Omaha daily bee., 1893-12-10
A COIL DEILER'S DEFENSE.

OMAHA, Dec. 9.-To the Editor of TIE
BEE: cannot persuade myself that it is
ever the purpose of a newspaper to deliber-
ately set about infiaming the public mind
against a necessary and useful line of bust
ness or against Il class of citizens who aver
age as high in the community for integrity
ana good citizenship as the dealers in fuel,
but to know that the effect of n newspapers
utterance sometimes operates as above in.
dlcated, IL is only necessary to read the re-
ported interviews with representative labor
lug aien based, as all aver, upon TIE BEES
recent editorial which was so absurd and
r~ldiculously incorrect in its statements and
conclusions that | assumed the people to be
well enough informed not to need any de-
Tense of the coal dealer. But, 10, here are
the people, evidently believing the gospel Of
The BEE.
shall not allow myself to be drawn into a
controversy in this matter, but ] wish to
state a few things which will, ] trust, sat
iSfy the public that coal dealers are not ex-
tortioners and are not growing rich on ill
gotten gains neither are they hindering the
progress of our well beloved city.
Steam coal for factory use can be pur-
chased in large or small quantities at from
81 to S223 Cor leSsl per ton delivered by
wagons, which is as low as the cheapest
coal used in Chicago Ga great manufacturing
'lbl J, duu liz 81 slO" bllil lIblN ucdltIS dIt
not willing to engage in this branch of the
coal business because they consider hat the
margin of profit does not Justify the labor
and expense of doing the business. The BEE
is purchasing this grade of coal and has
proof of this statement.
Householders do not and cannot use ''mine
rum coal, which was the basis of The BEES
estimate of cost. "Mine rum SIGNIFIES coal
dumped into railroad cars just as the miner
loads it in the mine, and contains perhaps
f0 NOR cent lnmn coal and Az nor cant nF
slack and screenings. This grade of coal is
used only for purposes of making steam and
is sold very low, at 1915 to 50 per ton, de-
livered by wagons. Coal for household use
Is screened at the mine before shipment and
rescreened at the dealers yard before de-
| livery to consumers.
Goals mined in the states contiguous to
eastern Nebraska do not make up 10 per
cent of the coal sold for household use in
Omaha. The highest retail price of these
Goals is - per ton and the lowest is So IS
| per ton.
The people demand better Goals than these
and at least 90 per cent of the household
trade in soft coal in Omaha is supplied with
Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio and Ar
kansas Goals, the prices of which vary from
| $3.50 to 81 per ton. The reason of the higher
price is the higher freight charge, because
of the increased distance that the coal is
| hauled.
Both hard and soft Goals have been sold in
Omaha during the past eight or ten years at
a uniformly low margin of profit. But few
dealers have made more than a comfortable
living, and as many coal dealers have failed
or abandoned the business during that pc
riod as are today engaged in it in this city.
There is no coal trust in Omaha. Each
dealer is independent, doing business upon
his own responsibility. The Coal exchange
is not an organization whose object Is to ex-
tort money from the people. It's aim is to
prevent unfair and expensive business
methods and to secure uniformity and econ
omy in the conduct of the business.
In this day OF intense competition the
l~aborlng men have their unions, the doctors
their societies, the wholesale grocers their
associations, the bankers their clearing
houses, the coal dealers their exchanges.
l Almost every line of business is organized in
u similar manner.
The coal business is open to all, and If the
present dealers were making any such mar
gins of profit as alleged in The BEE many
would flock into it. a Coal DEALER.