New-York tribune., 1903-01-15
TONS STALLED, 2l,45O.
TWO BOATS LOADING.
FiUe Hundred Cars an Elizabeth
port ". j. {. Yards AIone.

thousands of tons of anthracite coal were await
ing delivery to retail dealers at the docks of the
New-Jersey Central Railroad at Elzahethport
N. j.. was verified in detail yesterday by a
Tribune reporter. who took photograph Of the
yards practically bIoekaded by loaded ears He
counted nearly four hundred cars in the yards.
ard found more than one hundred additional
ones on main tracks leading into the yards
waiting to De taken in by drill engines some
of these cars were old fashioned. with a ca
pacity Of only forty thousand pounds each. while
few others had capacity of sixty thousand
and by far the larger number. including all ths
new steel cars, had stated capacity OF eighty
thousand pounds each. Averaging the hve num-
dred at six,y thousand pounds would make the
total coal in Eliza bethport at the hour Of tns
reporters visit fifteen thousand tons
AT Port Johnson the coalyards on the east
shore Of Newark Bay in Bayonne. there wers
by actual count ifty-ffve cars loaded with hard
COAL which. counted in the same way. probably
contained / 900 tons more and on the Lehisn
Valley tracks at Greenville sixty more wers
SEEN adding 500 tons. There were about ons
hundred cars more at Port Liberty. near Cons
munipaw, and the tracks adjacent. whicn
added approximately three thousand tons. MAKE
ing II $50 tons on and along the line OF ths
New-Jersey Central Railroad from Elizabeth-
port to Jersey City. inclusive The reporter was
told that at Port Reading and at Perth Amboy
and South Amboy there were also many cars
laden with anthracite awaiting transfer to News
York. The reporter coulI see only two vessels
taking on coal and told that there we're no
others.
Two explanations of this inactivity Of
fered in ElizabethpOrt. One was that the retail
dealers here and in Brooklyn were taking coal
for delivery by the railroad in such quantities
only as they could readily sell at from S12 to
II cSi6 hat
want coal for retail at lower prices. The asser-
ton of the retailers tthat they could not get
barges for transferring the coal except at ex-
orbitant rates and in insufficient numbers was
untrue. it declared.
Go to the Erie Basin, the Harlem River anf.
the inIets at Jersey City and HobOken and look
at the hundreds of canalbOats and barges tied
up for the winter. while their idle crews are
spending their earnings of last summer said.
the reporters informant. do you suppose these
men would not fall over each other to accept a.
chance to earn summer rates in the harbor
about New-YOrk? Some people may swallow
that yarn. but 1 don't. ItsawOrse than 1shy-
It's like one man entertaining another with an
interesting story while an accompliee is rifng
the victims pockets.
IF had the capital, coal would soon sell in
New-York at 81 30 a ton less. said another
man. The New-York Dock Company has miles
q
Iyn and there are many piers in New-Yorlo
where cars can be run from floats to accessible
places on shore. Instead Of transferring coal 10
barges I should transfer the cars on floats di-
reetly TO these points. unload them there and
retail the coal on the spot.
The second explanation of the accumulation
OF coal was that the independent operators were
playing game to stifle competition As stated
: in The Tribune's report yesterday. they have a
rfs- ,fGrr all
the coal the independents offer The indepeu-
dents are at liberty to sell their coal to dealers at
/ anv price they can obtain. while the coal roads
sell the product OF their mines on board at their
various ports at uniform rate of 80 ton for
all domestic sizes. 1t is said that the coal held
up at EIizabethport is independent COAL and
that so long as it is kept there the New-Jersey
! Central road cannot use the cars to orlng th7f
product of it's own mines to the seaboard 10 oe-'
liver to retail dealers at 50 ton
II is said that the independent coal is held aci
So and SO and that So coal is practically shuG
off in this wav An old coal dealer to whom
this story was told said it looked very plausible,
but that as the coal roads charge demurraset
for the detention of their cars the prohts OF the
high priced coal were. after ALL Indirectly d1vld-
/ ed with the carrying roads by the independents
| operators.
Retail coal merchants in Elizabethport are de-
| uvering coal without limit at SO % to 80 80 d
/ ton in the bin. about the same as before the
strike.
The Long Island Railroad has, it is reported.
nro,ided coal for all its employees in every parui
| Of the island at 81 30 d ton delivered All havsj
received a liberal allowance Tor the winter aEl
| that price.
| George F. Baer said before he returned to Phil
adelphia yesterday that the railway companies
/ could not compel the individual coal operators
/ TO sell at the companies prices. Moral suasioB
/ had been tried in vain he said. and the COM
/ panies could not force down the price in New
! York by reducing the amount of independents
| operators coal carried to the city. He added:
| If we could reduce the shipments of individual
! coal and did. could not very we'll tnfTeaSs
the shipments of railroad coal WITHOUT depriv-
ing other points Of it. 1t is question II the
Individual operators would ship to those Other-
noints the facilities for disposal of large cargoes
being much greater at New-York- They might
very well refuse to ship at all unless permitted
TO ship here. The distress at points where
neither the companies coal nor that OF the IN
dividuals would be shipped be imagined.
We have to ship to these line stations. and that
is the reason cannot increase our shipments
| to New-YOrk
w. G. Besler general manager OF the New
Jersey Central Railroad. said yesterday that one
cause of the accumulation OF loaded cars at ths
shipping ports was the storm of Sunday. which
soaked the coal thoroughly Then the freezing
cold converted every carload Of coal into hard
mass.
1T is impossible to unload the coal from the
cars without thawing II out" Mr.. Besler said
I'VE have had to resort to unusual method TO
get the coal out OF the Locomotives are
run UP to the cars. and are used to inject steam
into the coal TO thaw II out Perforated iron
mines are driven down into the frozen mass Of
coal in car and then connected with the loco