The sun., 1903-01-07
had TO DROP COAL CONTRACTS
MIR. BAER TELLS THE COMPANIES
SIDE or LAPSED AGREEMENT.
II Provided for the sale Of Anthracite Al
the Market Price" which the Inde.
pendent operators Held TO he Not
Railroad Price-Enect on Consumers.

the Market Price, Which the Inde.
pendent Operators Held TO He Not
Railroad Price Effect on Consumers.
President George +. Baer of the Pha-
delphia and Reading Railway while on his
weekly visit here talked with Sun reporter
yesterday about the causes and possible
effect Of the release of the independent
operators from the contract under, which
the coal carrying companies formerly
bought the greater part Of the independent
coal on u psrce ntage basis. Mr.. Bacr said
that the abrogation Of the contract was
tentative in the case Of all the compa nies
and would last only to March 81. or the
causes leading up to the suspension. OF the
contract, he said:
The whole matter hinged on the u,les-
tion of the market price of anthracite.
The companies, in accordance with the
contract took the coal from he independent
operators on the basis of 65 per cent of
the tidewater price and sold it. We de-
cided. after the strike. to make the tide
water price s. a ton. The contract was
not illegal in anv way. though l believe
some one has said il was. Ii was perfectly
sound. Arbitration was provided for in
case Of disputes. Also. as has been stated
in THE Sun, the contract provided that the
coal be sold al the market price.
I'VE fixed on 81 ton a. the market price.
The independent operators held that the
market price was SO Several propositions
were made, but We're impract ticable. Il was
proposed to ask the courts To set the market
price, Now, if the courts had passed on the
question they would probably have de-
cided that the market price was something
between S. and $lO-in all likelihood s75O
ors s.. Under such ruling we would have
been compelled to sell the independent coal
al $50 or - "A ton, while We would have
been selling our own coal AT IS a ton This
would have placed us In "a false position.
1T was then proposed by ne independent
operators that the agreement should CON
tinue, but that the independent operators
should buy back the coal a. the tidewater
price of S. n ton. TO sell al $40 a ton or any
price they could get. This we did not want
for the same reason. The best way out of
the difficulty was to suspend or abrOgate
the agreement for a time and we decided
To suspend II till March 81 Bv that time
and probably before, the independent
operators will be glad 10 come back to the
sheltering arms Of the coal.carrying com
panies
Mr. Baer added that the tidewater price,
a. far As the Philadelphia and Reading
and Inhgh and Wilkes Barre companies
were concerned which he represents,
will continue to be- s. a ton. He said
also that so far a. he knew, this would |
apply 10 the other companies A. 10
the effect of the letting loose Of be- |
tween s,OoO,o 600 and 100000 more tons of |
independent coal To b. sold AT whatever |
price il would bring he said.
There will, Of course. be a tendency to |
eyaggerate the effect of this. II must be- |
remembered that every month nearer the |
end O! the winter tends To check any nervous |
feeling about the supply Of coal The |
abrogatlon OF the cont raCt does not affect |
the supply in any way. We are taking |
every means To sea that our coal is not sold |
beyond fair schedule price.
allowing for everyi hing We can think of |
l believe that 5.JOO,puU tons of anthracite |
a month, including independent coal, will |
be mined for the next three months, or
course, more free independent coal will affect |
I he price more or less and may make II |
somewhat higher"
1t was learned that Pardee & Co, firm
of Independent operators whose mines
are in the Lehigh region, have arranged
with the Iehigh Valley company, which
carries and sells their coal. 10 buy it back
az 81 ton. Their output is $4,000 tons
Of anthracite a year. l his as far a.
could be learned. is the only case Of the
kind yet. The step was taken because
both sides were willing 20 sever their
relations.
In the meantime he price of independ-
ent coal has been advanced. Coke Bros.
4 Co. on Monday advanced the tdewater
price from 81 50 to $40 and Yesterday large
firm Of independent operators with offices
at / Broadway. raised the price from 81. Is
TO 3lO75
One or two of the large dealers quoted
coal yesterday at the schedule price of
80 a ton, but two Of the largest dealers
refused TO take any orders az that fgure,
and $40 and 81 was asked 10y others. Con-
servatiye dealers asserted that coal will |
undoubtedly be dearcr. but, they said,
not To any alarming extent.
John Markle of G.. B Marklc 4 Co. was |
in town Yesterday. bur would not talk |
on the coal situation. Other independent
operators also refused to express their
opinions.
Tenement House Commissioner Robert |
W. De Forest said Yesterday that the re- |
lease of the individual operators from |
the contract with the coal-carrying COM
panies will not affect the arrangement |
by which coal IL supplied by the pail to the
poor. He added
This shows that when people want cheap
coal they will have 10 60 10 the big com