The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-07-12
Operators Expecting Profits From
a Dearth Of Supply.
STRIKERS VERY CONFIDENT
Missionary Influences Among the
Miners in West Virginia Work.
ers Ready to Yield to Argument.
Plenty of Coal on Hand, But Not
in the Market.

ant evidence mere OF IL COIhci III Nohi' am
Of the astounding rise in price in one week
OF more than 100 per cent.
The great cities OF the West, with tteirin-
dustries already beginning to feeitbe impulse
of better times, are face 70 face with a coal
famine 1t is famine through inanipula-
ton. made possible by the strike. There is
coal enough. and it is Eot in the market. 1t
is being mined in the four great coal fields
of WesS Virginia, in Western Illinois and Ia
a few Ohio mines. 1t is being put in cars
and held.
PIttsburg, with billion tons ofcoal Units
eternal hills, has aImosta coal famine GER
tainly coal panic. 1t is a case OF coal, coal
everywhere, AMI not a pound tobuy. a nan
applied toa well-kBown coal Operatorwithih
rorty-eight hours for carload OF coal u
keep his oil pumps going. He was told he
could not haveit This operatorhas several
hundred thousand tons of coal and wants
,nore thauSI 30 forit. 4 week ago he was
selling and delivering coal at 30 cents
This is one of many instances. shrewd
onerators went into West Virginia the day
before the strike, and made contracts ior
coal at the then market piice. The west
Virginia operators were glad 10 make the
contracts, and so were the mine owners
In Cambria, Mercer and La wrence couhueS
One Of the largest coal operators In Pitts
burg had an offer from TINS locality oI
ready supply OF coal at 50 cents two days
after the strike OF course 1t was &C
c.Dted. and the same coal, unless the coal
corner is pricked, viii be sold by the PITTS
bury man at a profit of 80 per cent.
An oDtTator who has three mines sun
r,,uniug was up In the Cambria district yes
ter,,ay getting coal with which to fill his
surplus orders.
The Port Royal Coal Company, whose
mines are closed offered on Friday To sci!
West virginia coal at 81 per ton III re
ceiv,d 500 ca rloads that day. The trans
portation OF this coal could De elItteu
without difficulty. because II did not nave
to cross the ONO River ana run the 2ahIle'
~ the striking Ohio miners, as the lake
trade coal will have 10 DO TINS same
company on Saturday morning sold coal
in fifty-car lots at 81 20, aud that day re-
ceived 800 more carloads. The price on
SATURDAY afternoon at 5 O'clock rose To
81 so, and the company would not sell
coal at lower price.
There are less than 100000 tons on the
river in and around Pittsburg There are
between mere and Alliance, OHIO, about
fifteen train loads AL this coal Is being
held Cor an advance. Some OF 1t was on
it's way South by water, but it was de-
layed by low water. Some Of 1t was on
It's way by rail to the lakes, and was hello
20 await the rise in price that was sure
to follow the strike.
This amount OF coal would be mere
bagatelle, with all the mines shut down,
but IL will not be sol q 10y the owners until
the price goes higher, or u1til movement
Of coal from the South breaks the market.
There will be a great scrambling for coal
In Pittsburg today, and there viii be fur-
Their sensational developments in the great
gamble that is on.
TIE opinion of the operators here is
that New York and other Eastern cities
are In no great danger OF q soft coal fam
inc. The bulk of New York's supply is
drawn from the mines OF the CIearfield re-
Beech Creek and CIearfield lines of the
Vanderbilt system carry this coal to tide
1t is probable that, should there BE- any
restiveness there, the operators would
give them an advance, just as the West
Virginia mine owners have done. In
the FalrmOnt region Of that State the
miners are reported to have secured an AL
vance Of 3 cents a ton and promise that
every time coal advances so cents a ton
they viii be given an incre ase of 10 cents
. ton.
representative OF the Monongahela
Coal Company, of which Senator stephen
B. Elkins is part owner, Is here lookiDgovsr
the field and waiting for coal to go even
higher before he does business. He has
not made any contracts as yet.
All the railroads a re threatening, in case
coal becomes higher to hoist the coal out of
the barges along the river and confiscate II
for their engines The legal right Of the
railroad thus TO cOnfisoste coal-of course
pa wing for it's to he tested in the courts
The coke companies of the COnnellsville
region are threatening 10 join West yir-
ginia in shipping coal to the market. They
10 not now sell coal, and their mines are
only run to half their capacity. The miners
in these pits have served notice that they
will strike the very minute the owners begin
to fill contracts for coal.
The Laior League of Western Pennsyl-
vania. composed of about all the labor or
CARNATIONS in this end of the State, passed
resolutions last night offering financial
aid to the coal strikers, and an assessment
will be levied on all the membres.
Two labor organizers leave today for
West Virginia to try to get the miners TO
strike. One of these is W. A Quincy, a
member of the Amalgamated Association
of lion Workers, and the other is the Rev
Vincent Gree n a colored miner. The Rev.
Mr.. Green came here three years ago as
noI,-union miner to help break the strike.
Since then he has seen the error of his
ways. When the miners tagged and would
not strike last Tuesday he went down on
his knees IN the coat pit and prayed fer
vently. The men yielded to his prayers
and threw down their tools. Green is ex-
pected to do great work among the COL
ored miners o: West Virginia.
COAL MARKET OPERATIONS