The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-21
HARD COAL VERY HIGH
THE RETAII PRICE HAS ALREADY
CLIMBED TO ..F...5 A TON.

he price OF anthracite coal in the Twin
1l1eS TOOK another hop, skip and jump
yesterday and landed at the retail mar
ket figure OF $S.25 Il ton. an advance of
on cents over the price which prevailed
on Tuesday. The advance was due to
increasing demands and prices all ovet
stAe country, and was arranged on the
basis OF - cCal in Chicago, The prevail
ing difference in price between the TWO
cities he.ESl from 81 to-, $1.25s While fig
ules Sounu alarmingly large, there is no
puD2c, for, as Charles +. Wales of the
Pioneer Fuel company. expresses it:
Anthracite coal in the Twin Cities at
best IS largely d luxury and there are
many ways OF heating the home without
it's use
Asa, matter of fact there is still a con-
slderab.e quantity of coal to be delivered
to consumers at the prices that prevailed
prior 10 the strike. The winters supply
of anthracite. used almost exclusively
for domestic purposes, is to a large eX-
fei1ts contracted for at certain prices be-
fore Jack Frost notifies the pub lie to
light its furnace for The winter The 1e-
suit Is that persons who have madeE their
winter coal contracts will get about four
SeNenths OF it at the contract price ac-
cording to the estilna ties of coal men.
The coal fer the Twin cites is stored
at the mead of Lake Superior during the
months OF navigation and is drawn upon
as II is needed in this city. This coal is
brought from Buffalo, the lake shipping
port Tor the anthracite regions. du ing
l and ending with November. This wear
there have been four months of Shipping
May, June, July and August and whet h
er there VIII be any further sh:Dmf.r1ts
depends upon the result of the strike The
dealers Inquire on nothing more than the
four-seVenthS of the annual supply now
at Lake Superior, and are ready to ac-
cept as q fact that the other tnree-sev-
enths, which should be brought West
during September, October and Noyem-
beTs will not n ateria.ize.
Inc small dealers in the country towns
Will feel the advance in price more than
any one e:Se. In making contracts with
them the Minneapolis jotbers contract 10
deliver coal during the winter at certain
ngures, with the reservation that the
price will be dependent upon exiGenc.es
of production and transportation. This
clause viii permit them to advance the
price on the country merchant This res
erVation usually is not made in con-
tracts with individual parties whose coal
Is entirely for domestic use.
That there are small prospects OF suffer-
Ing through local coal famine is in
dicated by the fact that only about 1OO-
OG0 tons of anthracite are consumed in
this city in a year These figures may
sound large TO a layman, but to the man
who is familiar with coal and the rap
idity with which it can be burned thew
are very small. A dealer points out that
he has several customers here. each of
whom annually use more than 100 600
tons of bituminous coal.
Bad results of the coal shortage will be
a. a. III ~ HiULe apparent IN the East than
IN IN the West. Approximately about So
0oo,OVo tons of coal are mined annually
IN the anthracite region. and only about
70 per cent Of this is shipped west of
Buffalo. While the lake TRANSFORMATION
ana docks permit the winter coal for the
Northwest to be stored during the sum
mer and fail, no such arrangement is
made in the East, the supply being
brought in from day to day. In New
York and other large cities of the East
the supply, as a rule. will not exceed
more than is required for twenty-four
ems the entire Northwest is that in case
Of an excessive demand for coal in the
East the railroads, which own the an
thraclte coal beds, might ship the coal
perior back to Buffalo. to be distributed
from there to various Eastern points.
such action would leave this. part of the
country without any anthracite coal aud
the bituminous product and cordWood
would be in great demand.