Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-07-29
COAL STRIKE is FELT
Local Evidences of Famine in An
thracite Already Mo-
ticed.
LARGE DEALERS sTEADYING PRICES
Shortage in East Will Absorb Output
After Work is Re-
sumed.

Inc CONDITION OF aHalrS brought
about by the strike of the anthracite
coal miners in the east has begun to
come home to the people of this vi
cinity, as many of them are learning
when they attempt to lay in a supply
for the winter. Those who already
have their hard coal or who have or
ders in for which the fuel is being
held by the dealers are fortunate as
the prospects are very good for a
famine of more or less serious pro-
portions next winter. No coal has
been mined for a number of months,
and no anthracite has been shipped
west from Buffalo since May 10.
The price at present is being held
steady by the Chicago and other
large dealers. y prospectus issued
to the dealers several months ago
provided for an advance of 10 cents
per ton until the first of September,
and this agreement is still in force.
According to the statement issued in
May it was agreed that the price
of anthracite at the eastern shipping
points should reach the Sc point by
the first of September. For instance,
the quotation for the month of July
$3.50 nominally, or a price of Sc and a
20-cent rebate. The first of August
the price will begin to be $500. So per
ton and 10 cents rebate. The first
of September the quotation will be
So straight in the east, and after that
no one can tell what will happen.
The July price, including shipping
charges and middlemen's profits,
makes the retail price here $3.50, with
% cents discount for cash.
Crisis at Hand.
The situation is not very happy to
look upon. a crisis or at least a rev
olution in the fuel situation in the
west seems inevitable Considerable
of the visible supply here is be-
ing held for regular customers, and
that is practically all the anthracite
there is around. None of ii is being
shipped, Notwithstanding that the
Chicago dealers and the shippers at
the lake ports are constantly being
prodded with orders. They reply
that they have nothing to ship. Some
persons have ordered soft coal in an
ticipation of the anthracite famine.
The chances of getting hard coal
here are small. Bad as the middle
west is pinched for soft coal the east
is still more at loss for il. There
il is almost the only fuel that is used,
and the fact that it is now a matter
of months since any anthracite was
mined there makes it clear that the
coal that is first mined will be CON
sumed there, and that none of il will
be shipped this far west until the
market there has been reduced to
the normal status.
Already Large shortage.
The shortage is given as 100000
bushels for the past three months,
and the bulk of that shortage arises
from the east. 1t will require a long
time to reestablish the normal mar
ket conditions, and local dealer is
authority for the statement that no
hard coal viii be received here until
November if the strike were settled
today.
Soft coal is also affected by the
scarcity of the anthracite. The soft
coal mines in the east have not been
worked for some time, and this short
ems the supply of it. Meanwhile the
mines in this vicinity are straining
their resources to keep up with their
orders, but the feat is impossible, and
the result is that the price is higher
than it normally is. Nevertheless the
chances are that the mainstay for
fuel this coming winter will be soft
coal, however soon the strike is set
tied.