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 "Thc
World" vii! Do the Smashing.
Sales at $3.50 IL Ton Arc Increasing
Each Day.

II the consumers of coal In this city
and brooklyn will urite In their sup
port of The WORLDS fight against the
market for anthracite 1t is only "A guess
ton Of time until the power OF this
great monopoly will be broken.
Thus far the progress OF the move
mcnt has been most encouraging. The
daily increase In sales Of THE Wor.d's'
$3.50 coal shows that tn" masses are taxi
ing an Interest, and that they are grad
ually becoming aroused to the impor-
lance of the campaign which has been
~inauguratcd in their behalf.
The record of sales up to the close OF
business last evening shows that "A tota!
of l,2O2 tons have been sold. There Is
every prospect that the coming week
will see n much larger increase in the
amount of sales. Now that the people
have discovered what II great saving they
can make in their purchases by sending
In their orders to THE World" they
should not hesitate to lend a helping
hand to the movement.
What they should remember IL that
they are saving 70 cents on every ton
of coal they purchase through eThe
World" and that they are getting their
coal as nearly Mt 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 conl fields and the producers as
well as the carriers. control the whole
sale price Of the commodity.
At the price at which ''The World"
offers to supply consuncrs, $3.50 n ton.
the dealers who M the orders which
are placed by its readers. are enabled
FN ~ IT,. q. ,rnI ,A.AEt ,I-.4
are selling, at 10 cents q ton below the
retail market price. If the wholesale
monopoly could be broken there is not
a doubt that coal could be sold at a
vicinity at $3.50 a ton or even less.
What '"The World desires to accom-
piish first, however. is to break the com
In league with the producers and car
riers. The eXtortion which they prac-
tise upon the public is just as great as
tons which have seized the entire an
thrncite coal field and absolutely con-
troll the mines.
The coal ba,ons are thus In "A position
to squeeze the individual dealers and
Wholesale merchants. and they in turn
regard the public as their legitimate
prey. In very branch Of the trade the
in the end is obliged to pay tribute to
each ono Of thee cormOrnnts in turn.
Although the courts and Legislatures
AID Cove Iiors of States ave time and
again declared that these combinations
for ~eNactlrg higher prices from con-
sumers a:e Illegal and Infamous, the
combine of the coal barOns is AZ strong
to-day as 1t ever was. 1t absolutely die
tntes the price which must be paid for
coal in the wholesale markets, besides
fixing the amount Of coal that shall he
marketed each month. ana from its de-
cisions there IL NJ appeal.
This process OF Starving the market
Is in fact It's most powerful means OF in
tiuencing prices, and of apparently iusti-
flying in the eyes OF the public an ad-
vance In rates which would otherwise
he entirely without excuse. In other
words, it is one of the man tricks
which the conspirators have learned in
their long experience in daceivinT the
public. and which they have always
been able to practise successfully, de-
spite the efforts OF the courts and the
Legislatures to prevent them.
1t Is easy to see how the railroads
nave succeeded in driving individual
operator out of the market. 1t IL sim
every approach to the anthracite coal
fields, and not a ton of coal could be
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 moneyei cor
poratiOns and sell ont at any reason
able figure. In this way, tn" railroads
nave gone on and are acquiring land In
the coal regions, until now the! hold
more than nine-tenthS Of the entire field
In their clutches.