The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-09-05


New York last week by the Lehigh VAL
ley Railroad. All efforts to induce Mr.
Sloan, of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western Company, to agree to reduc-
tion In the quota of output Of anthracite
for the month of August failed. Hence
the other companies In the combination
were reluctantly compelled to continue
working full time, according to their
original agreement, though some of
them, 1t is stated, will run behind their
allotments In their production this
month. The Delaware and Hudson
Company, 1t is alleged, began the shad-
ing of prices to relieve itself of large
accumulation of coal. Then the Penn
sylvania Coal Company and the Lacka-
wanna followed suit. This action led
TO an open cut on the previously already
heavily shaded prices, and now noarly
all of the companies have made their
actual selling prices at about equal fig
ures. The action of the Lehigh Valley
Railroad in allowing shippers a rebate
of 20 cents per ton on tide coal to the
New York market was, 1t is claimed,
necessitated by the prevailing low prices
of other companies Goals. This rebate
will enable Individual operators ship
ping via the Lehigh Valley route to
meet competition In the New York
market on about equal ground with
Others. It Is generally believed that
while the anthracite trade was some
what staggered by the developments of
the past week the result will not prove
as unsatisfactory as was at first feared.
The agent of the Reading Company at
New York is also awake to the situation
there, and is not being undersold, though
in Philadelphia that company processes
to be refusing orders for Eastern ship
ments upon the terms that the same
Goals may be had at New York. We are
informed, however, that SO 65 per ton
t. o. b. at Port Richmond will not be
refused for stove coal by the Reading
company, while but short time ago
orders of from 1000 to 50,0 900 tons was
cancelled because the company agent
declined to accept less than So S. per
ton. There is no scarcity of anthracite
coal at Port Richmond, and on Saturday
the Reading Company's stock Of all sizes
there was 121, 900 tons. Of this cuantl-
ty $4,000 tons were pea coal, 10000 tons
chestnut, 10000 stove, and the remain
der of various other sizes and special
Goals. We are informed that the Le-
high Coal and Navigation Company has
been more fortunate than most of its
competitors, in having already disposed
of its entire output for August at salts
factory prices, and that it has no ac-
cumulation of coal on hand. The re-
duction in prices and rebates allowed on
tolls to New York of course benefit that
city and the Eastern trade only, while
Philadelphia may have to, as 1t usually
does, submit to the extortion of the
fuller prices. The advance in the prices
for anthracite to the line and city and
harbor trade which the Reading Com
pany anticipated and of which the COM
pany has already given notice to take
effect on September 1st, insisting that
"these prices must be maintained" will
in all probability not be made The
Philadelphia agent OF the Delaware and
Hudson Company informs us that his
instructions are to maintain the present
prices, and, if advisable, advance them,
the recent reductions at New York not
affecting his trade in this city,
While the anthracite coal trade is at
present in an unsettled condition, and
recent events have somewhat upset the
calculations of the more hopeful opera
tors, yet there is an undercurrent that
promises better things for the coal trade
in the near future, There has been a
marked improvement in the inquiry for
coal during the past week or two, and
the demand is much better than it has
been for some time, Dealers who have
been ordering their coal by the single
car are enlarging their orders, and now,
instead purchasing only sufficient coal
to supply weeks demand, they are or
dering enough to cover months bust
ness. Coal is moving more freely, and
it is thought that the stocks on hand
will not be much, if any larger at the
end of August than on July 31st. The
return of housekeepers to the city Is
stimulating the retail trade In domestic
sizes, and after the harvesting has been
finished farmers are expected to lay in
their winters supply of fuel. The cool
weather of the past week admonishes us
that fall is at hand and winter approach
ing, and this is expected to accelerate
business.