Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-01-23

The committee appointed by congress
to investigate the Reading combination
did its work quicker and more fully
than the majority of congressional in
vestigating committees. In the house of
representatives on Thursday the report
was made. The committee has held
many hearings and taken thousands of
pages of testimony siuce last July, when
it was appointed. 1t is very exhaus-
tive document and has received the
unanimous signature of all the members
of the committee.
The report gives an exhaustive review
of how the anthracite coal lands were
acquired by railroad corporations until
all of them are now so controlled. In
mentioning the various corporations that
are interested in coal lands or in the
combination, the committee notes that
the New Jersey Central does not appear
to have any contract or agreement with
the Reading road, but it asserts that
while it has not been able to develop
any direct arrangements between trans
portation companies by which the latter
are obliged to fix and determine the out
put and price of anthracite coal, there is
no necessity for written stipulation to
determine the existence of such a COM
bination.
There Is "a Combination.
The report states that combination
has been found, that conclusion being
based on the fact that coal transporta-
tion and producing companies hold
monthly meetings together, at which no
minutes are kept, but at which the
monthly output and price of coal is de-
termined. These companies act in con-
cert, and if a colliery owner should re-
fuse to limit his output to that fixed by
the combination, he is forced into line
by the railroads Withholding from him
the cars necessary to transport the ex-
cess of the output. These monthly out
puts, as regulated by the combination of
transportation and producing companies,
explain why the annual output is ten
millions of tons less than the capacity of
the mines. This reduction, the report
says, is brought about, not by the coal
producers, but by the transportation
companies who control them. The
operators who are not in the combina-
ton are at the mercy of the rate-makers.
On this point the report states that of
thirty-four individual operators on the
line of the Reading railroad prior to
1892, five have been compelled to retire
from business.
Coal Prices Have Advanced.
The committee finds that an advance
in coal used by housekeepers of from
$l.25 to $1.35 a ton has been made.
This, the report states, makes it clear
that the combination has a monopoly,
and, while not impugning the motives of
the gentlemen in the enterprise, it says:
'The public are the sufferers; the price
of an article of universal necessity is
very much increased, and the power of
a common carrier deriving its franchise
from the public is used and misused tc
that end"
Control of the Coal Output.
The report says that the anthracite
coal region comprises an area of abou
All square miles in the state of Pennsyl
vania, penetrated by the following tide
water railroad lines:
The New York, Lake Erie & Western
New York, Susquehanna & Western
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; New
York, Ontario & Western; Central Rail
road of New Jersey; Lehigh Valley
Railroad; Pennsylvania Railroad; Phila
delphia 4 Reading Railroad.
The capacity of the anthracite col
lieries is estimated at about 90, ,OOO, ,OOC
tons annually. The actual output is
about Al ,000,0 GOO tons. Fully 50 per cent
of the anthracite coal output is now di
rectly and indirectly controlled by the
railroad companies, and the tendency is
toward the entire absorption of the Goa
fields and the collieries by the common
carriers The lease of the Lehigh Val
ley and New Jersey Central roads by
the Reading is spoken of and the repor
says:
Reading the Dominating Factor.
"By this arrangement the Philadel
phia & Reading controls at least 40 pc
cent. of the anthracite coal going t.
tidewater and becomes an important anc
dominating factor in determining no
only the output, but the price of the
product"
The startling fact is commented upon
that, Notwithstanding coal can be hand