New-York tribune., 1884-03-24
NOTES on INDUSTRY AND

A PERPETUAL "CoRNER"-It is stated that the
papers were signed at last on Friday perfecting the
combination of the coke producers of the Councils
vile region. Four large concerns form the con-
trolling syndicate II. G. Frick & Co., A. Mcclure &
Co., SchOonmaker & Co.. and the Connellsville Coke
Company. and these undertake TO purchase the
entire production of sixteen OF seventeen other
producers. They are to have power to shut down
any ovens whenever they deem it best, and can fix
the price at pleasure for al consumers who are de-
pendent upon a Connelsville supply. An advance
in price is promised for April /, and by way of
preparation the output Is to be Immediately re-
duced 1t Is stated. The capacity of the ovens In
the district is said to be 900 carloads day, and
the present output is only 700; obviously the
combination can put up the price when 1t p!eases,
if its members stick together But it is also OBJ
yious that by demanding too much, the producers
may ruin themselves The current price is spoken
of as much too low"-it is about 81 IL
per gross ton at the Ovens-and buy
ers are reminded that it is as good as the Dur
ham coke of England, which is now selling at 81 II
to 81 %. But it would be wise for the producers
to remember that the proximity of the coke to the
Cleveland rOnstOne fixes the value of the Durham
COKE or that the COnnelsville coke must either be
transported long distance to the metal, or 1t must
be employed in treating and metal which have
or the metal has to be transported 200 miles at an
average cost OF half a cent per ton per mile, that
makes the fuel really worth dollar a ton less than
if ii were located close to the ore as the Durham
coke is Moreover, the coke that ranks closely in
quality with that Of Connellsyllle namely that
which is made from New River similar Goals in
the Virginias does not cost as much the Connels
willie coke even now. serious change in price
would make a serious change in the demand.
WHsKEY misunderstanding to a Washing
ton dispatch, sixty-One bankers have telegraphed
to Washington urging the passage of the bonded
extension bill, on the ground that they have
loaned money on the whiskey. Some of them af-
firm according to dispatches, that failure Of the
pending bill will bring about financial cOnyulsiOn
one thing Is certain shall never have better
time TO get rid of this dangerous load than the
present. Money is abundant, and business is dull,
aud there Is no feverish pressure for assistance to
any branch of trade, 50 that the bankers who have
chosen to encourage an enormous over-production
of whiskey, If they not able TO stand the loss
could hardly have a better time to acknowledge
their condition. But it Is not the business of the
Government TO change its laws because certain
combination Of dstilers and dellers thought they
could brbe Congress to repeal the tax on whiskey,
and staked a great deal Of money on that belief,
and did not succeed.
MIGRATING SwEDEs.-An interesting colony of
well-to-do and intelligent Swedes, who came to-
geher on a steamer from Europe, started west from
Portland together on Saturday. They go to buy
farms together, and thus with their families, to
form a neighborhOod by themselves. Men who
come in this way, with resources for beginning,
and with the evidence of thrift which the accumu-
latiOn of such resources by Old-wOrld labor gives,
are sure to prove valuable citizens. They report
however, that a very large immigration is coming
from Sweden this year.
IRON AND CoAI.-There Is not much change in
the iron market, though Philadelphia dispatch
reports that small buyers are doing more than be-
fore, and tho feeling is more hopeful. There
is a growing belief that the Morrison bill
and tariff agitation for this year may soon
be killed. At Youngstown, in Brown, Bonnell
& Co.'s Mill No. 4, the hands have struck. 1t
seems that man was discharged because he made
Door iron and thereupon the rest of the hands re-
fused to work any more. In tho coal regions the
dissatisfaction that Is reported seems to have O
moro natural reason under the policy of reduced
production, to which the companies have adhered
a long time the payments have been so small that
serious distress is said to exist with general de-
preston among the trades-peOple. But the miners
refuse to see that it would have been better for
them to work full time at lower wages. High prices
and uncertain prices driving away consumers
from anthracite the reduction of fifteen to fifty
cents ton made by the Reading In its circular is
pronounced not satisfactory To the trade, and dis
patches say that buyers will hardly come in ut tho
rates named. While tho difficulty of marketing
the full-tme production at remunerative figures is
admitted the operators large contracts taken
away by bitumInous producers, and these, also,
have so depressed the price on each other that
the trade is demoraized. But a revival in iron
would mean great change in the coal trade.
PERSONAL.