Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-03-24

by ownership or option. the principal
coal mines in Nova Scotia, including
those mentioned above, in which the
cost of mining and laving down f. o..
b for shipment to New England is
given $l.ll per ton, which includes
the royalty of l24 cents paid to the
British Crown and all railroad charges.
Thus the Registers figures are. on an
average, more than 81 ton out of
line. But more of this anon.
''To bolster up its work in behalf of
those who desire to rob Maryland and
the NirginiaS of the New England
market. the Register has interviews
with d. c. Boyce and Captain w.
n. Page. The latter's company has
contract to supply the :locomc-
tlves of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail
way, and is. therefore. fixed, tariff or
no tariff. The views of these gentle
man, who are. as | understand, out
and-out free traders, imbued with
theoretical vagarieS. fill about three
columns with conclusions based upon
the misleading figures given above.
a large part OF Mr.. Boyce'> interview
Is devoted to an argument in favor of
free ore, so that the iron industries
may be transferred from the interior
to the seaboard, and thus to provide IL
market IN America for foreign ores to
the exclusion of American ores.
1.-The only argument made by Capt.
Page in favor Of free coal. except such
as are based Oh false premises as to cost
of mining, etc, i'll Nova Scotia, is one
predlcated upon an exploded theory,
that the removal of Canadian duties
on our coal will follow the free-coal
feature of the Wilson bill. There is
no earthly reason to expect Canada to
admit American coal free. As a mat
ter of fact, the removal Of the Can
adian duty will not increase our ship
ments to Ontario, because the Can
adams are already buying all the
American coal they can consume, and
would not be likely to buy any more,
even if the Canadian duty on coal
should be removed. The reason they
buy coal from the United States is that
the cost of the coal and transportation
Is less from the United States than it
would be from Nova Scotia. and this
difference is one OF transportation en-
tirely.
''The third witness brought on the
stand by the Wheeling Register to con-
Wet the rest of the West Virginia coal
operators of groping, grovellmg lgnor-
ance is Mr.. Evan Powell, manager of
an English company-a gentleman
bred and born in England. with free
trade education from infancy, and in
no sense an American. He is not re-
garded as practical coal operator,
nor is he supposed to be well Informed
as to the needs of this country.
Thus we have more than six col
umns Of erroneous ii figures and allega-
tions and arguments based on false
premises, III a great daily paper pre-
sumably devoted to the interests of
the State of West Virginia The only
effect Of this will be to temporarily
mislead and deceive the people. The
attack upon the intelligence of the
coal operators ,f West Virginia in
order to have any effect would require
a far larger array of witnesses than
the Register has produced, especially in
view of the fact that the operators of
Kentucky and Tennessee had on the
very day preceding the appearance of
the Registers article passed a resolution
and memorial to the United States
Senate endorsing the Soundness of the
position taken by their brethren in the
two Virginias. should say that, ac-
cordlng to the Register, the coal men of
Kentucky and Tennessee are also
fools"
"All the world knows" Mr.. Miller
continued. that the Dominion coal
company is making desperate fight
to capture the coal business of New
England, and thereby deprive the two
Nirginias of II business which now
amounts to millions of dollars an
nnally."
Ia king up the annual report of the
Dominion coal company. limited, for
the year 1898, Mr.. Miller gave the gist
Of its contents ai follows:
This company's coal WAS sold at
prices yielding on the average of
$l.42 per ton. and after paving all
commercial expenses in marketing it
yielded a net profit of twenty-seven
and seven-tenths cents per ton. and
in addition, steamships, barges and
railways owned by the company and
used III its coal operators, the splendid
profit Of $l03, ,2G7 .65. From coal sold
and profits from transportation the
cOmpany'S gross earnings were last
year, 1893, 1884 4}0 66 on an output of
23l,Ol9 tons of coal. How delighted a
West Virginia operator would be with
such profits. From this they deduct
$S1, III - for new machinery and wear
and tear of plant. Next they deduct
$l94, ,13l.96 for dividends. interest on
bonds and sinking fund, leaving IA net
profit for the future needs of the
treasury of T5l,977 IS
Can any man." Mr.. Miller asked,
reconcile himself to an acceptance
of the theory that Nova Scotia Goals,
if admitted free of duty or at less than
from sixty to seventy-tive cents, will
fail to hurt the steam.coal interests of
the Appalachian regions If so, he is
ignorant indeed"
''lf further evidence he needed it is
furnished in the following extracts
from the prospectus of the Dominion
Coal Co.:
Mr. Irving A. Stearns, manager of the
coal companies of the PENNSYLVANIA Railroad
Co, visited Cape Breton and made an ex-
animation of the properties, rendering his
report on September ~, 1892 Mr. Stearns
stated in his report:
The developments made show that the
different seams are remarkably uniform in
thickness and quality and unusually free
from faults and disturbances of any kind,
and are also very free from gas and water,
both of which are very important factors in
the cost Of mining.
''As all of the coal is shipped in vessels and
navigation is closed for several months dur