Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-12-01
BULLING COAL.
Six Railways Attempt 10 Advance the
Price Of Coal, and to Say How
Much Shall be Mined.
a Gigantic Scheme 20 Enrleh Two Greedy
sSndioaiss at the Expense Of the
Actual Consumer.

NEW foRK, Nov. S0,--The II, raid this
morning prints the following, There Is
to be au advance OF 20 TO 30 per cent. In
the cost Of bituminous coal. The price IA
TO be put az higher figure than Il has
reae'ad in over three years. Two great
combinations have been formed 10 con.
troll the entire soft coal output OF the
country. They have rules as rigid as cast
iron, and they have sent forth the edlct.
"higher prlces.n they have not
only advanced prices, but they
Will say how much coal
shall be mlued, who shall mine Il, what
railroads shall carry IL aud In what guam.
titles, and what the freight charges are
10 be. Every railroad aud every manu-.
facturer In the country will be affected by
this gigantic scheme, meaning az II does
an advance OF 60 cents per ton In the
price OF oil soft coal hereafter to be used
In every furnace and eaglne In the
United States. There are 10 be
two new pools in control OF
the soft coal production. One, the Ohio
pool, has just been formed, II will d.
rect absolutely the output from the great
coal helds OF Ohio, The syndicate con.
sists OF four coal-carrying railroads,
| WAlSh SpbAlVl lut NiuuFDbThilOn
that section, the Hooking Valley railroad,
the Wheeling & Lake Erie, the Toledo, ONO
Central and tine Panhandle division OF the
Pennsylvania system. Being In posi-.
tion to dictate, they called the big coal
| operators together last week and formed
a combination, The railroads advanced
the freight rates on coal about 25 per
cent and said TO toe operators; "You
must put up your prices 80 cents per ton
all around at once. Later, by about Jan
uary |, you must advance another 80
cents. Then we will stop TO consider
whether the consumers will stand fur
Their raise. You must also restrict
your mining 80 as not to overstock the
market. We will carry 80 much coal Tor
you, no more"
Each OF the four companies has fixed
upon the amount which 1t estimates the
MARI ct Will stand. The operators along
Its line have been notified that they must
agree among themselves as to the rela,
tive percentages OF the total allotment
allowed by the companies, for 80 strict
have the railroads been In fix.
ing the allotments and amounts which
the operators can ne permitted TO mine
that the operators must prove how much
coal they can sell by exhibiting their or.
der books and their contracts The head.
quarters Of the Ohio pool are in Colum
bus, Ohio. All the details OF tho pro.
gramme have been arranged, ana the
frat advance Of 80 cants per ton has al
ready been made. The other soft
coal pool is known as the Buffalo
pool. II consists OF three rail
roads which, like those In ONO,
control all the product which comes u
Buffalo for market, the Rochester &
Plttsburg rairoad, the Buffalo, New
rk & Philadelphia and the Erie. They
bring the yield from the western Penn
sylvania coal fields. This pool is not sc
far advanced as the western pool, and the
advances IN freights and the cost OF Goa
have not yet been made
They may be looked for mex
week. The first advance TO consumer
viii be 80 cents per ton, This will b.
followed by second advance of lik'
amount before January According Il
the statement of one who ought to know
this will be made before January /, anC
will afford pretext for the 60 cent ris'
in ohio coal.