New-York tribune., 1903-01-27
T,ESTIMONY At BOSTON.
House Committee Probing Eastern
Coal Situation.


Boston Jan 26-The coal Investigating committee
appointed by the national House of Representatives
lost no time in beginning work in this city Today
The members reached here in the forenoon some
of them delayed, not arriving until altor ~
o'clock By 1880 they ready to receive tes'i-
mony at a sitting in the Chamber OF commerce
The investigating body includes Representa-
William S. Green of Massachusetts; Char'es f.
Lttlefeld, of Maine: Robert w Davis, OF Florioa.
Allan l.. McDermott, of New-Jersey ana ho"aiu
S. Minor. of Wisconsin CONGRESSMAN Lt'leiielu 70
chairman. The forenoon proceedings were loriianS
opened by Mr.. Littlefeld, who read the resolution
of the House appointing the committee outpheu
It's general purposes and plans. and invited any one
| OF the half hundred persons present VINO nao any
information which he wished 10 place peioie ''io
committee TO appear and be heard.
Henry T Shafer was the first to respond ne
asked to sworn, and after taking the oath sta'e
that he salesman for the Sterhns Coai coii
| pany which shipped its product over the Fehh-
| sylyauia road. He stated that he knew the cost
of coal at the mines was nominal ana the COST h'
| tidewater was nominal. The increased cost 10 the
! consumer he said due to eXorbltant proht-
| taking by those who controlled uahsporIdtioi
| This was an opnion he admitted and he said that
| he had no positive knowledge that his presumption
was correct. The sufferers. he contended' were
companies like his own who had contracts 10 HI a'
nominal prices and could not get COAL whlle specu-
| Iators without contracts able to get 1t anu
make money. In answer TO question he SAID ne
believed that the operators were taking advantage
| of the situation.
| His company he said, had found trouble with
shipping facilities, but the freight rate was S2
ton. In the fall of 1902 it about 81.
! MIR Shaffer said he did not think that many
small vessels carrying coal at present whlcii
| in former years had been driven out OF the pusi-
| ness owing to low freights. He thought that the
| Mccall resolution, suspending the coastwlse law
might relieve the situation in a. measure, out ne
could not see that ii would have great effect, as
| most foreign vessels not adapted for carrying
coal.
! His specific complaint that. while his COM
pany had nine hundred waiting TO be loaded
it could neither get them loaded nor hauled lie
thought the roads were doing their best to relieve
| this.
| Following Mr. Shaffer. E. B. Bowen, represent
ing the H. c. Bowen Company of Cheshire Mass
! asked to be sworn. He stated that his company
had received letters from four coal bearing roaos
refusing to transport coal He agreed TO lay this
| correspondence before the committee
Whitfield Tucks of Winchester, broker who had
trouble In getting COAL asked the committee TO re-
| quest the presence witness OF H. a ohahhell'
of Stansteda. Quebec. dealer he SAID ouylhg eoai
in Pennsylvania and selling it in Canada at 81 oo
| ron Chairman Littiefeld agreed to communicate
| with Mr.. Channel.
| George H. Sergeant, newspaper man. told OF
| Investigations made by him in the anthracite re-
| gions which showed that tire output compared Ia
vorshIv with that of other years and the cost at
the mines was practically the same. At the concu-
sion of Mr.. Sargeant's testimony recess was
| taken
Upon the resumption OF the hearing. E G. Pres
| ton secretary of the Boston Chamber of Commerce
| submitted statement showing that the receipts
of coal in Boston the last two years were as fol-
lows Anthracite in 1901 s30 $50 TONS in 1907 Sl
tons; bitumnous in 1901 1856 636 tons; in 1902, 2254
| 476 tons
| E c. Hamlin president of the Metropolitan Coal
| Company stated that the normal consumption OF
| anthracite in Boston day was four thousand
tons and the normal price between IS and 81. The
hfc r0rY1r1S ny
had great difficulty in getting coal, by reason Of
the strike. In to a question by Mr.. Little
field, he said that. while the coal roads produced
four-ffths of the output. IS per cent of the New
| England supply from the Independent opera
tors. He admitted that previous to the strike the
independent operators cut very small figure In
| New-England ports. In the last six months the
situation had been exactly reversed. He was asked
as TO the offers made by the companies to fill half
cargo at d uniform price approximated at s. a ton
| free board at Philadelphia, provided the other
half of the cargo could be secured from the inde-
pendents. Mr. Hamlin said that such offer had
| been made by all except OF the coal road com
panes He said that the Reading Coal Company has
such plan of loading barge with half anthracite
and half bituminous 1t the custom among Bos-
ton dealers to contract for btumnous coal, but not
for anthracite. Mr.. Litte6eld wanted the names
of the agents who made the proposition for half
| and half cargOes. but Mr. Hamlin would only give
the of the coal road companies in New
York and their selling agents To Congressman
| Davis Mr.. Hamin said his company was get
ting about double both of anthracite and btumi-
nous, compared with a year ago. Some of the
CargoeS cost than others, but he could not
tell who was making the proft. Mr.. Ramlin ad-
mitted that the companies might be recouping
sisting on abnormal profits, but he had no positive
information. In reference to the plan Of Congress
man Mccall TO allow foreign vessels to engage in
coastwise trade, the witness said he did not think
the boats would have opportunity to load.
Mortimer Williams. the New-England selling
agent for Samuel Heller & Son, of New York: mid
dlemen, said that he made a proposition to Rock
land and Portland Me. dealers in reference TO half
and half cargoes for a commission of per cent,
the cost to be about s. 80 for the Reading and SIC
for the btuminous. He admitted that he offered
bitumnous about ST a He thought he had
sold about 25 600 tons of coal during the season.
The committee failed at repeated efforts to get a
definite the question of price.
Z. &. Badus newspaper man, told of in
vestigation which he made in New-York in Decem-
ber. Representatives. of coal carrying roads, save
one, would give him nothing for publication. His
Investigations showed that the companies were
handling more coal than ever before, and 40 per
/ irrInr, tnrS,