New-York tribune., 1907-09-05

you have the big hotels. the apartment houses.
the office buildings and factories which have
been burning the small sizes OF coal. from pea
downward They going to get pinched one
Of these days. The demand now is greater than
The supply The supply now is limited by the
daily production Of coal 1t is only question OF
time when these users of this kind Of coal VIII
have take to bituminous- The big users no"
are protected by their yearly contracts from any
raise in price. take il. but probably next year
they viii have to pay more than they are pay
ing no1g, end gradually the prices will rise un-
I'll it will be cheaper TO use soft coal, and much
easier to get it BY that time the manufacturers
out in the country. where there are no smoke
ordinances, viii take to soft coal, and that VIII
relieve the big consumers here.
Judging by my own road. there IS not much
more difficulty than in any other year in getting
the coal mined and transporting it, so don't
take much stock yet in stories Of bad shortage
What we have to face is constant increase IN
the use Of coal without the corresponding in
crease in production, and far greater demand
in the steam coal sizes"
DIsCREDITs FAMINE RUMORs.
T W Saward, general manager Of The Coal
Trade Journal said that he believed there
would he no coal famine. although prices would
be increased about - cents ton for every
body including not only the small consumer
hut the man who buys in trainloads for manu-
featuring This increase, he explained. was due
10 the advances in the wages of the miners
whose pay was advanced IL 1900 and in 1902
This talk of coal famine is amusing he
said eft cannot occur The mines have been
increasing their production in view Of the
healthy growth Of the demand. The prosperity
of the country is one reason for the great
demand for coal. Factories of all sorts are
running and need the coal 10 keep their steam
up The population has increased Big Office
buildings have been opened since last spring
and these mean another addition to the con-
sumption of coal. But there is nothing re-
Inarkable in Il. since every year there is an
advance in the number of tons used.
Last winter coal was Sc 10 ton to the aver
age householder in New York This autumn
and winter it viii be about Sc 20. think BY
the agreement among the coal producers coal Is
s. a ton to the retailer Also by agreement
there is a discount OF 30 cents ton TO the re-
tailers in April every year. OF course there is
a corresponding discount made by the retailer
in mis- prices to the consumer. Each month
after April the discount is reduced by 10 cents
so that on September the cost Of coal TO the
retailer is once more - ton The reason Tor
this is to encourage the buying of coal by me
consumers during the warm months Wheh lHe
coal carving roads and barge lines are not
oxerv-orgzed Coal shortage in the Northwest
last year was due the fact that the dealerS
there Gid not get in enough coal during the
sumner 10 supply the great demand that came
in the cold season. I understand that there mas
been more foresight shown this year and that
tine necessity of holding up coal trains will be
absent this winter
When asked whether the presence Of the At
lantic battleship feet in the Pacific would affect
the coal trade, Nj Saward said:
The idea is absurd. The position ofsthe feet
could have no effect the prices Of coal to
the consumer. According 10 the official re-
ports of June so, 1904, the United States Navy
used 49S576 tons Of coal that year Since
then of course. the feet has been enlarged
But even f. with the battleship fleet in the
Pacific the consumption of coal should be
increased by half a million tons, this would be
only one-eighth of per cent Of the country's
consumption. That IS not enough 10 help or
hurt prices"
There has been some discussion among bust
ness men as 10 whether the increase Of coal
shipments around South America to the Pacific
Coast for the feet would affect in any way the
tide of coal traffic on the Atlantic seaboard.
On this point Mr.. Saward said:
The cost Of transcontinental coal shipments
by rail is great TO be virtually prohibi-
tive The shipments will be then. now, by
water around South America. California and
other Slope states are supplied with coal at
present from the last ana from lile STATE OF
Washington, British Columbia and Australia
A small percentage of British coal comes there
= ballast in light laden vessels think it ex-
tremely unlikely that the government, should
the feet remain permanently the Pacific
seaboard. would try TO develop the Western
coal fields for its supply. It has been proved
by tests that the best soft coal of the Pacific
Slope is far lower in quality than Eastern soft
coal The navy wants the best, and so the
f7,a1 r-ill ho I'd 10
from the Eastern fields.
-.As to the talk that New York may become a
great coal shipping port for the navy. I think
It impossible. First Of ALI Baltimore, Philadel-
phia and Hampton Roads are all much nearer
the fields They have the bulk Of the actually
outgoing trade now"
STATISTICS ON COAL SHIPMENTS
To exemplify what he meant, Mr. Saward
produced the following statistics: