New-York tribune., 1900-09-24
NINE OWNERS IN STRAITS.
EFFECT OF STRIKE IN THE PENNSfL-
yANIA COAL REGIONS.

! Wukesbarre Sept % (SpeciaD.-To understand
the great coal strike and the position OF the opera
tors il is necessary study the coal business from
| irs beginning when it will be that the condi-
tons under which the various collieries are worked
differ so widely that the coal business Is not one
| industry but multitude
The first thing to be considered is the term cOal
regions" There three broadly defined regions
| First the wyoming and Lackawanna valleys; sec
ond the Lehigh region, and. third the SchugiA,.
| There are other smaller regions OUTSIDE ana ue
pendent upon these great divisions Whch oo nol
need to be considered here
The first means of shipping coal to market was
by canal-in the Lehsh region oy the LehlsH
Canal from White Haven to Easton; In the upper
end OF the Iackawanna and Wyoming region oy
the Delaware and Hudson Canal; in the lower end
by the Lehlgh Canal. and later by the North
Branch Canal, and in the schuylkill region by the
schuylkill Canal In the Lackawanna and Wyo-
ming regions the coal lies In valleys, and TO get 1t
to market it was formerly hoisted over the noun
tains by stationary engines at the top or planes
and then reloaded into the canal boats The canal
period extended from 1920 to 1850 although some OF
the canals not yet entirely abandoned In the
years Immediately before and after 1850 railroads
began 10 make their way into the coal regions. ex
tending and supplanting the canal facilities
THE RAILROADS INDUSTRY.
The great railroads of the s:ate-the Reading,
Iehigh Valley Delaware and Hudson, Delaware.
Lackawanna and Western and the Jersey Central.
with their feeders nine in all-were and are still
primarily coal roads. The coal trade built them,
operated them and has ruined some of them
Franklin B. Gowen. OF Reading. early conceived
the idea of great coal monopoly. He foresaw
that anthracite, which comprised in so small
an area would he the worlds fuel, and the Reading
road made extensive purchases and leases of coal
lands rightly divinng that the road would have
two chances of making money-tts coal mining
business its coal carrying. The other railroads
and private operators followed suit. buying coal
lands at rising valuation, from 800 an acre
in 1850 10 $1,000 at the present time AS the
price of coal lands increased the coal companies
leased the coal instead of purchasing the land.
Coal leases are drawn on the basis Of royalty ton
Of mined coal which varies from 10 to 30 cents.
There is also in every coal lease minimum clause
that is the companies Obligate themselves to pay
a stated sum year whether any coal IS mined or
not these payments to be applied upon the coal
when mined.
There are three classes of operators-the railroad
companies. the private corporations and the in
dvidual operators whose interests antagonistic
to each other and the interests of the last two are
antagonistc to the coal railroads.
PROFITS IN DISTRICTS VARY.
What it costs TO mine a ton of coal depends
multitude of things. In the Hazleton region the
coal is on top of the mountain; some Of 1t is out
crop and IS mined from the surface. stripped. as
il is called while the mines free from gas and
are drained by tunnels and inexpensive pumping.
This region is the field Of the great individual
operators-the Markles, Coxes. Haydens. Van
Weickles and Pardees-who have done their work
under the most favorable conditions.
IN the Lackawanna and Wyoming regions the
mines lie hundreds Of feet below the bottom Of the
valleys They gaseous and wet, and require
large capital to operate them. The cost OF mining
a ton OF coal contemplates not only the original
investment which. 1t has been pointed out, was
either IN the purchase OF land paid for by first
mortgage bonds or by leases. with the minimum
royalty which sticks to the coal operators like the
Old Man OF the Sea" but breakers machinery,
mules cars. wages. fixed charges, etc. The opera
,ght hat thex-c get q mini
mum royalty when they had paid for all the un-
mined coal, but a recent decision of the Supreme
eg 0f long a thev occupy the lana hough
they pay for the coal many, times over. If bust
times, for coal mine is not factory that can be
mission. Il is thing that requires constant at
tention Left to itself it begins to go to pieces at
once; 1t fills with water: it produces explosive gas
m 9 70 nd @ o COST Feqf e sna E2an mnd
is great and the waste while idle Is enormous.
The result of the policy Of covering the entire
to the great coal companies for when the monopoly
was apparently complete me rise OF t9e @ ntun6nons
went on.
HEAVY LOSS TO OPERATORS
Bituminous coal and coke take the place of hard
coal in many industries, and are burned in the loco
motives which take the anthracite coal to market,
Everybody knows that there are few operators
who could afford to pay wages. but by far the
greatest number either bankrupt In various
degrees Of approaching bankruptcy. In addition TO
the ordinary risks of o-her manufacturing lu-
dustries with regard 10 competition and huctua-
tons of prices, the mines, particularly in the Lack
awama and Wyoming regions. constantly sub
ject to disastrous accidents by explosion of gas,
fall of rock and the ruction of the breakers
by fire. any one Of which viii a mine TO be
idle a long period. All OF the coal carrying
companies are also operators, and they are salts
! fed TO mine the coal at loss provided iney can
get their price for transportation. thus put
/ ting the individual operator at a great disad-
! whole industry the fact that there is about
$4,000 100000 invested directly and indirectly in the
/ purpose of the transportation of coal, while the
! trade viii not support more than half that sum.
capitalists can tell. but the general suppostion is
/ that the whole industry VIII eventually have to be
: reorsanized.
! DTt TtFTCULTIEs OF ARBITRATION
In this region all local dealers sympathize in
way with the miners. because the former do bust
ness upon their wages while the capital invested
largely in the hands of owners living at distance
many Of them in England and Germany. Taken as
a whole, it would that the operators are
! justified in refusing arbitration as a unit. espe-
cial!y in placing their affairs under the control
/ priests politicians The public here and in the
cities are made suffer great inconvenience and
| considerable damage while the war goes but
astrOus. When the public gets tired OF this contest
| especially at this time Of year the war will he
| forced to speedy close
FATHER DUCEY ON THE STRIKE
COMES BACK FROM TROUBLED DISTRICTS
AND SAYS THE MINERS ARE RIGHT.
At the close of his regular sermon yesterday
morning Father Ducey told his congregation. In
! St Leo's Church. in East Twenty -eighth-st the
result Of his Investigations into the prevailing