The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-06-06
ENORMOUS PROFITS
Coal Trusts Unlawful Gain Not
Shared With Labor.

ShAfSu WIN A4luo1s
Ns.e YorSs SUN Special Service
Chicago June GA special to the Rec |
ord Herald from Wilkesbarre, Pa, says:
Large profits are made by the corpora
lions and firms Engaged in the anthracite |
coal business. Their profits are so gener- |
Gus that there is no economic reason |
why they should not grant at least part
of the demands made by their employees.
The profits on anthracite coal, after TAX |
ing out the cost of mining and a reason
able allowance for hauling to market
is at least equal to the entire labor cost
of getting the coal out of the collieries
and upon the cars for shipment. In addi-
ton to working under an Anticipated and
unjust system, labor in the anthracite
70 fields does not get it's fair share of the
profits of its toll The monopoly trust
organized by ]. Pierpont Morgan, W. K.
Vanderbilt and other financiers takes more
than it's rightful share. Any pretense
that economic considerations will not
permit an increase of wages, a shortening
of hours or a reformation of the system
is a hollow sham.
Nearly all of the called Independent
operators have acquired comfortable, some
of them large, fortunes. They made
money even while they were fighting the
railroads Now that they have permitted
the railway combinat ion to bride them
into peace with IS per cent of the gross, 1
they are getting rich faster than ever.
If any operator has failed In business
it is because he would not come in and
- join the monopoly. :
AS a result of monopoly control, hard
coal is sold from so to rs cents ton
higher than the economic conditions war
rant, and that much higher than would
be the case were not interstate trade
unlawfully restrained by conspiracy to
suppress competition. Placing the un-
lawful part of the profit as low as so
md irxyo will
probably show that it is much higher
that makes S26,500,000 a year unlawful
profit on the. 5000, 900 tons sold, tidy
sum- surely; a sum by the side of which
the $S,D0O,o00 or 81 1000, 600 concession to
the miners, which would settle this strike
in theEtWinkling of an eye, seems inslg-
nificant .~. --.
Pierpont Morgan, w. K. Vanderbilt
and their associates, were tempted, by
the possibility of large profits to attempt
a monopolistic combination in this Held.
They succeeded They are reaping the
profits, and with them are rehabilitatlng
railroad properties, full of watered stock,
which thrived but poorly during the COM
petitive era Now they are met by an
other monopoly, that of the labor which
produces the golden eggs, and out Of their
plenty they have so far declared they
will yield not a penny; they coneede
nothing; they have nothing to arbitrate.
In its final report the United States In
dustrial commission declared that the
railway companies controlling the anthra-
cite business charged too much to
transportation account and, besides, Jug
gled their figures so it was difficult to
learn their true import. = ~
The Reading company's report shows
that in 1899 their coal traffic earned .683
cents per ton mile, inclusive of soft
coal, which was carried at about one
third the rate Of hard coal. 1872. '.
Last year the Erie reported that all
its freight traffic-high-cl class and low
class together-netted 5s7 per ton mile.
The Pennsylvania and other large car
riers Of low class freight show an even
smaller ton-mile earning, = K q
3, To make their books balance the an
thracite roads figure the freight rate on
hard coal at from two t three times
what it should be; witness the Lacka-
wanna's s1.69 per ton for an average haul
of about 165 miles, or a cent per ton
mile. Soft coal is carried from the
Pittsburg district to the lake ports, a
West Virginia coal is carried to the lakes
at 81 cents per ton. In the west many
soft coal rates are even lower in pro-
portion. .e~
These are only a few of the many facts
that could be arrayed to show how the
hard coal trust has perfected its methods
and how by virtue of a monopoly COM
binatien in defiance of law it is mucting
the public on the one hand and on the
other is refusing justice and fair wages
to its employees.
PULLMAN CONDUCTORS MAY STRIKE
Chicago, June 6.-Through the medium oil
one of the most widely circulated petitions
ever known, conductors dining cars
sleepers and parlor coaches are preparing te
force concessions from the Pullman company
g On every irst-eass train in the country from
coast to coast and gulf to lakes, the peti
ton is being signed by the men in charge OF
the Pullman cars, and within a week it is
probable that the grievances of the $1,000
) conductors will be placed before Robert T
Lincoln, president Of the company If the
petition is ignored the conductors threaten tt
go on strike.
RICH GOLD FINDS
Phoenix, J. riz., June 6.-Particulars reached
here Of sensational gold strikes in Picacbo
Blanco county, north of Castle Creek The
main find was in exposition group, where al