The evening world., 1894-04-17
COAL MIGHT Be $780,.
IF the Combine Were Smashed 1t
Could Be Sold at That Price.
With the Peoples Assistance 1.-The
World" Will Do the Smashing.
Sales at $40 IL Ton Are Increasing
Each Day.

II the consumers Of coal in this city
and brooklyn will uritc in their sup
port OF "The Worlds" nsht against the
combination which now controls the
market for anthracite IT Is only n ques-
ton OF time until the power of this
great monopoly will be broken.
Thus FAR the rogress OF the move
mcnt has been most encouraging. The
daily increase in sales Of THE Words"
$3.50 coal shows that the masses are TAX
ing AN interest, and that they are grad
ualIy becoming aroused to the impor-
lance Of the campaign which has been
inaugurated in their behalf.
The record of sales up to the close OF
business last evening shows that n total
of l.202 tons have been sold. There Is
every prospect that the coming week
will see "A much larger increase in the
amount of sales. Now hat the people
have discovered what a great saving they
can make in their purchases by sending
in their orders to The World" they
should not hesitate to lend IL helping
hand to the movement.
What they should remember is that
they are saving Is cents on every ton
~ ''i' '''y tai i"sS 'ii''S Nv
World" and that they are getting their
coal as nearly at cost price as 1t Is
possible to buy it in New York at the
present time. OF course. the great coal
companies. Who are also the owners OF
the coal fields and the producers as
we'll as the carriers, control the whole
sale price of the commodity.
At the price at which THE World'
offers to supply consumers. $3.50 a ton,
the dealers who fill the orders which
are placed by its readers, are enabled
to make a good profit, although they
nre selling at Is cents a ton below the
retail market price. II the wholesale
monopoly could be broken there Is not
n doubt that coal could be sold at a
handsome profit In New York and its
vicinity at 81 30 n ton or even less.
What The World' desires to accom-
plish first. however. is to break the com
hination of the retail dealers. who are
IN league with the producers and car
tiSo upOn the public Is just as great as
that of the big and powerful corpora
tons which have seized the entire an
troll the mines.
The coal haions are thus In a position
to squeeze tn individual dealers and
OPERATORS and to put up prices to the
"npItSiIf lltTtIlhntS, anu lneN IN TURN
regard the pubic as their legitimate
prey. In very branch Of the trade the
proilts are excessive, and the consumer
In the end is obliged to pay tribute to
each one Of theEe 'cormorants in turn.
Although the courts and Legislatures
n Il tOv". l,urS Of States have time and
again deCinred mat these combinations
for eHactirg higher prices from con-
sumris a'c Illegal and Infamous, tn"
combine OF tn" coal barons IL as strong
to-day as II ever was. 1t absolutely die
rltrs the price which must he paid for
coal In the Wholesale markets, hesilcs
iiNinS the amount Of coal that shall he
marketed each month. and from its de-
CisipnS the - Is ~ appeal.
This process OF Starving the market"
IS In fact its most powerful means of in
~uuancing prices, and of apparently justi-
flying In the eyes of the public an ad-
vance in rates which would otherwise
b" entirely without excuse. In other
words, II Is one OF the man tricks
which the conapiratOrs have learned in
their long experience in ieCeiviug the
public, and which they have always
been nhl" to practise successfully, de
spite tn" efforts of the courts and the
Legislatures to prevent them.
1t Is easy to see how the railroads
have succeeded in driving individual
operator out of the market. 1t Is SIM
ply because they owned or controlled
every approach to the anthracite coal
fields, and not n ton of coal could he
marketed unless 1t went over their lines.
! Although they couldn't prevent him
from mining his coal. they could place
such obstacles In the way of his getting
II to market that in the end he was very
willing to give up his struggle with n
powerful combination of moncyed cor
porations and sell out at any reason
able figure. In this way, the railroads
have gone on II are acquiring land in
the coal regions, until now they hol,
more than ni~ne-tenthS of the entire field
IN their clutches.