The morning call., 1893-10-29
A NEW rlONOPOLY.

The irrepressible conflict between popu-
lar rights and the power of corporate cap
ital is likely to break out in a new place.
W. K. Vanderbilt has just acquired co.,
troll of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western road by purchasing majority of
its stock. The purchase confers upon the
Vanderbilts and their allies control of the
coal production of the country.
The country east of the Rocky Noun
tains produces, in round figures, something
over 90,0O0,000 tons of coal per year. OF
this amount five-ninths, or roughly 50.000.-
600 tons, is produced in Pennsylvania
and Ohio, and is owned or controlled by
the Reading company, the Jersey Central.
the Delaware and Hudson, the Lehgh
Valley. the Erie Railway. and the Della
ware, Lackawanna and Western. OF
these concerns the Vanderbilt family now
own the Delaware and Hudson. and the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western; the
Erie is in the hands of their friends, the
Reading is in the hands of receivers whom
they nominated, the Lehigh Valley and
Jersey Central are under perpetual lease
to syndicate. which they formed. Thus
all the producers are their men. bound to
take orders from them, and TO enforce
such tolls and prices as they dictate. In
other words. that one family likes the price
of coal for the Northern, Eastern and
most of the Middle States. The only rival
producers are Maryland and West ViT-
ginia, which produce between them about
u, 600 tons; Colorado and Wyoming,
which produce about 100000. and Hi
nois, and the group of adjacent States,
which produce a considerable quantity of
inferior and almost valueless COAL
1t is difficult 70 set forth in words the
power which q monopoly of coal implies.
If second to food, coal is close second as
a necessary of life. In region where the
mercury in the thermometer during nearly
half the year falls to or below the freezing
point, life is hardly possible without
artificial heat. and the only source of sup
ply Of such heat is coal. Food cannot be
cooked without coal. Thus the Wander
bilts may be said to hold the well-being of
three-fourths of the American people in
the hollow of their hand. More than
three-fourihs of the industry ana trade of
the country depend for their profit upon
the prices they choose TO set. Without
coal no factory can run, no product be
made, no raw or finished material be con-
veyed from the place of production to the
place of consumption, and upon the cost of
coal the profit of agricultural and indus
trial labor often depends. It rests with
the Vanderbilts to decide what callings
shall hence!orth be gainful and what call
ings shall not.
AS they are sagacious men they will n OF
Iii ha fx-o 70
coal at which the mechanic may escape
freezing in his house. and the woolen spin
ner and the fouudryman will be able to
keep their works going. But as the Van
derbiltS are not phlanthropists engaged in
benevolent enterprise they will see that
their product secures as large a share of
the profits Of industry as is consistent with
its continued existence, and they will re-
quire domestic consumers to pay all they
can afford.
Such events as this raise entirely new
problems in political economy and legsla-
ton. As the Vanderbilts had money to
buy and the Rockefeller estate and the
New York Life Insurance Company were
willing to sell the transfer of stock was
perfectly lawful. So was the acquisition
of the other coal properties. There is no
law which forbids the Vanderbilts from re-
strictiDg the output of coal to the actual
volume of consumption. When they
choose to add 30 cents to the cost per ton
il is hard to see what law they violate. To
confscate their property in whole or in
part would be revolutionary. An6 yet is
the concentration of such power in the
hands OF single family consistent with
har fy