The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1903-01-15
COAL HELD UP
BY RAILROADS
Thousands of Tons Said to
Be Stored in Yards in
Order to Keep Up
Prices.
JERSEY CITY WE'LL OFP
More Anthracite at Reasonable
Cost to Be Had Here Than
Anywhere in Tnis
Vicinity.
JERSEY CITY WE'LL OFF


Thousands of tons of coaEsare being
held up by the railroads operating in this
State, possibly for the purpose of secur-
ing ~ greatly increased rates, and people
throughout the east are suffering inten-
sely, being unable to secure this very
necessary commodity.
Not even during the coal strike was
there So much suffering as at present.
Coal is being mined and people would
have no difficulty in securing it if the
railroads would release it.
Right in the citv of Bayonne there are
thousands of tons of anthracite lined
up on the Central hailroad tracks near
Avenue A. This has been accommodating
for days and days with only very little
being released from day to day. IL is a
notorious fact that the operators do moth
ing to help relieve the present trying con-
ditions, and, judging from the present
state of affairs it looks as though the
people of the east would continue to
suffer from the want of coal
Within a radius of twenty miles from
New York there are 100000 tons of
coal being held at various points on the
Central and Lehigh Valley roads. Near
ly half of this amount is at Bayonne and
Elizabethport, and the rest is at Seeau-
Gus, Perth Amboy, Port Reading, South
Amboy and other coal points near by.
The daily arrival at Elizabethport ex-
ceeds 100000 cars, and more than 1 500
ears were counted on the tracks at that
point yesterday.
JERSEY CITY BETTER OFT
The residents Of this city are much
better off in the way of getting coal at
fair prices than the residents of New
York and points further East Here
coal can be purchased for $6.75 ton,
the price today, which is an advance of
twenty-five cents over the general rate
prevailing here a few days ago before
the real cold snap set in. The price is
likely to be higher in few days, but it
is only about onc-half of what New
Workers pay when they can get coal
The rate across the river is $12 and
$14. Even now there are over one hun
dred wagons waiting in line at the yards
of the Lehigh Valley and Jersey, City
Coal Companies on Grand street waiting
for a chance to get coal. Ninety per
cent of these rigs come from New York
City and the owners pay a large rate in
order TO secure supplies for their Gus
toners.
Dealers in this city are given the pref
erence and the New York men have to
wait for hours and sometimes almost
half a day before they are Accommodated
1t will be seen how hard it is for New
York people to secure coal. The rail-
roads are shipping but 1000 tons day
to New York about one tenth of what is
necessary to meet the demand
CAUSE OF CONGESTION.
1t was freely admitted that they were
tied up in New Jersey today several
Thousand more coal cars than should be
there, but the explanations offered for
the condition were various. Officers of
the railroads maintained that the conges-
tions was brought about by the freezing
weather following the snow and rain last
Sunday
They said that the coal in thousands
of cars was frozen so tight that it was
impossible to dump the cars without first
driving perforated iron. pipes, into the
coal and then forcing steam into it. Only
in that way, the railroad men declared.
were they able to get the coal out Of the
cars on the first three days of the week.
Some relief was offered today by the
r-is- fsy,1
loading cars was somewhat expedited.
In contrast with the explanation of
the railroad officers wholesale dealers
give reasons for impunging the motives
Of the retail dealers, and the retail deal
ers said mean things Of the wholesalers.
The retail dealers protested that the
selling agents of the independent opera
tors We're purposely holding back the
coal so that they could raise the price
higher than S1050, the present figure.
But the selling agents, while admitting
that they are demanding $40 and $1,000
for their coal, f. o. b. in New jersey,
maintain that the retail dealers are hold
ing back and will buy only enough coal
to be able to demand S13 to SIS ton.
ANOTHER EXPLANATION.
Another explanation is that there is a
shortage Of floats with which to transfer
the coal to New York City, but retail
dealers point out that Erie basin and the
Harlem River have plenty Of canal boats
whose crews would gladly enter into the
coal carrying trade rather than lie idle
until next spring, which ordinarily they