New-York tribune., 1894-02-11
RAILROADS BLAMED BY WHOLESALERS

THEY ADMIT THAT THE COAL PRICE Is HIGH
COMPARED WITH OTHER COMMODITIES.
The wholesale coal men In this city do not con-
s!dor the present price OF coal high Thos, who
have been In reference to the subject say
that the price 81 coal IS In reality low. ami that
while 1t has seemed to maintain steady rate
there has been gradual falling of In prices. which
leaves little margin Of profit for thr dealers In
comparison with other commodities coal is high.
the wholesale dealers say. but they maintain that
If IL were any lower there would be profit In It's
sale
An officer Of one of the large coal companies in
speaking Of the price Of coal recently said: coal
is not high. 1t Is no: a high 1t was last year.
and there has been little profit in 1t this year II
is higher than many other commodities. but that
is something the dealers cannot prevent There are
many underlying causes TO the present rates for
coal the principal being the rates for tonnage
charged by the railroad companies. The railroad
companies have made no reduction in their rates
so how can the dealers? Despite this fact. the
dealers have. however. been forced to make less
profit on coal this year than last year Another
reason why the prices oi coal have not gone down
like the prices Of other commodities H. that the
demand has been so light The demand for coal
this year has been very light on account Of the
warm weather. and when there is little demand for
a commodity Ike coal IT ia necessary for a dealer
in that commodity TO maintain high price to or
set the small sales. At least that is the way 1t is
with coal dealers
THE DEALERS WOULD FOLLOW
eff the railroads WOull come down from their
stiff rates then the dealers would also make a re-
duciion All this talk about the bg profits we make
on coal Is untrue. We are blamed for maintaining
rates. when. if we put them down. would be
losing money.
companies for the present price Of coal. They say
that there lies the Of the trouble and that if
the companies would scale down their prices the
wholesale and retail dealers would make their prices
to fit the hard times.
4 prominent coal dealer whose Office is in the
Washington Building said yesterday that the nrico
Of coal wa. being maintained because that was the
only way to protect the dealers from loss
COAL CONSUMED.
"You must remember" ne said that there has
been n tremendous falling off In the amount of
coal consumed There s large supply OF coal that
cannot he used because there is no demand for II
This would lead one TO suppose that the price of
coal would tumble, and that the wholesale dealer
would be able to sell the retail dealer at "A low
figure and the retail dealer TO the Individual at
greatly reduced rates II ~ not so. however,
Miners will not accept reduction I'm wages Mine
owners cannot reduce their prices while their labor
holds to regular prcas; railroad companies Will not
point from their rates ana as these rates
have always been stin. there has been little profit
for the wholesale and retail dealers at any time
With all the depressing conditions that govern the
coal trade AT present. there has been "A slight fall
Ing of in prices and they cannot really be said to
be high II YOU want 10 get lower rates 20 the
railroads. they are the offenders.
NOT SATISFIED WITH GOOD PROFIT.
The coal dealers. 1t would seem from the lnvestl-
CATION Of a Tribune reporter. are satisfied
with a reasonable profit. and compel consumers To
pay exorbItant prices \ noteworthy fact in con-
ncctlon with the investigation Is that the same
coal for which New-York dealers charge IS 2S is