Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1884-07-19

and pre-ordained results fixities, it
will be some time before another
match calls out an estimated attend
ance Of "two thousand" witnesses.
Eastern VtesUs of the Coal Trade.
New York.-Bituminous trade is
likewise without change; prices have
remained very low and transactions
light, with possibly less disposition,
however, to sell at any sacrifice than
previously.-Mining Record.
Soft coal is in no better shape, and
the prices are hardly all improvement;
there is such latitude about the con-
tracts that transient trade pays no
more than the contract trade. Some
few of the shippers Of superior grades
Of coal are trying to work toward a
higher price, but there is an album
dance Of coal that is or can be deliver
ed at very low rates this remark par
ticularly applies to the trade from
tide-water ports, but the interior
trade centres are suffering from the
same condition of affairs. Anything
that is soft coal is mined and offered
for sale, and buyers too often do not
use the proper discretion in according
the higher priced coal its relative
economical value. The producers
of soft coal can hardly be said to have
gained anything from their lll-advised
reductio of the price of their COM
modify this year. 1t has always been
held, and truly so, that a first-class
semi-bltuminous coal like Georges
Creek, was worth from fifty to seven
ty.fve cents over anthracite, for steam
generating purposes. This year,
when the price Of anthracite, was low,
and the rivalry Of the roads carrying
bituminous coal offered an opportun-
ity for competition with it, the oper-
ators did not put their commodity
on the fair basis of it's relative value,
but in their ambition for trade and
tonnage put the price at nearly dol
lar ton less than anthracite. We
maintain that they could have sold
just as much as they have sold at bet
ter prices than they have realized.
When the railway companies
which CARRY this soft coal at the rate
they now do, become tired of its I'M
profitableness and advance their tolls,
it will not be so easy a matter for the
coal jobbers to make the consumers
see the virtues of their coal. The
fact is, the fight has not been one
where the quality of the coal is con-
cerned, but merely a scramble among
the producers for tonnage, with the
result that coal has sold at $3.50
f. 0. b. for certain grades.-Coal
Trade Journal.
There are no new features. The
trade is extremely dull and unsatis-
factory, SO far as prices are concern
ed, though the volumn has undoubt-
eddy grown largely. A striking fact
is, that the quality of the different
Goals is more closely scrutnized, and
that therefore less well-known kinds
must be content with comparatively
low figures. A good deal of such
coal is selling at So per ton, while
for the best Georges Greek Cumber-
land as much as $3.70@3.75.
Observation-Disclosures all
over the country are taking rest
of two or three weeks, and this less
ened the demand for bituminous.
One Of our operators pleads guilty
to not having sold anything since the
4th. His remarks as to trade are not
entertaining.
A stray contract for 1000 tons BIZ
luminous has lately been taken by a
Cleartield concern at about $3.50
+. o. b. Further than this. We hear
Of nothing. beyond the regular bust
ness on old contracts. 1t is said that
what little coal the Vanderbilt inter
est is placing in this market, and in
any market, in fact, is not obtained
from its mines, but from "a l00, 000-ton
lot which was bought of IL prominent
Clearfield operator some time since,
so that by this means the Vanderbilt
coal might get started in small way
this season. You have the rumor fol-
what it is worth. 1t is said that tie
Pennsylvania road gave freight IA 6
on this coal on the representation
that it should not go into competition
with other bituminous coal. If the
coal actually mined by the Wander,
bilt people should not come up tc
the quality of the coal that they are
now sold to be selling, it might make
some unpleasantness. However, it is
generally believed that the new Goa
will form an important factor in the
season of 1885. We quote cargo lots
at $2.50@$2.6O f. o. b. at Philadel
phia and Baltimore.-Engineerine
and Mining Journal.
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