The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-23
New England's Pres
ent Supply is Very
Small.
WARM WINTER HOPED FOR.
Will Mean Much to Man
Qfacturing Indus
tries.
WARM WINTER HOPED FOR,

The universal opinion in the New
England states is that unless the ship
ments Of anthracite and bituminous
coal become greater there will be coal
famine in this section of the country.
ALL over the United States there is a
shortage of coal and in some of the
western states the railroad companies
are taking coal for their own use that
is being shipped over their lines. The
reason for this shortage is two-fold,
one being the scarcity Of cars, and the
other the increased consumption.
, Many mills and factories which have
been idle for years have been started
up and this has created a larger de-
mand for coal.
| 1t is thought by the anthracite coal
officials that there will be no famine in
this fuel as the shipments west by the
great lakes has been practically
) stopped and within a short time the
shipments to tidewater points will be
considerably larger. In some Of the
| storage yards there is very little coal
and as fast as coal arrives it is loaded
| on vessels and forwarded to points in
the east. Unless there is a sudden cold
to meet all present demands. There is,
however, a shortage of bituminous coal
and many plants which formerly used
| nothing but this fuel are now using an
thracite.
NEW ENGLAND SCARED.
At a number of towns in the far
east the outlook for a large supply of
anthracite coal for immediate con-
sumption is not very bright. At Ban
gor, Me- there is a lack of coal and
this most likely will result in the clos
ing up of many mills and other estab-
lishments in Maine unless there is an
| open winter The stock of anthracite
for stoves and furnaces is about equal
to the demand but there is a consider
| able shortage in the supply of bitumi-
| nous coal such as is used in factories
and by the railroads. 1t is said that
the scarcity of soft coal is greater now
than ever before.
| AT Providence, r. l., there is a good
demand for coal There is a shortage
here as elsewhere and some of the coal
| dealers are apprehensiYe that there may
be famine but they do not think there
is any reason for expecting any i'm
mediate difficulty. The price Of anthra-
cite in this city has been advanced so
cents ton Of 1000 pounds, from S5.25
to $b.75. Some coal has been sold at
wholesale at retail price The manu-
facturers who have been using soft
coal are using anthracite wherever it
| is possible.
IMPORTING ENGLISH COAL.
| The situation at Portsmouth. N. H..
| is fairly good and the dealers state they
| have enough coal to last them all win
ter. They do not expect any trouble
and if the warm weather continues for
a few days the stocks on hands will be
more than ample. AT Portland, Me-
the coal dealers say that unless some
thing unexpected happens there will be
no trouble in supplying all the coal re-
CURED. Some of the interior towns of
Maine, however, are not in such good
shape, and 1t is thought they will ex-
| perience coal famine. Some of the
| Dig coal men of the east have begun to
| import English bituminous coal, and it
is said that even after paying the duty
of 10 cents ton there will be a, good
profit in the venture.
Notwithstanding the scarcity of coal
| in the far west, reports show that as
compared with the same period last
year there has been about as much
coal shipped to these points as in 1898
So far this year the shipments to Mil
waukee have amounted to 561 900 tons
against $4,000 tons last year. and at
| Chicago the shipments of anthracite
| have been 965000 tons, as against 957. :
600. All this movement was by the
lakes -