Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-09-13
COAL TRUST in The EAST
suob is Victor Whites Statement and He
Welcomes Investigation.
SAYS NINE OWNERS CONTROL PRICE
Anthracite Cost six-Fifty, Freight
IL TwO-Fifty and Margin of
PrOat f. sixty Cents
I'm Omaha.

The sooner Mr.. slsbaugh and the grand
jury investigate the coal business, the bets
ter / shall like IL, for then this talk about
local coal trust will stop. There Is no
danger of anyone being overcharged for
coal by the Omaha dealers The coal
trust is in the east and not here" Il
This was the comment made by Victor
White Wednesday when asked about the
proposed investigation to be made by the
grand jury.
Hard coal is something the dealer has
to sell without profit, just as the grocer
sells sugar." said Mr.. White. You can't
keep IL more than q certain figure above
soft coal, or the people won't buy 1t, and
yet you have to sell it because they want
II. the trust In the east holding It all
the time at a price where the dealers can
make nothing.
Coal costs us $3.50 ton at Chicago
You can't buy it east of there, and II you
try to buy 1t in Pennsylvania you arc
referred to a Chicago office. 1t makes no
difference what mine the coal comes FROM
or what company handles it, the same price
Is quoted, $3.50 at Chicago, and the Omaha
consumer can buy it at that price just as
readily as the Omaha dealer. We get
monthly circulars from a dozen or more
mines in Pennsylvania, but the price lists
are exactly the same, the advertising value
being in the name of the company at the
head OF the circular and not in the figures.
"All the Pennsylvania coal Is owned by
the railroads, the Lehigh Valley, the
Lackawanna, the Delaware g. Hudson. the
Erie, the Philadelphia & Reading and 9th
ers. The Reading boasts that it controls
90 per. cent of the output of the state.
These roads are the coal trust.
Margin of ProHt Small.
Freight from Chicago costs us $3.50
ton; It takes 10 cents a ton to unload the
coal in our bins; we have to pay 60 cents
a ton carriage for delivery in Omaha, and
IS cents in Dundee. In addition to that
We have to absorb the shrinkage, being
compelled to take mine weights and this
item amounts to 20 cents a ton. The
present retail price of hard coal is $3.50.
One can readily see that we do business
on a margin of 60 cents a ton in Omaha
and IS cents In Dundee
Everybody will remember that in the
summer there was price war on in
Omaha, and hard coal was selling at $40
ton. Fixed charges for the dealers were
the same then as now, and they were
doing business on a margin of 10 cents
in Omaha, and If they sold any coal In
Dundee they were losing money. The
| public should not need any better evidence
of the nonexistence of a local trust.
Some years ago we sold hard coal to
! the county and delivered 1t at the court
house for $3.50 a ton, but that was before
the mine interests Of the east were so
thoroughly~ organized, and at time when
the rate from Chicago TO Omaha was only
81 ton.
LAS regards soft coal, II would be
ridiculous to maintain there is any agree
ment on prices. So many kinds of soft
coal, mined by entirely separate interests
in widely separated districts are on the
market. that wide range of retail prices
| is to be found here.
| ,"And want to say that the people don't
need to- Use hard coal For about half
the price they can get soft coal, which
will give as much heat. holds fire as long
| and is as clean as hard coal.'