Evening journal., 1903-01-14
.BAER TALKS ON
COAL FAMINE
Tells Mayor Low That Com
panies Are Doing Utmost
to Supply Fuel
CAN'T CONTROL INDEPENDENTS


and Representatives Of the coal car
rying railroads held an hours confer
ence yesterday to discuss the coal sit
uaticn in the five boroughs of Greater
New York. The railroad presidents
present were George f. Baer OF the
Reading; f. ID. Underwood, of the
Erie Fowler. Of the Ontario and
Western. and Thomas. of the Lehigh
Valley, and S. NJ Provost, of the
Pennsylvania Railroad. John b. Mar.
kle represented the independent op.
orators.
Mr. Baer. explaining the position Of
the coal roads said,
"Mr. Mayor keenly appreciate the
anxiety Of the public TO secure an ad.
equate supply of anthracite coal. /
can say, with a clear conscience, that
the companies I represent have done
and are doing all that 1t is possible
for them to do in relief OF the situa-
tion. The unfounded assumption that
there is a coal combination OF which
by certain newspapers. There Is no
such combination. am responsible
for the acts of the companies of which
l am the president, but I am powerless
TO control the action OF the other COM
panies and Of the individual operators.
"The companies l represent have
steadfastly adhered to the policy Of
selling coal to the public at reason
able prices. To protect the public /
have given notice to every dealer that
II he sells any of the coal purchased
from our companies at unfair prices
(by that mean at price in excess
of the normal profit which a dealer is
entitled to received we will arbitrarily
refuse to deal with him in the future
Some of the dealers assert that this is
arbitrary, and that we have no right
to impose such terms. Under ordinary
conditions l admit that such action
would be arbitrary. If IL turns out
that under the technical laws OF the
land the enforcement of such an order
will subject us to an action for dam
ages have nevertheless concluded to
take that risk
Fault has been found with the coal
companies because they have failed to
compel the individual operators TO sell
coal at reasonable prices, but so far
no one has ventured 10 tell us how
we can do IT, It is easy to start out
with the false assertion that we have
the power, but IL is not so easy to
show where we get It, or how We can
enforce IT, The prices at which coal
is sold by the operators 70 the large
companies Is based on the f. o. b.
market price, New York harbor. Some
Of the operators point to the fact that
many others have sold their coal at S8
per ton. whereas the circular price of
the larger companies I. o. b. New York
is only s5 per ton. Litigation was
threatened. The coal company hav-
ing these contracts was compelled to
face this contingency. Should the
courts decide that the price at which
we sold the coal purchased from the
individual operators was not the mar
ket price. but that the market price
was the highest price at which coal
was sold in New York. then there was
a possibility of having to pay from SO
to 81 per ton more for this coal than
we received. In justice to our stock
holders we could not assume any such
risk. and no fair-minded man could ask
us TO do il.
"But. without reference to the price
at which any one else sells coal, the
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and
Iron Company and the Lehigh and
Wilkesbarre Coal Company will con-
tinue to sell their coal at the present
circular price, and will endeavor (as
they have for the past two months) to
prevent coal dealers from charging
unfair prices on the coal these COM
panies sell TO them.
"The real cause of the present scar
city of coal and our inability to meet
the public demand, lies in the fact
that no coal was mined during the
summer months, and none was. there
fore. stored for use during the winter.
We are compelled in the winter
months Of this year not only to pro
vide the normal output of the winter
menths, but to overcome the deficit
caused by the non-storage of coal in
the summer months.
I'VE have dealt fairly with New
York in the distribution of our coal
We have tried to keep down the price
Early in the fall, before the strike
ended, at the suggestion of Mr.. De
Forest. I directed the whole output OF
one of the Temple Iron Company's
collieries to be sent to New York in
relief of the poor. We have responded
to every call to the utmost Of our abil
ity.
I'VE cannot ship all Of our coal t
! New York. The whole of middle ant