The evening times., 1899-11-23
DEFYINa THE COAL TRUST.
Stxty-eight Independent COnaDanfe,
InauEurate q War.


l Inaugurate a War.
NEW YORK, Nov. 23.-An aggressive
war is to be waged against the power OF
the coal trust from this time on, and the
trust. foreseeing the action, has already
begun to retaliate. Tuesday night the
Erie. one of its roads, dumped a lot of
refuse on the route Of projected railroad
which its opponents are to build Rumors
| were in circulation that the latter would
strike back by destroying with dynamite
| the bridges of the Erie and the Ontario
and Western roads.
F! The first official step in the war against
the trust was taken yesterday at a meeting
OF the Anthracite Coal Operators Associa-
ton. representing an aggregate capital of
4 Sl1O, 100000 in the Waldorf Astoria This
association is composed OF sixty-eight in
! dependent coal mining companies and
| firms. All OF them were represented at the
| meeting.
| The prime object CT the meeting was to
take action relative to the proposed Della
ware Valley and Kingston Railroad. This
I road is to be eighty-one miles in length.
| 1t will run from Lackawaxen, Pa, to
Kingston. on the Hudson. AT Laekawaxen
| 1t connects with the Erie and Wyoming
road. short railway. fifty-four miles in
length. which runs through the heart CT
the coal mining district and is owned by
the Pennsylvania Coal Mining Company,
one of the independent concerns.
Without connecting road with ter
| minaI at tide-water point. the Erie and
Wyoming road is comparatively useless TO
the Pennsylvania Coal Company. To mar
ket its products it has to use one of the
large lines controlled by the caal trust, and
pay riiinous freight rate.
All of the independent companies have
been at the mercy Of the reads in the coal
trust. These are the Lehigh Valley. the
Erie. the Philadelphia and Reading. the
Central of New Jersey. the Delaware Lack
awanna and Western, the Pennsylvania.
and the New York. Ontario and Western.
To prevent the independent companies from
underselling the trust the coal roads have
charged them high freight rates. compell-
ing them to market their product at prices
about equal to these demanded by the
trust.
The Importance of the little eighty one
mile read from LackawaXen to Kingston is
readily apparent. Once constructed il will
give the independent owners OF the Lacka-
wanna, Lehigh Wyoming. and Schuyikill
coal districts an outlet at a tide-water
point on road free from the influence of
the coal trust.
The result will be that the independent
owners can sell coal in the New York mar
ket from % to 40 cents ton less than the
trust price and have a wider margin of
profit than they now make.
The eighty-one-mile road will run along
the bank of the abandoned Delaware and
Hudson Canal. Actual construction has al
ready begun.
The Erie road and the New York Onta
rio and Western will suffer particularly b?
the completion of the new road. The Erie
on Tuesday night took drastic measures
to interfere with the building CT the little
read II dumped ffty-two cars of cinders
ard refuse coal into the canal near Lacka-
waxen along the route OF the new road.
The obstruction is not a serious oUe
from an engineering standpoint but it
showed plainly, the temper OF the coal
Trust. News of this happening reached
the sixty-eight members OF the Anthracite
Coal Operators Association while they were
in session at the WaldorfAstoria- 1t may
have influenced the action they subsequent
ly took.
H. NJ HOore. Of Philadelphia. vice pres
idsnt Of the association. presided at the |
meeting which lasted three hours. The sit |
ration was gone over thoroughly. and it |
was decided that radical and decisive ac- |
tion must be taken. Resolutions, giving |
notice of defiance 10 the coal trust were |
Unanimously adopted
Tie siNty-eight members represented at
yesterdays meeting according to the sec
rstary of the association produce 80 13 per
cent Of the ,eisi output of anthracite coal. |
The aggregate mined in the past year was
Il 500, coo tons.
This fight has been brought about" he
said. by the roeds in the coal trust. They
charge two mills ton for carrying soft /
coal. but ten mills a ton, or five times as
much for carrying hard coal. There is a
profit in carrying soft coal at two mills
and the unfair discrimination against hard
coal is apparent on its face
George G. Williams. President of the
Chemical National Bank. and Frederic P.
Olcott. President of the Central Trust Com
pany. were among the ineorporators. The
president of the reed is Samuel Thorne. and
the vice president and general manager is
mis- son. W. V. Thorne.