Bisbee daily review., 1902-06-11
ENORMOUS PROFITS IN COAL.

ttN WAL.
 Walter Wellman, the Washingtou correspondent of the Record-Iierald, has been in the midst of the anthracite region since the beginning of the
 strike. He has studied the situation from an impartial stanpoint. and gives
 it as his opinion that the coal barons are much to blame for the present
 troubles and that a concession of the
 larger dmands made by the miners
 would not reduce their profits to even
 a decent figure. We take the follow
 ing extract from one of MT. Wellman's
 recent letters:
 Large profits are made by the
 corporations and firms engaged in the
 anthracite coal business. Their profits
 are so large that there is no econom-
 ic reason why they should not grant
 at least part of the demands of their
 employees. The profit on anthracite
 coal after taking out the cost of min
 ing and a reasonable allowance for
 hduiahS to liehi hNN, 10 Ut iNoSt SRNoi so the entire labor cost of getting the coal out of the collieries and upon the cars for shipmnt. In addition to work. ing under an antiquated an unjust sys- tenn, labor in the anthracite fields does not get fair share of the profits of its toll. The monopoly trust organized by J. Pierpont Morgan, w. K. Vnderbuilt and other financiers takes more than its rightful share. Any prtense that economic considerations will not per init an incrase of wages, shortening of hours or reformation of the system is hollow sham.
 All of the so-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 combina tion to bribe them into peace with 65 per cent of the gross, they are getting rich faster than ever. If any operator has failed in business it is because he wouldn't come in" and join the mo- nopoly.
 As a result of monopoly control hard coal is sold from 50 to 75 cents T ton higher than the economic condi- tions warrant, and that much higher than would be the case were not inter- state trade ualawfully rcctrc:ccd by to suppress comptition. Placing the UT awful part of the pro fit as low as 50 cents a ton-and legal il- vestigation will probably show that it is much higher-that makes s26,- 100000 a year unlawful profit on the 53 900 900 tons sold. A tidy sum, sure ly; a sum by the side of which the s3,- DOC, 900 or s4,O0O,O00 concession to the miners, which would settle this strike in the twinkling of an eye, seems quite 
 "J. Pierpont Morgan, w. K. Wander bilt and their associates were tempted by the possibility of large profits to at tempt a monopolistic combination in this field. They succeeded. They are reaping the profits, and with them are railroad properties, full of watered stock, which thrived but poorly during the competitive era. Now they are met by another 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 concede noth- ing; they have nothing to arbitrate."
 Daily expressions from the press of the county is in sympathy with the miners in their present strike, and their cause being pronounced just by tn public sentiment, almost universal, will greatly increase their chances of ultimate victory.