The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-10-08
1>t Ieheme Of the Piftsburg
Coal ShipperA.

1 tt|||.. against hanaWna compete
tpts As Congress is not sufficiently
Rep biiean to take up their fight
land egislate their poorer rivals out
of b4siness. the Pittsburg men pro-
pose % resort to another plan to
kill eH competition and keep up the
prict Of coal. The Pittsburg Dis
afet says:
"Hhe rival coal shippers of this
city are contemplating the forma-
ton Of combination in the near
future 10 freeze the Kanawha river
/ operators out of tire Cincinnati and
Louisville markets. Matters have
reached euch crisis that some
lmetI|of will have to be adopted to
4 insure them some return for the
large capital invested in the busi-
i.zc successive year home oper-
atpt ,,z,I the effects Of outside COM
4 ,etl -. I. d <tIlOI : t~ic4 the num-
Der of the present firms were en-
| gagged in the business five years ago
the trade has dwindIed down to
such an extreme that only the
wealthy operators survive 10 com
pete for fractional profits.
In recent years, new coal terri
tory, more available to the Southern
market than Pittsburg, has been
developed by outside capital, and
what was at first considered by Pitts
burg operators to- bc short-lived
enterprise has turned out to be
formidable competitor that has made
great inroads on the profits of Mon
ongahela Valley coal shippers, un-
til it appears that coal territory in
other sections will completely wipe
out the business here eventually, if
concentrated action is not taken by
Pittsburg operators to nip this
threatening danger in the bud.
"The latest competitors that Pitts
burg operators have TO contend with,
in the Cincinnati aud Louisville
markets, are the firms that have
placed the Kanawha river product
on the lower markets, at prices far
below those asked for Pittsburg
coal"
To shut out this competition the
the Pittsburg men propose to enter
into a great combine to break mp
their, Kanawha rivals and drive
them out of business. They pro-
pose to shut down on cheap coal.
They stand where Harrison and In 4
gals do regarding cheap things. In
1888 Mr. Harrison, it will be re-
membered, was bitterly opposed to
cheap coats, which he said made
cheap men. Mr.. Ingalls, q short
while ago went further and an
nounced the fact that he despised
everything connected with the word
"cheap. These Pittsburg coal men
propose to enforce this good Repub-
iican doctrine so far as their pro-
duct goes and prevent the people
south Of us from falling into the
grave mistake of buying cheap coal.
Their mines are worked out, while
the Kanawha mines are new and
fresh. Says a prominent Pittsburg
coal ma,:
"lf the Kanawha river operators
were bnrdened with tolls for locks,
such as we have 70 pay on the Mon
ongahela,. we might stand some
show, but ut present we can do
nothing, and until this proposed
pool is formed, they can undersell
us. So far the shipments from the
kanawha have been very light, but
the field is one of great promise, and
unless we do something, and do that
at once, we will some time find no
market for our coal in Southern
ports.
There seems to be some difficulty,
however, in the way of the proposed
game of freeze-out to put mp the
price of coal. The same operator
continues:
"With the exception ofone or two
large firms, all the shippers favor a
consolidation, and vigorous war
fare against the Kanawha shippers
for about year would compel our
rivals to leave the business, but the
longer the combination is put off,
the harder it will be. for that would
enable those now working the region
TO branch out, and If not forced out
of the business, they will, at least,
cause us considerable more trouble.
It appears to me that coal operators
are giving no thought to the future,
and while these few firms remain
obdurate and refuse to enter into
the combination the rest continue
at it, hammer and tongs, and try to
exc out small profits on investments
that should yield 100 per cent larg-
er returns. Last year several coal
shippers effected combination on
the quiet and tried to improve the
condition of busines in that way,
but It was discovered that one of
the largest firms here was under
selling the syndicate ut Cincinnati
and Louisville, which resulted in
breaking mp the combination, and
the venture was disastrous to every
firm in it, several of them being
pushed to the wall in the crash that