Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-08-01

1t Is Claimed That 1t VIII Advance Min
ers' Wages to Their Former scaie-Priccs
to he Raised Twenty-Five Per Cent-Out-
look Good For Coal aud Iron.
Within the next three months tho man
ufacturers of the south arc TO feel the
grasp of tho biggest coal combine ever
formed 1t Is TO embrace and control al
most the entire output Of nearly all tho
mines in Virginia. Kentucky, Tennessee,
Georgia and Alabama, the total value of
which is nearly $50, 600, 900, and this Is to
be the capital stock of the organization.
The movement was started months ago
by n system OF correspondence among the
big mine owners, who began to feel from
the Generalization of prices in coal and
coke that something had to be done. When
sufficient interest had been aroused, q
meeting was hold at birmingham. That
was last month A few weeks later an
other meeting was hold In Atlanta, and re-
Gently the coal kings came together again
at Lookout Inn, holding two meetings.
For moro than year prices of coal and
coke have been going down and down
until coke is now being manufactured and
coal mined, it is claimed, at dead loss to
the companies. Steam coal within tho last
eight months has dropped from 81 ton
to any figure between 90 and 80 cents.
There has been no standard of prices and
no concerted action in tho regulation
of the market. Every mine and every
dealer has put its product on the market
at whatever figure It would bring, and the
fight between the big companies, though
noiseless, has nevertheless been bitter and
aggressive. 1t Is to stop this slashing and
cutting and to establish standard OF
prices that the combine Is to be formed.
In short, the avowed purpose Of the organ
ization Is to advance the price Of coal to
all consumers, but especially to manufac-
turers, 20 per cent.
Altogether decentralization will include
seven -eighths of the. coal mining interests
of the south and represent millions OF dol
lars. The mines interested arc located In
what Is known as the chief mining dis
tricts Of the southern states.
The effect In tho Generalization in the
prices of coal and coke has been gradual
decrease In the wages Of miners, until the
scale of wages Is now lower than it was
ever known to be In the mining districts
The coal men claim that II the combine is
formed they will be Able to restore the
wages Of the miners to their former scales
But somebody must loot the Dill, and the
somebody in this instance is everybody in
the south that uses southern coal, from
the manufacturer who buys 1t by tho ton
to the poor man who gets it by the peck.
The effect will ffot be generally felt of
course, until the winter, but an advance
of 25 per cent has already been made ON
steam coal at Atlanta, and similar ad-
vance will be ordered in all other southern
cities at the first opportune moment.
That these prices can be maintained is
believed to be without question, particu-
larly when 1t Is considered that there will
soon be throughout the south distinct re-
vival in the output Of pig iron.
Altogether the outlook for the coal and
iron industries of the south is bright.
Prices are advancing, and there Is not as
yet immediate danger Of overproduction
or foreign mpetition.-Louisville Cou-
rier-Journal.