The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-11-22
NINE, MILL AND RAILROAD.


The Philadelphia Press yesterday
said: "A movement is on foot to Sc
cure the election of John Wanamaker
as president of the Lehigh Valley Rail
road company at the annual meeting of
the company which will be held on the
third Tuesday in January. For some
time there has been considerable di-
satisfaction among the stockholders of
the Lehigh Valley Railroad company in
regard TO the present management. 1t
is contended that the affairs of the COM
pany have been mismanaged and that
from dividend paying company it is
now being run on non-dividend basis.
All this it is said, is wrong, as the COM
pany is as good now as it was years ago
and 1t should be showing fair results.
The opposition to President Wilbur and
the present management is not only in
this city, but it is spread all over the
line, especially where any quantity of
the stock is held. 1t is claimed that the
management, with its conservatism has
practically ruined this valuable prop
erty and 1t will take some time to get
ii into the condition in which ii once
was. While Mr.. Wanamaker will not
talk on the subject 1t is known that a
number of large stockholders in this
city are going to make fight for him
and they are confident of winning. If
they should be successful there will be
a complete change in the reorganization
of the company. The election of Mr.
Wanamaker means new board of di-
rectors. all Of whom will be In harmony
with his ideas Previous to the last cleo
ton 1t was thought that ii was an i'm
possibility to defeat the present Off
GERS, as they were said to control ma
jority of the stock, but the total amount
of stock voted was only a little over
100000 shares, of which about 100, 900
were credited to the Packer estate
Since then 1t has been thought that, if
fight was made in earnest, there was
some show of success. The total num-
Der of shares of stock of this company
Is a little over 100000, so 1t can be seen
that the Wilbur party did not vote one
half Of the stock at the last election
1t is said that if Mr. Wanamaker should
be elected his chief lieutenant will be
j. Lowrie Bell, who was his second as
sistant postmaster general. Mr. Bell is
well known railroad man, standing at
the top among the traffic managers. He
Is conversant with the Lehlgh Valley in
terests, and 1t is generally conceded
that he would be of great service to the
company. While the election is two
months distant there has already been
pon qi6pro l,1a nn dana tn ,,,,,l,
Ing up the demand for new president,
as well as other officers of the COM
pany."
A New York special yesterday said: {:
investigation of conflicting rumors re-
garding coal prices establishes the fact
that while the companies which ship
anthracite coal have not put out new
circular for the Zine trade" a number
of them have reduced their prices on
that class of business about IS cents
ton, or to the basis Of tidewater prices
This is the result which the Anthracite
Coal Operators association sought to
bring about by means of their request
to the Lehigh Valley company. Coke,
Bros. & Co., who are the leaders in the
movement, claim that, owing to the
sickness of their manager, L. 3. Ely,
they have not begun the new policy.
There is evidence that Philadelphia has
been selected as the trade center in
which the battle is to be fought, and
that number of line ports on the Jer-
sey Central and Lehigh Valley have
been chosen for the new rates. The
bearing of this action on the trade de-
pends upon the extent to which it is
carried on. If 1t becomes universal, It
will mean that the anthracite interests
Will secure 70 cents ton on 10 per
cent. of their output-that amount at
present going to line points. The ac-
ton, has also affected the line trade ad-
versely. Another factor of Importance
In its bearing on the situation is the
prospective close of lake navigation,
which will occur some time this week,
shutting off Western shipments and
causing the overflow of production to
seek Eastern channels. The various
shipping interests; who at first were
very much inclined to ignore the stand
taken by Independent operators, now
admit that the situation has grown
much more serious because of the cut,
and that some immediate action must
be taken to prevent generalization.
In partial contradiction of this. the
Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday said:
Coke Bros. & Co., and the Pennsyl-
vania railroad have restored the prices
of coal to their old figures. They are
quoting egg and chestnut at about 81. IL
and stove at about $225. Coke Bros.
declare they did not take single order
at the 81 basis Until E. Brock Ely,
the general manager of the Coke inter-
est, recovers from an attack of illness
that now confines him to his room it is
improbable that any sales will be made
below the present figures. The Read
ing, Lehigh Valley and Lehigh Naviga-
ton companies have all resolved not to
lower prices, and they have induced
the pennsylvania railroad authorities
to withdraw their cut prices also. The
local situation seems to be held in abey-
ance until some step shall be taken bv
Coke Bros. The Pennsylvania people
say they are ready to sell coal as low as
anyone, but do not Seem ready to take
the initiative in cutting prices"
The same journal in its financial
column said: "The inactivity of the
anthracite stocks seems to be the re-
suit of efforts to patch up the difficul-
Ties caused by the determination of the