The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-12
Supply, Would Last Only Twelve Days. LACK OF CARS THE CAUSE Mines Are Closed Down by Rolling
 Stock Famine.
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 witacut Necessary Article Prices Range 50 Gents High CT . Ton and Up.

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 Good grate coal in Montgomery Is sold for 50 cents a ton more than 1t was last year. A cold spell of three days at the outside would wipe; out the available coal supply of Montgom- cry, and in the great car famine that be presented. The Alabama Railroad Commission has been asked to investi- gate the serious car famine.
 Little. if any. responsibility can be high prices. and the threatening condi- tion of the coal supply. The miners of the mineral district of Alabama are suffering worse than the. consumers in ssss ns sns F Esn, atheG hne o the large mines have closed down.
 Sonnc of the largest mines of the State are not running more than one day in the week. The situation in some of the mining towns Is acute and periIous. The mine owners have more than their share of trouble. With a world of coal to sell, and under heavy expense, they are compelled to let their. mines remain idle and see their miners leave
 There is but one cause, cause that Is as wide as the United States--the scarcity Of cars. so the informed say. solely from the coal dealers of Mont gomery Some of 1t, and most of 1t came from men outside Montgomery and who live in the coal district.
 Considerable complaint mas been made in Montgomery over The high price Of coal. This was made by con- sumers, who Knew something was wrong with the situation. and who suspected the local dealers were al their share or the blame. and 1t is not large one.
 Situation ix Serious.
 senator Luther Leith or Walker Caunty, who is in Montgomery to at. td&d the session Of the Legislature. yes; terday described the distressing sit- uation in his section or the couptry. Mr. Leith comes from the second lars. est coal producing county In the state read Jaw at nignr, and finally was sad- ni1tted to the bar. He. is now con, nected with several of the larger .coal concerns Of Walker county. and Is IT thorough touch with the situation.
 T nave no doubI that your local coal situation is serious" said Mir. Leith. If 1t is nor, you are more tor' runate than the other AlaDama cities Bur your consumers are not suffering county. They can not get two days work a week in the mines, and that will not support their familIes. Many Of them are leaving. Many of them anu bl9At AGAiiAhtSSb & -Nk1NAAg 0OtAOF v
 This depiorabie condition grows our of the lack Of cars. Nothing else Ii responsible for 1t, The railroads sa, 1t IS absolutely impossible for them tt supply sufficient cars % handle the out put of the mines. AS a general thing the mines get enough cars sto handl' one days output The mines are ing the remainder of the week. MT. Levy, well known operator from my town of Jasper, went down tC Birmingham two or three weeks ago tC make. a personal appeal for cars Fl, had heard the fonndries and rolling mills of Birmingham. while they art not getting ali the cars they wanted were getting good supply. He went from one railroad man to another, and each one told him the railroads were making special sacrifice For the roll ing mills and foundries, for If they lacked cars they would be forced tc shut down, and the railroads wanted to do all in their power to keep the mills running.
 Price a Dollar Higher.
 What is the effect of this on the price of coal? My brother who is su- perintendent of one of the. Galloway mines, told me he was now selling steam coal for s2.b0 a ton at the tipple. been in the habit of selling 1t. But he told me he would much rather sell coal at $1.50 a ton and have the oars to handle all that he sold, than sell 1t foi S2.50 and be able to sell only one day's 8 output during the week
 This is confirmation of statements made by the local coal dealers They sat that fine grade coal Is worth from 50 cents to dollar more at the mines than 1t was this time last year. They say further, that steam coal Is on an average selling for a dollar a ton more than 1t was at any timo during last year This fact runs back to the old cause of a scarcity of cars.
 The coal dealers themselves have been first to move in the matter of try ing to get some sort or an improve ment over existing conditions. One of them said yesterday:
 ''No coal man who is buying at pres ent prices is making money On the contrary, l am convinced some. of them who are forced ito do 1t, are losing is to break even. of course, the man who stocked up on coal at summer prices, when there were plenty of cars, stands to make something, but his profits are going to be cut by the coal of the largest coal companies of the city each year ties up $125,00o in coal. A great part of 1t is spent Tn the sum mer. You may not believe me. but I'll tell you that the annual net profits of that concern on that big investment is less than s5.000 a year."
 Appeal to Commission.
 Some of the local coal men, 1t was intimated, had complained to the State Railroad Commission to see if some re- lief was not to be had from this dis tressing situation.l It is not known there Is any power lodged in the Rail- road Commission by which they can compel the carrying companies to fur nish sufficient cars Little was said about the communication alleged to have been addressed to the Commis- sion, but 1t was said that the Commis- sion would undoubtedly take up at an early date the consideration of some plans whereby the stringency of the situation would be relieved.
 This situation if, of course. not pecu- liar to Alabama. The car famine ex- ists throughout the country. Other States are affected by 1t no Iess than Aiabama, It was only the other day that James J. Hill, together with other great railroad men. were summoned to appear before the Interstate Commerce Commission to testify in proceedings bn the remedying of car conditions, in which no adequate supply of coal could possibly be hauled from the mines to the consumers.
 Crate coal of the first quality, said Robert Anderson of the Anderson Coal Comnany. "is now selling for SC a ton. That Is 50 cents higher than the price of last year. For last year at this time, high grade grate coal was sold at 6b.5O A ton 1 am satisfied that every coal man in Montgomery will tell you he made more last year at the old price than he is making this year at the new price. On account of the lack of cars. the mines have raised prices from 50 cents to Sl.b0 ton, all ~