Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-02-13
COAL IN A CORNER
A COLOSSAL DEAL ENGINEER D
The Movement creapes . Fiuuy GA the
New YORK Stock Exchsnse-ilsayy
Trsnsacs.sns Reported


ing of the p santic con binstion effected
BY President Mcleod. OF the Reading
railway, by which tbs Reading secures
control of the Lshigh Valley and n "
Jersey Central railroads and their vast
coal properties and proposes TO COM
binc the anthracite coal producing and
carrying interests into one manage
ment, created tremendous sensation
in the stock exchanges and in railway
ard coat circles throug hout the country.
A Colossal Deal
II 10 conceded to be the NEST extern
sivc Goancsal operation for years. the
greatest in the history of railway
financl-ring. and one the far-reaching
influence Of which cannot be CON-
patei 1t means colossal deal
By which threc-fifths of the
anthracite coal OF the country Is
brought under the control Of one man,
and in these days Of mighty monopo.
lies. Of throttling the sapp'y and ad.
vancing prices. the effect OF such con-
solidstion Of interests to handle an IN
dispensahle article like coal becomes
ok almost y personal interes. to every
one.
Excitement In Now York.
NEW York, Feb. ia--Thursday was
the greatest day on record on the stock
exchange. Contrary to general cxpec-
tation. not . failure was announced,
and with tho fall OF the ham,
mer OF the chairman at 3 o'clock
the day came to an end with
the confusion and excitement Just as
great as at the opening. No one look.
ing at the maddened, excited crowd OF
men shrieking at the top Of their voices
would have supposed them To be bust
ness men capable OF dealing in sl5.-
600, 90 worth of property in thirty
minutes But such was the case and
moreover. the value Of the Reading
stock alone enhanced in vnlue $780,.
900 by the very actions Of that excited
mob. 1t would be useless to figure on
the money made and lost. Hundreds
of thousands were won and lost In the
big game.
The transactions on change exceeded
all previous records. Over 1900, 00l
| shnrcs Of stock were traded In, OF
which $50, 900 shares were Reading An
| idea Of tho immense business
done may be gathered from the
fact that Soo.00 to 900 shares
is considered good days bust
Eess, and when one day las. week the
| figures reached 500. 900 shares the mat
Ter was referred to rs extraordinary
OF course the great feature Of the
market was Reading. which has I'd
vanced over twenty-five points in q
few days
csass Of the FURRY.
The neatly worked coal movemen
was responsible for the condition O
affairs. The Reading assumes con
| troll OF the Jersey Central and the LIE
high Valley roads on guaranty of Exec
charges and per cent dividends on To.
stock. These roads control about q
per cent OF the coal mined In the scoun
! try. The Lackawanua and Delaware
& Hudson consent the deal. 1t il
pronounced the greatest event that ha
occurred in the railroad world since tn,
| West Shore move was announced. III,
| New England is said to be in the dea
in some way and the Reading and New
| England were enormously active. The
shorts were scared fearfully and ran Z,
| cover with all possible speed
Leases and Contracts signsa.
| Messrs. Drexel, Morgan & Co. IN
nounccd officially Thursday Afternoon
| that the leases and contracts viii
were signed Wednesday night hav
now been ratified by the boards Of d;
rectors Of the Reading. New Jerse,
Central aud Lehigh Valley rai,wa.
| companies. by which was effected TIL
| com bination of the anthracite coal in
tcrests Samuel Sloan. president o
| the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
said to a reporter regarding the com
bipation:
The Lackawanna 10 thoroughly In sympath
| with tho combination. While VIC have made n
formal agreement with the Reading we shal
act in harmony with that company, and W
| shall not be competitive factor In the COS
trade We shall act with the combined Il
terests beth In the output and prize OF Goa
The object Is not to raise the prtce, but TO ret
uiste production sad 70 mako priecs 'raiform.
A Great csmbinstiss.
II 10 acknowledged even by Tho in
dependent producers that the comtiha
ton. with tho Lackawanna included
will control IS per cent Of the ahthrs
cite coal traffic of Pennsylvania a
one OF tho main features of the IDEAL
looks toward the abolishing Of sellinl
agents tho action of the independent
producers and of selling agents
tho subject Of comment II !
| 81. = uf~A<~A 20 <hA s.,nvo.~~
succeeds the selling agents will I'm
their occupation gone.
,erators Alarmed.
wrrxEsBAnRE, Pa. Feb. is.-fnd
vidual coal operators are alarmed owe
the gigantic coal deal They fear
will eventually drive them out of tn
business, a. they cannot hope to CON
pete with the big trust which. viii
have entire control of the carryin
system.
4 Rsusshabie Experience.