The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-26
cOULD FIND NO COAL TRUST
,rroW,s HUNT rs OYER WITH 4
DISAPPOINTING DAY.

.. u..,pe.., Not Charfty-Hsving MADE No
none, 10 1895. they Tried to Mako sene
,sos-Hnd q sort OF Agreement or Aiot-
,,.r,, which They Didn't lave zip TO and
,~s,.h ur. No. Expired-Csnr rx Prices
Arbitrarily and SELL Coal. Toe. Because "
~. Too Dear II Won't sei-an Amusing
..x,c,,m IS or the sugar Monster and How
-. managed 60 Lick the wicked Opprcssor.
NJ. moo, Of the monster hunters wound up for
u yesterday afternoon, and last night Senator
,,,ov and the whole crew went back to Albany.
T,ov were as jadod and tired a lot OF men as
ND he found in n weeks travel. Ono OF them
oonfessed to a Sun reporter that the strain ofthc
h,n, had been simply awful; that he hadn't had
f. rlgbt's sleep in the last two weeks; that his
.,nmber was broken with dreams OF monsters
u,o.t frightful to contemplate.
"Wbv" he said. IT would wak up In the
,,,adIe OF the night and they would DO dancing
ali over mc-thc room would be full of the most
,o,r,ble looking COLLINS that you could imagine.
Thsv were like the things James whitcomb
prev used TO warn the kids against. Ugh! 1t
,.tos me shudder to think OF II. Why, I would
,ust get of in sleep and these things labelled
sugar Tobacco Wallpaper and Coal
would pick me up, hurl me down. down. until
voke IN in a cold perspiration.' Good Lord,
deliver me from such another experience"
The last official announcement Of tho com
mit,ec was that they were going to ask tho
legislature to give them until Tuesday, March
a tn recover and to make their report.
The examination OF the coal monster devel-
opcd the fact that in 1896 the various coal
carrying railroads had agreed to limit the
amount Of coal they would carry TO the market
"a the amount that was required to meet tho
demand. and that after making this agreement
thew all went of promptly and violated 1t. Tho
avreement, however. did have the effect OF In
cressing tho price OF coal TO a point where the
railroads that carried i II were no longer threat
sued with bankruptcy. as they had been in 1898.
The fact was also developed that OF the -. 20 OBJ
tanned for coal at tidewntcr. the railroads re-
tanned about 81 .55 as their share. This testimony
almost restored the faded spirits Of the monster
hunters. They looked at each other and APP
peared about to clap their hands in glee. Had
thew done a little ciphering they would have
found that most OF the coal that reaches this
market is carried 192 miles by rail; that that
made the average return to the railroads per ton
Der mile sOs-lO00 OF a cent. Taking from the
SIS the cost OF selling the coal In New York.
the cost OF maintaining agencies and offices and
clerks. and all that. the percentage paid to the
sellers brings tho average earning per mile per
ton down TO considerably less than 72-lOO OF n
cent, which Is the average freight rate of the
country. so that really the railroads get less for
carrying and marketing their coal than they get
for transporting other ordtnary freight.
COAL AGREEMENT OF 1896.
sam Sloan was the first witness. He said that
be lived in New York city; that he had been for
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
Vow. said Chairman Lexow with his old
time Tve-yot-you expression, now, Mr.. Sloan,
tell me. did the Presidents OF the various railroads
known as the coal carrying roads have a meet
ing some time in the year 1895 fo- the purpose
handling the coal. handling busincssf'.
Yes, sir, / think they did" said Mr.. Sloan.
pulling HIS Peter Coopers and grinning. ,ou.,
Q-Was 1t at some time prior to Feb. /. 1896
Al think II was.
9-Were you PRESENT. Al was
some executive officer representing the follow:
Ing railroads. to wit: The Philadelphia and
Es sat4nf' ,S The pd isSisS S Sna Hiu 5ss New ,Se 'Sss sSS.
New York, Lake Erie and Western. the New
auehanna and Western. and the Delaware. Lack.
wanna and Western ~ presume that they
Now" said Chairman Lexow again with
deadly emphasis, at whose instance was this
Conference called D.
Mr.. sloan. =" l know that the condition of the
trade was such that a conference was asked for
gnveral gentlemen. the idea being to see II we
couldn't do something that would bring about u
little better times"
In answer to more questions Mr.. Sloan said
that his road owned a great deal OF coal and
was in the mining business as well as the coal
transporting business. He said that the charter
Of the railroad company provided that " could
own land and could mine coal, and he intimatcd
that he didn't see any reason why the committee
should find fault with It..
Then. said Senator Lexow, you were at
the conference In the interest OF both tho min
ing and transporting businessf'
II suppose so,' said Mr.. Sloan. II was pres
~portation business. l represented the railroad
company when i signed the paper asking. for a
: s@plT 20 co nast e9 3hn cnsi :,s as | st ,SSi , Sss
existed. II was held In the office Of the Trunk
Line Association In Liberty street. That associ-
most Of the coalcarrying roads are members OF
he association"
In answer, to the next series Of questions Mr..
eloan said that at that meeting statistics wero
and transported By the various companies, and
Of co al s Or IL" per Sss %sa Of sse TO Sb 5as a% wSIes
was to be carried by each company for the en-
suing year. Chairman Lexow tried to get him
~tocarry. Lexow had before him all the facts in
ne shape o. newspaper clippings which had
!eagc 10 the papers. to produce the evidence on
which their assaults on the alleged coal com
snation had been made. Mr.. Sloan said that
;icspt that tS" his own an ROAD q. IF Thdp f DeiaMsTs'
hise ss and Western was down to carry
vas there anydisagreement as to the allot-
Tse aa demanded the master hunter. Mr..
sioah grinned, as much as TO say, II guess you
never attended a meeting of railroad superin.
.nsnaents, and he answered: My. my, there
ROADS DIDN'T LIVE Up TO 1T.
,2-But II was harmonized before the con-
eehce adjourned A.-WeL, they called II
nHrnohy, and then they went out and didn't live
uPto the agreement.
Y5Wel, the several allotments were sup
posea 20 be binding, were they mott Al sup
- Ihey were, although We didn't agree TO DO
@una ny any OF them. We simply acQuiesced
sSJneraiiy In the principle that II was a good
tSsn SoI hSt 70 bring any more coal TO market
S-pd the other companies acquiesco In the
C6, unwillingly.
soogt the size OF IL.
IN, NGw," said Chairman LeIow, when they
nnSSne conference on that occasion wasn't it
M mresstood that the honor OF the various gentle,
iotmm,wss pledged TO tho maintenance OF tho al.
"sTents mat had been made r.
so, uoh think | could say that" said Mr.,
ssjNs, once more twisting the Peter Coopers and
IN, q wide, generous smile. don't think
facf asnyO3dy pledged his honor. You soc, tho
dIdnt su9eegutnt events showed that they
IN and Mr.. sloan widened his smile.
49,. " el, said Chairman Iexow. - van n,ean IN