Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1894-01-26
FREE COAL WOULD BE BEN
EFICIAJ.

in his Office today by your CORES
pondent and was asked to state to
the Register what effect, if any, in
his judgment, will the passage by
Congress of tho Wilson bill have
upon the coal industry of the Kama
wha Valley. Governor Wilson re
piled:
Sin my judgment beneficial eff
feet. In this particularly So far rs
our coal land owners arc concerned,
it will demstratc that the value of
our coal lands does not depend upon
Congressional Legislation. This |
consider of immense importance to
the people of the State who own
these lancls and pay the taxes upon
them. When this demonstration ia
made the true value of West Virginia
coal lands will be known to the world,
and the fear of foreign competition
will be dissipated.
"New River coal is today put into
Philadelphia by tho Chesapeake and
Ohio coal agency Tor less than $3.50
per ton, and sold there for between
Sd and 50 per ton. This coal agency,
through the control of freight rates
on the Q. u D. Railway, has not only
absorbed the entire coal trade OF this
region east to the Atlantic seuboard
excepting the camel coaD but now,
through its head manager, Mr. In.
gals, it seems TO be attempting to
dictate tho policy of the Democratic
party of this State. This coal agency
was created i'll 1878, after coal opera
tions had been carried OH here to
prosperous success, to absorb the
profits of the coul trade which prop
erly belong to tho coal operators,
aud it is today making four times us
much profit on coal land 1 am II long
way on the inside in making this
statement) ms the operators them
selves. while it pays no taxes aud
does nothing to support tho State or
local government. 1t was proven be
fore the legislature in 1882 That the
special freight rate to tho coal ugen
cy for carrying coal to tho Atlantic
seaboard was 81 "a per tou, while for
any Independent coal operator it was
S4.00 from the Kanawha district and
1915 from the New River district.
l am now reliably informed that coal
is now carried to the Atlnntic sen
board for the coal agency for less
than Sl.iO per ton, while the operat-
or could ship coal to market only by
paying the old price 10 individual
shippers, rs before stated The ro
suit is he is compelled to sell his coal
to tho agency at its own price. About
the year 1850 and prior to that time
the operators got Sl.20 per ton for
coal at the tipple, but the 9. & ..
coal agency has screwed them down,
down, down. from year to yenr, until
now they get an average price of on
ly 70 cents ut the tipple, and the
miners get. less for digging now than
they got fifteen years ago.
"The Coal Agency put it's coal in
to Philadelphia at not over SO per
ton-that is rs cents for coal at the
tipple, Sl.5O railroad freight and rs
cents for coast transportation, and
yet they have the hardihood to tnlk
about competition with Nova Scotia
coal.
The Chesapeake and Ohio G Il
Agency is operated largely OH The
capital of the owners of the mines
The agency is generally nearly year
behind in its payments to tie oper.
ators. 1t is now sever months be-
hind. For instance, the coal they
bought last June they settled for in
September by giving the operators
their notes due in january. The
banks of Charleston and the coal Cd
orators have been carrying this paper
of the Chesapeake aud Ohio Coal
Agency while tho agency itself has
received long ago the money for the
coal it bought from operators and
sold last summer.
Speaking of Nova Scotia coal, it
should be remembered that we have
no competition for coal used for do
mestic OF home purposes anywhere
along the Atlantic coast The peo
pie use anthracite coal. which they
burn in furnaces and heaters. The
open CRATE in the Eastern States is n
novelty rather than O service. The
great body of West Virginia coal
shipped 10 the seaboard is used on
steamers engaged in coast and for.
eign trade. The whole of the output
from the Flat Top coal fields goes
Ea It for that purpose, aud so does
nearly all OF the output from the
Now River mines. The balance is
used on locomotive engines and for
steamlng purposes. There is no such
thing In question ms Nova Scotia coal
composition. The analysis of the
best Nova Scotia coal exhibited nj
the Columbian Exposition shows so
per cent. of carbon, 35 per cent. Of
volatile matter, 4 per cent. OF ash.
and per cent OF sulphur.
1T is hardly necessary to say that
that amount OF sulphur in this coal
renders it an undesirable article ona