Evening journal., 1902-08-26
COAL SUPPLY
NOW 500 TONS
Little Of This Is Suitable
for Heaters
PROSPECTS BRIGHT, HOWEVER
Coal Operators SaV Present Fancy
Prices Will Not be Maintained
This Winter

Representatives of the Charles War
ner Company today estimated that the
entire stock OF anthracite coal in the
Wilmington yards at present would not
exceed 500 tons. and much of this is
buclwheat coal. Oven anthracite coal
dust, formally considered valueless, is
being sold at a good price It is used
mixed with soft coal by the manu-
facturera
These figures indicate that There is
practically NO coal ON hand Of the sizes
used for heaters and general domestic
consumption. Householders win be
unable to I'll their bins at the pre-
vailing price Of 50 a ton.
One Of the concerns that has reaped
harvest from the strike Is the VIII
mington Gas and Electric Company,
the consumption OF gas for heating
purposes being nearly double that of
the corresponding period Of last year.
Insurance Men Alarmed
Attempts on the part Of the private
householders TO substitute soft coal in
their bins for heating purposes will
cause the fire insurance underwriters
no little anxiety. Not only will
change Of CRATES be necessary 70 burn
the coal. but chimneys will have to be
refined and watched with the greatest
care to prevent fire. Coal dealers say
that in the ordinary heater Il will prac-
tically be impossible to keep q soft coal
nre burning over night, and the pros
poets are that the head of the house
hold win have to remain up all night
to officiate as stoker.
The nope, among the local dealers
Is that the strike will soon be broken.
and this hope, it may be stated, Is not
based on mere wish. Several deal
ers have returned recently from Penn
sylvania. and they all feel sanguine
from advices received from coal opera
tors that the strike will terminate
shortly after September 1. One dealer,
who has covered the entire question
most closely. stated yesterday that no
had been informed in Philadelphia last
week on the most creditable authority,
that the operators would make conces-
sions to the miners within the period
OF the next two weeks that would sat-
isfy the leaders. He said this conces-
sion would perhaps never be known to
the world at large, as such an open
announcement would give a great
impetus TO the extraordinary demands
OF organized labor and would tend to
foment trouble In many other quarters.
The settlement would be agreed upon
privately, he stated, in a manner not
humiliating to either side.
In answer to the query why this ac-
ton was not taken at once, he ex-
planned that as It was a rule for miners
to take several days holiday on and
after Labor Day, the operators. not
caring to have their mines idle those
DAYS and yet running at an expenses.
! had decided to wait until after that
time before making their joint an
nouncement Of concessions.
! Not a single man spoken to yester-
day. however. held out any hope for
cheap coal this fall. and, while the
situation so far as an absolute dearth
may be cleared, housekeepers and every
user of anthracite coal might as we'll
prepare themselves TO pay from $500
to $400 per ton more than they did this
time last year.
No one attaches any faith in the
stories being. circulated about the utili-
zation OF street dirt. peach stones. etc,
as fuel. and they are treated as a joke.
The very scarcity OF them makes the
idea impracticaible. so it is TO coal that
the present generation must turn for
artificial warmth and the thought OF
having to pay one-third more for 1t be-
cause Of a possibly senseless strike ia
one which is striking home to every
housekeeper in Wilmington.