Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-03-13
TARIFF PROCEEDINGS.
A Hearing by the House Committee
on Ways and Means.

them representatives of the bituml-
nous coal interests, including C. F.
Mayer, president of the Consolidation
coal company, and Messrs. Hosken,
Edwards and Grimes, of this place,
and H. T. Williams, of Homecoming.
Speaking for bituminous and gas
coal interests Mr.. Mayer said:
To the Honorable tie Committee on Ways and
Means Of the United States House Of Repre-
SentatieeS:
We beg to ask your attention to the serious
consequences to the West Virginia and Penn
sylvania gas coal, and the Maryland, Pennsyl-
vania and Virginia steam coal trades if coal
is placed upon the free list, as proposed in the
pending tariff bill; or if the present made
quate duty of IS cents is reduced.
Since the birth of the country as a CONNER
cial power the importance of developing the
vast deposits of steam and gas Goals within
the borders of the United States has been rec
ognized by the general government, and such
legislation as would most encourage this has
been adopted.
In 1924 q duty was imposed
equivalent to-, 81 ,6s per ton
The Act of 1912 placed it at..... 1.75 u" g
This rate was continued until
1916, when it was changed to
an dd ralOrGm duty of......... 80 " cent
Which, by falling scale provi-
ded by law, fell in 1862, to-. "A "
1t was then, in 1862 changed to 90 :" ton
In 1865 it was raised to. Ito " g
In 1866 it was raised to.......... 125 " g
AT which it continued until 1873,
when it was fixed at the now
existing duty of.............. rs " '
The single exception to this general policy
of the government apart from the special
exemption in the Act of Sd March, 1881 was
made in Goals from the British Provinces,
which are admitted duty free by the reci-
procity treaty of 1854, and SO continued until
the termination of that treaty in 1866.
This exception, it is claimed, was unfairly
obtained by parties interested in Provincial
mines but be that as it may the owners Of
Provincial mines, aided vigorously by New
England parties who had became interested
in that region, have persistently worked, ever
since the termination of that treaty to get
coal placed upon the free list.
The special land extraordinary exemption
to which l refer, was that provision in the
Act of Sd March, 1888, by which "a drawback
of seventy-tive cents shonld be allowed on all
Dituminous coal imported into the United
States, which is afterward used for fuel on
board vessels propelled by steam, which are
engaged in this coasting trade of the United
States or in the trade with foreign countries y
This Act was secured by parties in our
Pacific StotpS who had bprprpn pl in
the British-American mines on that coast
and while the volume of coal that has avail
ed of this Act on the Atlantic seaboard has
not been large, its effect upon the prices of
American steam coal has been serious.
1t was after the termination of the reci-
procity treaty, when Provincial Goals We're
subjected to the same duty as all other
foreign Goals, that the rapid and extended
development Of the great eastern bituminous
fields of our own country commenced. The
extensive basins of Virginia and West Vir-
ginia have come into the market only since
that period; while those of Pennsylvania and
Maryland-until then developed to but a
limited eNtent-have expanded into extensive
and important Industries, employing millions
of capital, and thousands of hardy workmen
and aiding, perhaps more than any single
industry, in the rapid projection and extern
sion of many most important lines of rail-
way.
The last census reports show, in the above
three States alone, the amount of capital to be
S57, 705 600, and the number of persons to be
4l,ooo actually engaged directly in the mining
IF coal fTbnSp fip1raS hovn cod l,ro n,
since the census.
What the increase in bituminous Goals has
been, is shown by the following statement:
The product of American btu
minous mines for consump-
ton in the seaboard States,
which amounted in 1865 to-. $3.50 247 tons
Had increased in 1874 to...... 4, 566, ,496
And it is estimated Gor the fig
urcS are not yet published)
had increased in 1885 to. .... 10, 100000 "
Extraordinary as has been this development
in the production Of American btuminous
Goals, the decrease IN price to the consumer has
been equally remarkable, as will be shown
by the following table of prices of American
steam Goals:
At Baltimore, 1876, 1887 per ton of ., 24o TBS
1885, 2.25 " " g /" g
4" New York, 1876, $40 " " d" il" :"
- {" 1856, 3.25 &C " " I"
| need not remind you that this marked
decrease in prices is due alone to domestic
competition, and it is to this competition the
American manufacturers, railroads and
steamers owe the fact that their Goals are gen.
orally supplied upon as advantageous terms
as can be obtained in almost any part of the
world, and in some instances at lower figures
than prevail anywhere else.
In addition to the great advantages the de-
velopment of our bituminous coal fields has
secured to the American manufacturer, it has
performed an almost equally important part
in keeping in check the prices of anthracite
coal-the great domestic fuel of the Atlantic
seaboard.
This anthracite coal, produced from limit,
ed area in Eastern Pennsylvania, was until
the development of our bitumnous fields the
only coal [excepting few thousand tons OF
English gas coall used for both manufacturing
and domestic purposes on the Atlantic sea-
board; and would of necessity have COM
manded far higher prices had it continued to
engross the wh0le marKet; but from the time
our American bituminous Goals have been
largely developed, these latter have become
very largely the manufacturing and steam
Goals, confning anthacite coal mainly to do
mestic purposes, allowing it thereby to fill
that over incraasipu lamopb at ,nodoro te