The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-20
The Anthracite Coal Trust.

Chicago has had some severe wealth
er recently. and has likewise had an
opportunity to feel the pressure of the
hard coal combination upon her citi-
zens. In consequence a wall comes up
from the head of Lake Michigan which
is intended. judging from some of the
adjectives used. to be heard with eff
feet down in Pennsylvania, or New
York. or wherever the combina ton is
supposed to have it's origin.
That an understanding does exist
among the anthracite coal operators of
Pennsylvania for the control of the
output to the end that the highest
prices may be realized. in the event of
period of great necessity in the line
of consumption arising. is beyond all
possibility of doubt. The fiagrancy of
the practice is as thoroughly appre
ciated and as Vehemently denounced in
New York city and other points in the
East as in Chicago and other points
of the West. This condition IS the re-
suit of the exercise on the part of
operators of a mercenary spirit whose
viciousness no means have as yet been
devised of sufficient determination
energy and comprehensvenes of legal
scope to control.
The agents of these men. when ap-
preached upon the subject. simply eX
plain, parrot-like. that the question IS
one that is exclusively governed by the
law of supply and demand. If, in the
stress of hard weather and extremely
low temperature. the consumption is
doubled in quantity and a coal famine
approaches, the price is corresponding
ly advanced. and this without any re-
gard to those upon whom the hardship
falls. No matter what may be the
miseries inflicted, the more intense the
suffering the higher the price is driven
under the operation of the law Of
supply and demand" If the output is
found in midsummer to be excessive
at the mines. the shafts are closed on
the plea of lack of orders or surplus
of stocks. whereas if common honesty
and humanity had any association
with those in control of operations the
work should go on to the end that
something like normal supplies and
correspondingly normal rates should
prevail throughout all seasons of the
year. II Is OIlS VI Tie lllldIllcS Gull
nected with the coal mining business
that heartlessness begins at the mouth
of the shaft and extends to the hearth
of every one in the country, no matter
how poor he may be. who must depend
upon this product of the earth for
warmth in severely cold weather.
There exists no excuse--there can
never be an excuse invented. in view
of existing means of mining and of
transportation-why the supplies of
hard coal should not be maintained in
abundance at every point east of the
Rocky mountains. from the Canadian
boundary to the Gulf of Mexico. What
if the markets are flooded with coal
and the storage room is replete with
stocks? Nobody who can pay for it
wants it for nothing. All the opera
tors have to do is to turn out the coal
a product of nature for mining which
at a profit maximum and a mini
mum figure of cost have long since been
determined-and put it on the market
in such supplies that more than frac-
tional fluctuations in price shall not be
possible. This would be honest deal
ing Wheat and other cereals may
fluctuate because these are subject to
surface conditions, such as floods.
droughts and failure of crops from
various causes. But coal should be COM
paratively stable in price at all sea-
sens Of the year.
1t is well that Chicago is aroused,
and it is time that this trust. which
strikes at the home of every poor man
in the country. should receive some
thing more than a mere rebuke.