The evening times., 1897-12-23
CAR OF THE eaA TRADE
]. Pierpont Morsas's Gigantic
Scheme U1felded.
CONTROLS The ENTIRE Fl OUTPUT
He will Try TO Restore Ha rm0ny in
the BithminOus Regions OF All
Eastern States-A Gain of From
Twenty TO Twenty-Five Millions
Yearly.


that the big coal-selling combin alton u
the anthracite railroads, whereby ever,
ton Of that product is to be doled out by a
snpreme head, is only q part Of a vast
project for the controI of the entire coal
industry in the East.
j. PierpOnt Morgan's pian involves the
creation ofa similar central selling ag .ncy
to cover each Of the great bitumnUls coal
districts Of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Vir-
ginia, Indiana and Illinois, and , lniforn
working arrangement between them u al
shall forever put stop orate cutting, md
Decentralization of the trade.
There two great interests Inv olive oapi-
tai Of between $500. 100000 and $40 :
O0O, 900 in tie case Of the anthracite coal
districts and perha ps $5O0, COO ,OCO In he
case of the extensive bitnnlinous territtrr.
1t has long set med to be = hopeless task
to bring about anything like organization
among the soft cCal interests. They are
| 20 multitudinons and div erse, and sub.cc
to SO many varying conditions, tfat riles
which would work In one locality are
| frequently useless in another.
The anthracite coal magnates, ho'-e''er,
| have long realized that il they want 10 ON
| bat successfully with the hard coal .itia-
| ton, proper restrictions must be placed IN
| soft coal, for when the price of the latter
| product is down on rock bottom, it is a
| hopeless task to place the anthracite trade
Oh paying basis. II anthracite prices
were put up too high, bituminOus coal
would, to n large extent drive 1t Oat fthe
| market, except for household purposes. 80
that the greatest enemy OF high prices for
| anthracite is bitumin Gus COAL.
Accordingly, when j. Pierpont Morgan
and his associates made up their minds.
some time ago, to settle the anthracite coal
situation, they determined to strike at
the root OF the evil. and remedy the hi.
luminous coal trade. Mr.. Morgan and
some OF the other anthr acite coal mag
mates are Interested in bituninous coal
properties. Mr. Morgan Is the controlling
spirit in the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail
road. which has an extensive biturninoGs
coal territory in West Virginia. The Penn
sylvania Railroad owns extensive Id
luminous mines in PennsyIvania. The
Baltimore aud Ohio, which Sir. Morgan is
expected to reoreani2e. has large mining
interests in both West virginia and Ohio,
and he il recognizing the Hooking Valley
Road. which IL one OF the chief owners OF
coal lands in Ohio. These examples serve
to illustrat, the interests that are at
stake i'll the bitHraiiious districts. which
are aIso identified with the anthracit.
trade
Mr.. Morgan began To fix up the situation
in Ohio anG Eastern Pennsylvania sew
eral weeks ago, and the settlement or the
situation in the so-caIleJ Pfttsburg district
and west Virginia districts are ais. under
way. The Ohio soft coal trade was placed
on finn basis several days ago at a
meeting or the presidents OF the railroads
covering that territory. in this city. Mr..
Morgan had representative at the NEE
ing to see that they carried out the intended
program. 1t aroused \ great deal OF con-
ment in Wall street yesterday when 1t
became known that an arrangement had
been made similar to that proposed fer
handling the anthracite trade-namely,
the formation vi a Company to buy the
entire product fthe Ohio bitrEainous dis
tries, and which srall have a absoIute charge
of the marketing and sale of the output.
The companies are to agree upon he pro-
portion each is to mine and ha ul, and the
buying Cnpany il to callupon them record
ingiy, a. fast as it needs the Coal .or the
market. The companies interested are the
Baltimore and Ohio. Cleveland, LOrain ard
Wheeling. Columbus, Sandusky and I.uck- |
ing, Columbus, Hooking Valley and Toledo, |
the Pennsylvania Company, Toledo and |
Ohio Central and Wheeling and Lake |
Erie.
The MANAGERS of the Ohio railroads met |
In Columbus yesterday to complete the de- |
tails of the new trust. There will soon be |
radical change in the condition of things |
In that State, where the demor alization of |
trade had driven four coal roads into the /
hands of Ieceivers. President Burke OF |
one of these roads. said recently that he
knew OF coal having been hauled rom The |
mining regions to Lake Erie for 10 cents |
ton. The average distance Is about $50 |
miles, and the companies think that they /
are entitled to 80 cents ton. or one-half
q cent a ton mile. The price Of coal has
been pretty well maintained On the basis
of $l.7O ton at the lake, but 1t is ex-
pected by the new arrangement that they |
will be able to realize about 81 80 They
figure on SO to 80 cents ton at the
mines
A short time ago the presidents of the
trunk lines Interested In the bituminous coal
regions Of eastern Pennsylvania met In
Philadelphia to take steps similar to those
Tor the correction OF the evils in Ohio.
The Eastern Pennsylvania companies,
which include among others the Pannsyl-
'ania, Baltimore and Ohio, and Beech Creek
have reached a thorough an
erstanding. and they are waiting for .hc
ompanies In the Pfftsburg district to
cme to an agreement. This distric is
'oked upon as the pivotal point in the
equation OF the bltumfnous coal trade
iasmuch asitcontains several big operators
Who are not always subservient to the
wishes OF the railroads. II
1t will be welcome news 10 til 2 minersthat
$ sDon as the trade is placed on a solid |
asfs 1t Is the intention to make an ad-
ance in wages. The rate per ton paid
the Ohio district at the present time
b5 cents. while in the ,PittsburS district
is about "a cents. Wages have been IN
5 high as II OF 72 cents,
The bituminous situattonin West Virginia
In fair condition, and is ip controlo OF few
oai magnates who are ready u put tiiecen-
raj agerey plan into operation as soon as
he plan is announced, elsewhere. There
emain, therefore, only Indiana and ILL.,
ois where aggressive work is needed in
rder to place the bituminous industry on ,
basis similar to that in Ohio.
The word had gone out from the executive
'fices Of the several railroads controlling
lost Of the mining districts of those States !,
D preparcfor Re stOratiou OF rates andthe
OF an agreement similar to those =
nder wayir all Of theotlier Esate States
, prepare for a restoration OF the rates and o
lc formation Of an agreement similar to p
hose under wayin all Of the other Eastern
tates. As soon as the States are prop