The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-20
INDUSTRIAL TOPICS.

The entire property of the Alabama
Iron and Railroad company at Sheffield,
including three furnaces, with daily ca
pacity of 500 tons of pig iron, 10000 acres
of mineral lands, some large tracts of coal
land and a coking plant, has been bought
by a Pennsylvania syndicate. The fur
naces, which have been idle since after
their construction in 1889, will, 1t is said,
be Immediately put into optration, and the
entire property worked on large scale.
The new company will be known as the
Sheffield Coal, Iron and Steel company.
The original cost of the property was over
$1,500,000
At the recent meeting of the Anthracite
Coal Operators association, held at Hotel
Waldorf in New York, William Connell
was reelected president; DR.. Fl. NJ. Howe,
of Philadelphia, vice president, and G. d.
Simpson, secretary and treasurer. These
directors, in addition to the officers, were
chosen. Charles Parrish, of Wilkes-Barre; :
John Jermyn and 0. S. Johnson of Scran-
ton w. G. Payne, of Kingston; f. =.
Patterson and l.. A. Riley, of Philadelphia;
Alfred Walter, of New York; DR.. j. S.
Wentz and NJ. 8. Kemerer, of Mauch
Chunk; and George II. Myers, of Bethle-
hem. President Connell yesterday said
the meeting was a most enthusiastic one.
1t was decided to take ample measures to
protect the rights of the individual opera
tors. What those measures would be he
did not care to divulge. While at the
meeting he received a cablegram from c.
D. Simpson and party, dated London, ad-
vising him Of their continued health.
There is, says the Philadelphia Stock
holder, an apparent shifting of positions
in the anthracie coal situation so far as
the Reading receivers and the Olcott COM
mittee are concerned, and while their
avowed policy not to accept less than q
per cent. of the total business has not been
changed it may be said to be in process Of
changing. So far as we can learn this is
due to a growing belief among the men,
bers of the Olcott committee that possibly,
after ALL the theory that the Reading can
do as well, IL not better, with a larger
tonnage at low prices than a smaller ton
mage at high prices is errQneuos. Hereto
fore the claim has been in favor of the
large tonnage and low rates. but up to this
time neither the committee nor the re-
cevers have given out any figures to show
that their claim was well founded. An ex-
animation of the Readings coal ship
ments for the first three months of the
fiscal year, and of the operations of the
Coal and Iron company for the same Pc
rod, demonstrates that the theory, or
claim, referred to Is erroneuos. Shipments
aggregated 2,999,66l tons. or only 169, $50 tons
more. While the tonnage Tor the three
months was thus increased 1G9, $50 tons, the
Coal and Iron company's loss from mining
increased from $14,i21 for the first three
months of the last fiscal year to $337, ,977 for
the corresponding period this year. In the
period under review 1t Is important to
bear I'm mind that the Reading was pro-
ducing not less than q per cent. of the
total. The above indicates that the in
crease in tonnage has not augmented the
Coal and Iron company's earnings; on the
contrary, the loss has been disproportion-
ately larger Against this, 1t may be said
the benefit wasto the railroad company
from q heavier tonnage movement. But
the figures of that company do not even
show that. True, there was a slight in
crease In operating profit, but is was too
small--less than 100000 for the three
months-to be at all important. AS
strengthening the argument in favor of
smaller tonnage and higher prices, sup
pose the Coal and Iron company had
handled in the first three months of the
present fiscal year the same amount of
coal 1t did in the same period last year,
but had received so cents per ton more for
1t, what would the result have been?
Simply, that 1t would have had surplus
instead of a large deficit. And had freight
rates on anthracite coal been maintained,
the railroad company would have been
also better off.