The evening times., 1900-01-12
Coal.


less something providential or political
happens the people will in the compare
lively near future be in the merciless grasp
Of syndicated coal corporations as powerful
in the fuel regions as is Mr.. Rockefeller 5
pet octopus in the oil industry. The richest
coal mining lands in the country are being
steadily absorbed by shrewd capitalists.
and. as usual, the railways are playing
their part as an influential factor in the
process of consolidation. In fact il is ow-
ing largely to their power tG cooperate by
surreptitious discrimination that the gen.
eral movement toward monopoly is going
so persistently forward in the regions
where fuel is mined
Ii is stated upon excellent authority, and
the assertion is based upon mere than a
superficial knowledge OF the situation, as
well as its ramifying features, that the
anthracite territory in Pennsylvania has
long been dominated by railway interests
whose controlling position has enabled
them to advance hard coal prices almost at
will because of their ability TO regulate the
supply.
There has however, been one check TO
their cupidity in the shape of practically
unlimited field of bituminous coal, which,
in its original form. or as coke. has been
in many instances substituted for anthra-
cite Although the soft fuel is not fitted
for many industrial purposes, it has served
10 aid consumers in escaping from the eX-
orbitant demands of the hard-coal combine
But the public will not always have the
privilege Of playing the scattered bitumin-
Gus producers against the associated an
thracite corporations. Those who are init
mately familiar with the situation in the
fuel country declare that the bituminous
mines are now the objects of manipulation,
and are gradually being absorbed by rail-
way. coking and furnace-operatng con-
Germs. To be sure. many of the soft-ccal
producing properties are yet held by inde-
pendent owners in the Keystone State in
cslities. But the trust-railway schemers.
with their Characteristic ayidty for assimi-
lation, have been persstently grabbing up
the best producing territory lying within
easy distances of the transportation facili-
ties And, as their capital and influence
expand, it will doubtless be the old story
Of oil-f1eld concentration in a few hands.
The power TO buy and to force others to sell
will have the one inevitable result.
The trust-railway plan of action keeps
pace with the extension of steel highways
into new fields Only recently two
four hundred acres OF
coal lands passed into
the possession of a Pittsburg syndicate,
a mere sample of what is going on in the
mining regions. In a smaller way the
fuel areas of the South and other sections
are said to be gradually passing into the
hands of lesser trusts or allied interests
No power of prophesy is necessary to
determine with approximate fidelity the
result of this commercial
in the coal country
Simple logic will lead one to the
conclusion that the bituminous arti-
Gle will eventually be mined almost. il
not quite. exclusively by one gigantic cor
poration, or a number of allied monopolistic
interests, which equals the same thing.
Inasmuch as there is natural tie of sym>
pathy which binds combines, too frequently |
resulting in a compromise and capitalistic |
love feast when clash of belligerents |
would confer great benefits upon the pub |
lie, it is not to be expected that there will |
be any serious difficulty between the two |
monster organizations or groups of 8sso- |
,iated concerns, when the process of con- |
solidation has been carried to the limit |
There is small prospect that the anthra- |
;ite octopus will fall upon and seek to |
naim or cripple its bituminous brother; |
here is more likelihood that thu more ro- |
1ust of the two will calmly annex the |
)ther. thus creating an artificial Siamese |
uel trust to share the victims
Judging from the general tendency of |
his abnormal form of Enterprise. which
,ssays to fix prices as well as produce
the public has no reason to
xpect any beneficent result from the
movements toward consolidation and as
Imitation now progressing in the coal
ields. The only benefit to accrue will be
n the direction of continued concentra-
ion of public sentiment, which is cextain-
= shaping itself into crusade for cor