Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-11-16
Black Diamonds Now Retailing at
Five Dollars and Seventy-fye
Cents a Ton.
POSITIVELY THE LAST BOOST.
Solemn Statement Forthcoming That
The Limit Has Been Reached and
No Higher Prices Coming

| hlnB Coal has added another step to
his throne, and which the consumer
must mount In order to approach him.
II consists in raise of twenty-five
cents over and above that OF last Fri
day. The raise however Is solely by
the retailer. and the dear public Is
assured that this is really the last
farewell appearance upon the local
boards OF the charming comedietta en-
titled THE Winters Raise in Coal"
Lump and Nut coal on and after today
retail at So. rs per ton delivered per
half ton, $780, per quarter, 81 so. The
! producers say that the retailers have
made this advance to recoup them
| selves for being obliged to deliver at
! former prices the large batch OF or
| ders on their books when the whole
sale prices were put up on them, But
| the retailers deny the impeachment
! ana point to expenses that are consld-
| erably above those obtaining previous
/ ~ under different conditions. The
| railroad companies they say now de-
! liver coal In the new monster steel
cars called battleships, and it
costs more to unload these
than the older and smaller and more
/ get-at-able cars. True, the big cars
! have dump bottoms, but these do not
| seem 10 be of any use to the local deal
! CTS. who have no elevated trestles i'm
| their yards where the dumping device
might be made use Of Moreover, as
a prominent yard manager stated this
morning, when we buy nut and lump
| from the mines, there was formerly
eight per cent, and with the great big
cars there is now fully ~ per cent slack
mixed In with the unbroken coal, This
H1CN. Ii 1t could be thrown back on
the producer, would net him under the
advanced price, 81 per ton But we
have to pay lump and nut price Now
We are supposed to screen our Goals at
the yard, and this slack we can not
realize over s2.25 on. Under the former
regime, our loss was 81 80; under the
new, 1t IL ST. We must make the adj
vance In order to cover ourselves"
Another dealer remarks, I'VE are now
paying heavy rate for coal In this
state and in fact the prices now quot
ed are very reasonable. The local
quotations are, of course, based ON
prices at the mines and a comparison OF
the figures win show mat the operators
who supply coal for this section de-
mand even less than is asked In other
sections. Prior to the present increase
heavy, anyway, Rock Springs, Wyo.,
coal, for instance was quoted at Sl7o
for lump and nut. At the same time
the southern Kansas mine owners were
demanding 81 IS for their product, MIS-
souri, coal was quoted at 81 90 ana Ar
kansas operators We're asking W.
Producers continue to claim that
there has been no raise on their part
but what was entirely justified by ex-
listing economic conditions. The out
put In the warm or summer season is
lust about one-quarter what is re-
Quired in the winter or cold season,
and a large force of men must be
maitaned during parts of the year
when Il costs a great deal more for
general maintenance proportionately
than during other parts of the year.
Coal can not be mined In summer as
In winter and stacked up to walt for
Increased demand one reason being
that the extra handling and long ex-
posture to the air results In a large in
crease I'm the accumulation of slack
As to any apprehension on the part
OF the public OF further raise, PRONE
inent producer states that In this coun-
try whore a dealer Is taking advantage
of conditions to spring n raise on the
consumers, the producer simply refuses
to sell that dealer any more coal until
he comes down Off his high horse
SITUATION AT SUNNYsIDE.
AS to the situation at Sunnyside a
prominent official Of the Utah Fuel
company states "Our recognition OF
any miners union means the closing
down of all Of our mines which would |
be followed by the closing dowr of the |
smelters, and general paralysis of in
dustral operations throughout the en- |
tire state. The moment we recognize \
the union, our mines are brought with |
in the jurisdiction Of District No Is,
and directly within the order lssue,l |
by John Mitchell to close up in sym |
pathetic strike with that going on IN |
another part of the country with which |
we have nothing to do Consequently |
we will not recognize the union that |
the men desire To organize, for the mo- |
ment we do they all mt once go on n |
strike. Only about one-third of the |
force has gone out on strike, and ~ /
of those men are back again asking for |
work. There is no dissatisfaction with |
work or wages--it Is simply q ques- |
ton of unionism, We have fully 400 |
men at work. The situation at Sunny |
side yesterday was more favorable than |
the day before. A meeting OF about 400 |
miners was held-a meeting much arg- |
er than the one which adopted a reso- |
luton to strike some time ago. These
men who met yesterday wanted to
work. After the gathering had con-
chided It's business the men formed I'm |
n procession and marched through the |
street, crying Work tomorrow Yes
terday there were more employed |
than the day before, and Monday viii
probably see a still larger number In
the mines.
Agitators have been coming IN from
Colorado. and a batch OF them arrived |
yesterday, to try and persuade our
miners to go on n sympathetic strike.
and were they successful In establish
Ing a union and securing It's recogni-
ton, the order to close up would come
very quick although the men have no
grievance. To avoid this, and all that
Il would mean for Utah, this company
proposes to fight the demand, We had
q sample OF the practical working out
OF this idea in our Summit mine In
Colorado. Before the agitators went
there the men were all working and
were satisfied. SO soon az they had
been organized into union. they were
all compelled to walk out. II the strlk-
crs succeed IN closing the Utah mines,
to assist the cause OF the men who
are out In Colorado. II may be a diff
cult matter to reopen them. The men
would be compelled to remain out un-
til the entire trouble. not only here, but
A., ~ A |