Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-01-26
A GREAT COAL TRUST.
PROPOSED PLAN TO COMPLETELY
CONTROL THE TRADE.

individual Operators to he bought On,
by II Twenty NJ MiIIion- Dollar Compapv
A Central Selling Agency To BE Estab
liShed and knte-Cutting to Cease.
For more than a month past ther,
have been rumors in circulation that a
wonderful chBnge is about to take place
in the system of dealing with anthracit,
coal These rumors were first whisper
ed about by local people who are in
positions to catch early news of the Goa
business, and later the reports of an i'm
mense deal appeared in the metropolitan
press. So far the details OF the new
arrangements are kept in the back
ground, but the following, from th,
Philadelphia Press, sheds some light OF
the matter:
The interest taken in anthracite Goa
shares during the past two weeks ha
been based upon the expectation tha
there would be announced shortly ;
comprehensive plan for the barmoniza
ton OF the differences which have beer
so fateful to that industry for mum bel
OF years. During this period many at
tempts have been made to reconcile
trade difficulties. There has been con
tinued progress during that time toward
concentration of ownership, which il
was long ago recognized must be the
basis of any permanent and effective
plan.
1T was supposed several years age
that the great owners of the coal-carry
ing roads had the matter in their own
hands, but it was found after having
obtained control of the carrying in
terests that
THEY DID NOT HAVE FULL POWER
over the conduct of the trade. There
lore last year, and even the year be-
lore, under apparently favorable cir
cumstances, neither rates nor prices of
coal were substantially maintained, and
during most of the period the trade was
run at haphazard.
1t is now proposed to take another
step in the direction of ownership, which
is supposed to be as important as any
heretofore taken. The scheme is a
grand one, involving the formation of a
company of, say, $4,000, 900 capital,
which will be used for the acquisition of
such powers as are necessary to COM
pletely control the trade. The first
thing to be done is to acquire control of
the production OF the individual opera
tors, which amounts to from 80 to 80
cent total output of coal
"This has been found to be an absoln-
tely necessary step. Indeed, ut this mo-
ment, the individual producers of coal.
some of whom are actual owners of coal
land, but most of whom lease their terri
tory, have formed the plan of
BUILDING NEW RAILROAD
to tide, for the sole object of CARRYING
the coal that they originate. This
scheme Is more or less in the air, but it
has been considered of enough import
ance to greater interests in the trade
and the large owners OF coal lands and
producers to take some means of putting
an end to the project, and this can only
be done by the acquisition of the indi-
yidual coal producers, and it is stated
that overtures have already been made
to the individual coal producers located
on the Erie for their collerles.
1.-The roads chiefly interested. so far as
individual coal production is concerned,
are the Lehigh Valley, the Erie and the
Lackawanna, and the scheme OF acquisi-
tion involves distribution of this ton
mage in such way as to satisfy, not
only these carriers, but the other great
companies who
WILL PUT THEIR MONEY
into the new scheme. This will raise
questions that will be difficult to solve.
but IL the plan really takes definite
shape there will be no insurmountable
object.
III the plan OF buying up the indi-
vidual operators, which notwithstand-
ing the public illusions already referred
to, is in tentative form, there will no
doubt be resort to the selling agency
plan, and all the anthracite coal mined
will be disposed Of from a common CEN
ter at fixed prices. 1t would be neces-
sary to adjust other matters OF more or
less Importance, but with the individual
production under control and the CEN
tral selling agency in operation, the
producers and carriers of anthracite
would have full and complete control Of
that industry"
1t will be noticed in the above that no
provision is made for the miner. His
interests are a secondary consideration.
Funeral of John r. Wagner.
The funeral of the late John r.