The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1906-08-11
CHARCOAL FAMINE.
Four Schooner Loads Arrive, But
Scarcity Remains.
New Orleans Picayune. Thursday:

New Orleans Picayune, Thursday:
That familiar figure, the char
coal vendor, begrimed with dirt from
head to foot, seated on a spring wagon
drawn by lean horse, with a trusty
dog and occasionally small negro boy
has for the past five or six months beer
disappearing from the streets of the
city in great numbers. A year or sc
: ago there were hundreds of men in this
business, but to-day there are hardly
thirty of them left.
The great decrease in the number OF
coal vendors does not mean that the
familiar figure is passing, but the men
have actually been driven from the
business that gave them livelihood up
to so short time ago by the great char
coal famine that has struck this section
of the country since the first of the year
and has sent the prices skyward. Many,
not wishing to risk buying full wagon
load at nearly double the price once
paid for it, and then being unable to
sell it, have left it for the larger dealers.
Others have abandoned the business un-
til more favorable outlook appears,
hiring out their wagons as furniture
vans and for other purposes.
The present coal famine, which is the
first that some of the oldest men en-
ployed on the schooners that carry it
remember has been far-reaching in its
effects, both on the trade in general and
the people of the city, for it has forced
many to substitute gas.
The famine, which is causing no small
amount of trouble to the wholesale deal
ers and the schooner owners, is being
brought about by the great scarcity of
labor in the charcoal burneries along
the Louisiana and Mississippi Coast.
The men who formerly burned over 500
barrels of coal month are now not able
to burn 100, and in some cases less than
this, owing to the scarcity of labor,
which up to the present has always been
plentiful among the owners of the land
on which the coal is burned.
While there is not exactly what may
be called dearth of wood to supply tho
men, there is something of scarcity,
and much trouble is experienced in get
ting it by the burners, but lately the
prospects have beea picking up some,
more labor has been brought into the
fields, and there is hope that the fam
inc may-not last longer than d month OF
so, although nothing can be said that
would be authentic.
The men who are experiencing the
greatest trouble are the schooner sail
ors, who have to go out and tackle al
the men who burn the coal until finally
they secure load, and in some cases
they may get as much as 100 barrels in
one place. If they can secure full
load in one place, it saYes them tim E
and expense, so that they necessarily
look for place where they can get a
load and not have to take it on barrel
by barrel at different points.
There were four schooners to come
into New Basin Canal yesterday, two
coming in in the morning and the other
two during the day. All of these
which were thoroughly loaded, were
completely sold out by nightfall, some
of the coal bringing the fancy price Of
so cents a sack wholesale, while some
was sold as low as IS cents.
The schooners in yesterday were the
Moneta, Adoua, J. NJ. Flechas and Elk
eel, and all of them carried nearly 4,90(
or 5000 barrels or sacks of coal, all Of
which was gobbled up in such a quick
time that the public could readily real :
re how much the fuel is valued.
Several of the large owners of schoo.
ners were seen and told that the famine
was caused through the scarcity of labor
more than anything else and went on tc
say that one of their friends had left
this city with schooner two months
ago to find a load of charcoal and haC
not returned as yet, which went to show
that he had been unsuccessful in his
qnest.
There is no remedy that can be ap-
piled at present, but the quicker help is
got to the burneries the quicker the
famine will pass.