The San Francisco call., 1903-01-12
THE COAL FAMINE.

~ EPORTS from the East concerning the short
age OF the coal supply throughout the entire
l. y country north of the Ohio sufficiently
numerous ard sufficiently definite OF statement to
render it certain that the situation serious and that
there is exagSeration in calling the shortage a
coal famine, for a considerable number OF people
cannot get fuel all and are suffering in consequence
At the present time New England is said to be
bidding as high as SIS ton for good coal and Sis
ton Tor the poorest quality During the recent cold
spell in Boston the city authorities had to up
the public baths and gymnasiums and permit the
poorer classes crowd into them to get warm since
it impossible for the charitable societies the
city to obtain fuel to warm the tenements. A report
from Chicago stated that the police had to tear up
the planking from wooden sidewalks in certain
quarters OF the city to supply fires to keep people
from freezing to death during a blizzard From
other quarters come stories almost bad and it
seems indisputabe that death by freezing threatens
many thousands OF American people in this year Of
unexampled prosperity
The Philadelphia Public Ledger in commenting
on the situation says The consumer is blaming the
retailer the retailers blame the mine operators and
the independent operators are blaming the railroads
The Ledger does undertake to fix the blame.
1t is to be noted, however that in other localities
cago Chronicle recently stated that 10000 tons OF
coal are stored in the yards OF the various roads
tering in that city, while the dealers are unable to
obtain enough supply their customers. In Kansas
it is charged that the railroads ARE confscatng a
large part of the coal that is shipped into the State
1t is said that in several the people have been
with difficulty restrained from seizing every of
coal that arrives In some localities factories have
had to close for a lack OF fuel, and thus the evil of
the situation is aggravated by throwing out OF
work when they most need it.
The mine operators attribute the famine solely
to the strike OF last summer. The Public Ledger
quotes IAN operator OF the Schuylkill district as
saying: The public is paying for its sympathy with
the strikers Had there been no interference the
part of politicians the strike would have ended
August and there would then have been sufficient coal
for immediate needs. The pubic's misplaced
sympathy has created market value for coal far
beyond its normal price. Moreover the mines are
getting deeper the of mining is increasing, the
cost OF labor by of strikes is advancing and
consequently the price of coal even when the mines
are being operated regularly will increase
There is of course an element of truth in that
statement In the meantime however, it is to be
noted that the normal output of anthracite for year
has been about 5,ooo 900 tons In 1891 the output
was reQuCeQ 10 S3OOOOOO eVlQeHly IOr puT-
pose OF raising the price. Last year owing to the
strike the output was only 3I4ooooo TONS and CON
sequently there is heavy shortage. 1t appears
that the trust has been trying to the mines too
narrow margin of supply. The strike found them
with no coal hand The public therefore suffers
not so much from sympathy with the strike as from
the action OF the combine in limiting the output in
any one year the actual needs OF that year that
there was no coal on hand to meet an emergency.
The railroads of bound to be supplied
with coal before any other customer and hence the
complaint that the railroad yards filled with coal
while the public suffers.