ing how to avoid heat, the managers OF
the coal combination have pushed up
the mercury of prices in the anthracite
tube. 1t is a singular phenomenon IN
the struggle of monopolists to advance
values, that the price of ice, which Is a
summer commodity, and the price of
coal, which is a winter necessity, must
go up side by side 1t is only within
very few days that an official announce
ment was made that the coal trade Is
In a more prosperous condition than ever
before. The coal barons, surprised at
their generosity in giving an advanced
pittance to their employees, said IN their
official organ
IN the matter OF the advance of the
wages of coal laborers at Scranton and
other places, officers OF the leading
coal companies having offices in this
city say that this action on their part
is due to the prosperous condition of
the trade. They say that their men
have worked faithfully at low wages
and on reduced time, and that now,
when everything looks promising, they
feel it but Just that the men should
derive some benefit from the improve
ment. Further than this, the compa-
MES do not wish to be forced into the
advance by the strikes. The wages
were raised 10 per cent, making the
pay for outside work about 81. 40 per
day.
No sooner was this permission given
to the dusky miners to work in the
mines from surise to sunset, six days
in the week, for ST. 3 day, or 1888
week, than the managers of the an
thracite coal fields, whose combined
wealth foots up hundreds Of millions of
dollars; who never know what it is to
be denied luxury. much less neces-
sity; who waste in their households
enough to subsist one of their en-
ployes for week, and who pay their
meanest lacquey more than a col
lier receives for his hfe-periling
labors, boast that they have fixed
a schedule Of prices at the mines
tina It's far below what the Italians receive
on the dumping scows which carry
city refuse to the sea. While making
this munifcent ~ confession 10 honest
labor, these arch-monopolists cody
advance the price of coal to the ordin-
airy consumer at the rate of twenty-five
cents ON a ton each month, so that at
present stove COAL which is the grade
that enters into family consumption, is
scheduled at tidewater in cargoes at
$4.15 ton. Add to this the profit of
the broker, the middleman and
the yardman, and before winter fuel
can be laid down in midsummer it will
cost nearly Sc. ton.
With the price of labor at the mines
reduced to minimum; with the rail
way leading from the anthracite fields
to tidewater in the hands of the coal
combination; with even the retail
depots run by the various companies
which make up this vast monopoly. it
is readily seen that the people who
must have coal, sooner or later, are
bound hand and foos to the will Of as
INSCRIPTIONS monopoly as ever was
organized by selfish and heartless capt.
alists. At the same time, with a sense
of regard for..thelwellfare of co-monopo-
lists, the price of lump and steamer
coal, which enters into use IN factories,
rolling mills and on railways and other
transportation routes, has been fixed
st much lower rate thus forcing the
mass of consumers to pay an excessive
tribute. If it becomes necessary to
advance wages at the mines; if manu-
facturers demand decrease in price
on the thousands Of tons of coal they
consume; if drawbacks and rebates are
to be met, or excessive dividends must
he paid, the coal barons take another
twist in the thumbscrew applied to
the mass of consumers, and ali the
burden falls upon the latter class.
The New Jersey Central, Lehigh, and
Wilkesbarre, New York and Erie, Del
aware and Hudson Canal and Coal
Company, Delaware, LackawaEna and
| Western, Pennsylvania and Philadel-
phia and Reading Companies compose
this monstrous monopoly, and at their
secret meetings, held monthly, manip-
ulate prices at will. Controlling the
mines, as well as the modes of transit,
it is within their power to prevent the
accumulation of coal at tidewater, and
in face of the fact that mountains of
the mined product impede the pro
gress of the miners, and miles of laden
cars obstruct the tracks, switches and
turnouts, they recklessly create fam
inc in the midst of plenty, for no other
purpose than to levy blackmail upon
those who can i'll afford to meet their
outrageous demands.
Strikes are often purposely fomented,
and by this cowardly plan thousands
of families are reduced to starvation
diet, and barefooted children suffer
from the winter blast, in order that coal
barOns may roll III wealth. When
Franklin b. Gowen, president of the
Philadelphia and Reading companies,
demonstrated against the combination
and entered the lists as an advocate oe
free competition, the remaining mem
bers of the coal monopoly set about to
crush him. They severed the bonds
of union, glutted the market with coal.
and reduced the price SO as to make
the production commemorative, and
in the end Mr.. Governs company be-
came bankrupt and he was cast out
of its management. The free compe-
tition which was the result of this con
troversy, however, established the fact
that anthracite coal can be mined,
and landed at tidewater, and be de-
livered TO families at So or $3.50 8
ton. and pay to the companies engaged
IN the traffic a renumerative profit on
their investments. Not content, how
ever, with Just and equitable return
on the capital invested, the men who
control this vast monopoly have ad-
yanccd the price of coal for family con-
sumption to over So ton. Only year
ago the republican party in New Jer-
sey selected "a their standard bearer
Mr.. Frederick A. Potts, the body, soul
and inspiration of the coal monopoly.
He had been the moving spirit in Or
ganizing the unholy combination; he
fixed the price of this commodity at
every public sale, and within ten years,
from comparatively obscure clerk
ship, he has risen step by step, until
he now counts his wealth by the mill
ions-every dollar of which has been
wrung from the sweat and blood Of the
toilers. The people of New Jersey saw
and felt this, and Mr.. Potts received
fitting rebuke at the polls. The les
son, however, had no apparent effect;
for to-day this coal monopoly is more
strongly intrenchei than ever. and its
impudent message to the perpetual
complaints of the people is:
Buy your coal at the prices we see
fit to establish, or shiyer in cold until
death hv freeziny ends yol~ sufferinos -