The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-04
COAL DEALERS AS
COMBINE VICTIMS
MINNESOTA RETAIL MEN SAY
THEY ARE HELPLESS.
Meanwhile the Attorney General Of
Minnesota Is Likely to Ascertain at
Least What Power Is Back Of the
Utter Absence Of Competition.

a
Utter Absence Of Competition.
There, is a coal combine all right
are as much its victims as are the con
sumers. t
# Attorney General E. T. Young
pushes his coming Investigation far
enough. this is what he Wilt ascertain,
according to the men who are retailing
black diamonds on margin Of 60 cents
q, ton regardless Of the retail price of
the ton. =.
Inasmueh us the investigation will
have to be. wholly under the Minnesota
laws, the investigation will find itself
narrowed down to the question as to
whether the retailers are culpable as
agents Of combine which rules the
trade with a rod Of iron.
AS matter of fact, if man wants
he has to q be good.'' He must ss sell III at t
the card prices or not sell at all. If he
tries to land a contract at anything
| below the fixed price, he will find that
he cannot get the coal to deliver and
ne must show fruits meet for repentance
before he can get coal at all. Some Of
nothing; some try to explain the re-
markable unanimity regarding prices by
labored arguments based on conditions
more or less theoretic, while still others
who could not be persuaded to allow
their names to be connected with the
statement admit confidentially that they
are up against it.
There Is Combine.
That there is a coal combine, some
where, is not denied by anybody. Just
how it rules the trade is detail whose
development will make the coming in
vestlgation worth while, even if it
transpires that the octopus is not a
Minnesota concern. as will probably be
revealed.
In the face of the public records
available in Minneapolis alone, how
ever, much interesting testimony can be
adduced as to the workings of the trust
which controls enough Of the output to
dictates For years the city sought to
buy. its fuel by advertising what it
wanted and asking bids. While now
and then independent dealers had the
temerity to bid under the combine price,
the wonderful similarity in the other
bids caused them to stand out in bold
relief with great question mark after
them.
The board Of charities and correc-
tlons, which looks after the city hospi-
tai, has not advertised for bids for
coal for years. Before the board aban-
doned the bid system its experience was
anything but. satisfactory: It was
found that there was absolutely no COM
petition; that the uniform price quoted,
instead Of being lower than the market
price was higher than the figure at
which coal could be purchased for at
certain seasons of the year. The board
found that the best plan was to buy in
the open market.
The last coal bids opened by the
board were received in August, 1908, in
posals for furnishing 500 tons of Poca-
hontas smokeless coal to the city hospi-
tai. Six of the largest dealers in the
city presented identical bids, as they
had been doing for several years be-
fore. Their price was $3.50. One
coal company quoted price of So As,
but for some reason this was not sat-
isfaetory and the board has since pur-
sued the policy of buying coal when
ever the market offered the best op-
portunity.
Combine Seen in Bids.
It was some time ago that the water
works authorities recognized the exist
ence of coal com ine. AS long as the
| Camden place station was the principal
pumping station, the situation was re-
/ lieved greatly by the sawdust pile Of
the G. A. Smith sawmill, which fur
nished cheap and inexhaustible fuel.
The establishment of the new sta
| ton in Northeast Minneapolis placed
| the department at the mercy Of the fuel
| dealers again. For instance, in May,
1905, the waterworks committee adver-
| tised for 900 tons Of screened lump
| Youghiogheny coal. Nine bids were re-
ceived. Eight of these were exactly
| q q tod ~ a.. In
ninth, which was from E. o. Fellows,
| quoted $3.50. This lot was simply for
immediate use. On May % the commit
tee opened bids, for 1000 tons of
| screened lump Youghiogheny coal. This
time ten bids were received and as on
the previous occasion there was no va
Walton in the bids except in one in
STANCE nc All the big dealers quoted
Fellows bid few days before. Eel
lows was on hand this time with his
bid Of $3.50. It was not deemed advis-
able to award contracts, and new pro-
posals were invited, the committee.
however, specifying "dock-run' ;;
Youghiogheny. The supervisor was di-
rected to purchase coal as it might be
needed at these figures, giving most of
the local companies share Of the bust
| ness.
| The waterworks committee now pur-
chases coal according to the British
thermal unit method, and the recent in
vitation to submit prices have been
wholly ignored except by the dealers
who handle the Illinois product
Fuel for Schools.
The board of education for MANY
years past has noted similarity of
bids as submitted by the principal re-
tail dealers. Not until the board re.
quired the bidders to submit their pro.
|posals on the British thermal unit basis
was it able to break away from the
combine.
:. Last June the board advertised fol-
1000 tons of screened lump or dock
run coal, prices to be on the thermal
unit basis. Two new concerns followed
the specifications, while the FIVE big
gest concerns submitted identical bids
Il YoughioghenY and Hooking screened
lump were quoted by each at $4.55 fol
immediate delivery and $3.50 for flu
ture delivery, and dock run coal at
$3.50. There was not a variation Of 3
cent in the, bids, Notwithstanding thai
each firm is more or less differently
situated with regard to facilities fol
handling coal.
These examples Of uniformity in Goa
bids might be multiplied indefinitely
by reference to the records not onlys,o1