The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1903-09-22
The Outlook is For Continued
Soaring.
Railroads Cannot Handle the Outputs
Of the Mines Ut
Present.
RAISE IS EXPECTED

The price Of coal this winter is
something that the people in Paducah
nave not worried over thus far, bu,
they will be worrying over it before
very long II reports are true.
The present price in Paducah Is 10
and IA cents bushel with q prospeo-
tive increase of another cent October
1. The price now paid is about as
much as the people here have had to
pay during the coolest part Of the
winter heretofore. There is apparent
ly no prospect of relief.
Loud complaints are going up from
many other cities Even st. Louis,
with coal at her door. is paying Is
cents. while they are raising howl
at Evansville because they have to pay
ten cents a bushel. Ten cents here
would seem like e ting it for nothing
considering what the people have to
pay.
In Paducah there is no reason for
the present price Of coal, except that
the mines can charge the price and get
it, and are doing it. 1t is said that
the miner does not get any of the pro-
fits, and neither do the railroads. The
demand for coal is simply so great that
it cannot be supplied with the trans
portation facilities, and as a result the
price scars.
A local coal dealer stated today that
another raise of one cent bushel
would probably go into effect October
1, as no dealers can get any coal al
present for October delivery. Late
on when the weather is cold, there
will be another lift. Said one dealer
today:
lone Of the big officials of our com.
pany was here the other day, and
asked him why the price of coal wa.
so high. He took out book he car.
ried in his pocket and showed me the
output Of the mines for every day the
past four months. He also pointed to
the number of cars furnished by the
railroads. and there were not enough
furnished in any week, on an average,
to move three days. output. In other
words. the number of cars furnished
could move only three days output
IN one week, leaving three days work
that there was no way to handle. He
said the result to mine owners wss,
that running the mines all the time
with the men to pay and the operat-
ing expenses to meet, and no way to
get q large part of their coal on the
market, they simply had to fix the
price of the coal they can handle at a
figure that would enable them to de.
fray the costs of running. And they
can get it because the shorter the So p
ply the greater the demand, the more
people will pay for coal to get it.
1.-THE official said further that there
was no relief in sight tor tire entir'
winter. He said that he b d just besI
to consult with the traffic manager o
one of the big railroads and was told
by him that the company did not hav'
the cars, did not have the motive pow
or even IL it had the cars, and there il
no way to secure either cars or add
tional motive power, as every car pos
sibly is being built every day in the
year. In addition, there are net
enough switches along the railroads tc
handle the amount Of business they
could get, il they had the cars and
power to handle it. The result is that
there will be insufficient cars to haul
coal during the entire winter, and
coal will accordingly be high"
The people Of Paducah can thus see
that they will have to pay two prices
for coal this winter. Much coal could
probably be brought here by river, but
1t seems the mine owners all charge
The same prices, and competition ap-
pears to be something they never think
of.