The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-04-30
GENERAL NEWS
OF INDUSTRIES 5

Everything now seems to point to
monster rate war among the trunk
lines running from the Atlantic sea-
board to the Mississippi 1t may be
averted, but the likelihooi is small
Last Thursday the railway manag RS
comprising the Trunk Lines associa-
ton held their much advertised pow
WOW in New York. When th4v ad-
Journed they gave out nothing rxpllcit
for publication, but il has since been
learned that the meeting was anything
but dove convention. Ia fac, it was
more like a monkey and parrot as
semblage.
The meeting was mainly called to
adopt $4,000 peualty for violations,
such as rate cutting, bat as sixteen
companies voted in favor of It, and f.
fourteen against, and as the vote must /
be unanimous the penalty contract was
lost. It Is said that IN ny OF the small /
rosis claim that the penalty snould be- I.
graded according to the mileage OF the /
lines in the association IL the penalty F..
was m-dr so 600 for tie New York .
Central and F-nusvlvauia IL should be
only 81 600 ur 50 600 for many Of tue /
srH.. roads / w.s proposed that the .
Diff re. . comp MES sHog' pnt up
csr.l.l ca. ok tor tie &lO 600 aud
some ~ those present protested tAa.
fl-y c.u.lu' under any circumstances. F.
sparr lue amou1t of money. Another +.
matter that m1lop1Hz .l "a .r-at deal of .
trr time o. tHs meeting was taa l.. .
high Valleys reduced rate ,icEats with .
which The market das been stock i. .
ana which ur- likely go deuO.Iil. the ]
situation FOR year or two Oh com. !. /
agree TO uy t.sm Up There urss.i .
90 h' over 10000 u. these tick rs on
aud several pl. blocks OF tlrm !
been piaC u win Buff so banks US col- +.
lateral on loans Itlsstii that PTesl-
dent Roberts, who was charm of Oh.
NEE Ing, lutimstad that his cump.uy /.
would not sit on the fence muCl loo t,r
aud .o,e business. II the L-ligu Va. /
ley oil not soon stop paying commit
siOns and these cut rate tickets wara
not Withdrawn the Penusylyauia raj To-
road would make an open reduction
from SEQ TO $li an get its share
the business IL wouldn't pay com.
missions IN any event
President Wilbur, OF thu Lahigl
Valley. made no offer To Withdraw {
cut rate tickets Vice President Gr-
Tett did most Of the talking for th- L..
high Valley, and reass-rtel the do
manls that be mad. In an interview
short time ago he said tina, the L.
high now has through line from n
York TO Chicago, m connection wit
the Grand Trunk aui that IT,, running
time and train service are just NJ goo
RS those of most OF the utler trun,
lines Hence II Il entitled TO q mu..
larger share of the unsiltss. 40 mt..rr
what II has been Carrying IN tha past
Mr. Grr Il fixed Tue l. ign Valleys
quota Al ~ per cent l. 1pw gej- g.r
cent Hy claimed yesJyrd.y t4ar bis
road WAS entitled 10 as much as 90.
Baltimore aud Ohio, which Is allowed
10 per cent. II ere Ia no settlement
Of the present difficulty Is inumaLsd
that da Rentals will DO abolished aud
AhN q kNANAaA AhNt war W llA Iuhut ]
1t is said by the Philadelphia Time,
that the following programme was r.
Gently arranged by the anthracite sale
agents: Three advances in prices will
be made between now aud fall They
will consist Of % zach and will be made
June l, Aug /. and either Sept or
Oct /. This will make the winter
price Of the domestic sizes Of coal "a 80
or about the maximum price wnich
ruled last year. Producing inter .sts
reports very much better demand tor
coal. owing to the belief on the part ol
contumsrs that the price will be ad
vanced. They are stocking up in ds-
count thereof. Authorities say that
the strike in the soft coal regions has
not yet improved the demand for hard
coal, although 1t is bound to do so
should The strike continue for any
length Of time. The strike OF miners
in the Beech Creek region has already
adversely # cted shipments of bitumi-
nous Goa over the Reading. and In con
sequence, several freight crsw- hsvs
been suspended.
A shipment Of $500 tons of bitumin-
GUS coal was shipped last week from
Baltimore to Montreal. Canada. al
though duty Of GO cents ton and
freight charges bring the price of the
fuel considerably over that Of the
Nova Scotia product. Some of the
Canadian manufacturers are, however,
dissatisfied with the domestic coal, and
it ia for these parties that the present
shipment, the first of Its kind, has been
made.
The only state in which the use Of
natural gas for manufacturing pur-
poses increased last year is Indiana
The total value of natural gas con-
sumed in the country In the year was
sl4, 340, $50, against $l4, 800, TIA in 1892
Higher prices charged for the gas in
1898 was the cause Of the decreas-.
The grea es value of the gas consumed
in any one year was $22 GEO 975 in 1883.
Since that time there has been u grad
nal decline, with an aggregate Of about
50 SOO 600 less for last year than 1888
All states show falling oft in IT,.
value of coal or wool displaced Dy tn
use Of gas. The amount OF this red uc-