Bisbee daily review., 1909-06-04
E[K|NS STANDS
 AS CHAMPION
 0F COAL TRADE

|
 tries of the United States was the
 subject of a long speech in the senate yesterday by Senator Elkins of West Virginia. He took the position that the coal producers of the country are | in no position to stand a reduction in
 the existing rates of duty of recipro- l
 cal relations with Canada, and that protection should be given io inde-
 pendent producers Of oi; regardless of whether this would result in bene- | fits to the Standard. oil company or
 not.
 Taking up first the coal question | MT. EllIins said that coal mining is the chief Industry of West Virginia and has been for generations. He gave many interesting figures as to the production of coal and it's value at the mouth of the mine. Speaking of the value of coal. he said 1t should be considered in connection with transportation for the reason that it
 does not become valuable for com
 mercial purposes until Il reaches the
 point of distribution and consump
 tion The total production of coal in
 the United States last year was given
 at 419,000,D D00 tons valued at about
 $500. .000. 900 at the mines. The trans !
 was estimated to be $500 000.0 600.
 According to Mir Elkins, the aver. age profit on ton of bituminous coal
 is about fifteen cents and during the
 last two years he asserted that there
 had been no profit. The largest fac.
 tor in producing coal, he said. is Ia
 bor. which constitutes about eighty
 per cent of the cost. Speaking of the
 large number of people employed in
 the coal mining industry, Mir. Elkins
 said that a large coal plant is always the nucleus of a town. and that the abandonment or the closing of large
 and established mines. or their inter
 ment, would destroy whole commlni
 ties and towns and bring distress and ruin to many people.
 "The coal industry in West Vir
 ginia can no more be disturbed. in.
 jured or impaired without great dam.
 age" said MT. Elkins, than the man
 ufacturing interests of New England, , New York. New Jersey and PennsyI. i vania. without bringing distress upon communities and even disorganizing
 society Placing a low duty on coal
 would be disastrous to West Vir' : ginia."
 ; After speaking at length concern f ing the coal industry of Nova Scotia , and other provinces of Canada. Mir Elkins declared that if Nova Scotia , coal should be made .ree or the duty
 l reduced it would in time. as new . mines are opened and developed l gradually enter New England and dis 3 ppiace the sixteen million tons oi . coal now shipped there from West , Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania , The effect of this. be said. would b. , to destroy the market for that
 amount of American coal and throw r. out of employment from twelve thou : sand to fifteen thousand miners anc
 reduce the wages of the rest.
 : The operation of the Dingley law . fixing a rate of 67 cents per ton or
 bituminous coal and 15 cents Or 7 slack. said Mir. Elkins. allows nearl, 7 all of the coal imported from Nov; Scotia to enter the New England mar z ket at the fifteen cent rate. Describ "A ing the manner in which this end i ! accomplished. the senator said tha !, the Nova Scotia shipper drops th' ' coal into railroad cars from an up' II usual height and that the coal Il broken still more by passing ' through tubes with breakers insid !. in transferring it from railroad car II to barges When it reaches Bostol | it is fin condition to pass through half inch screen and take the lo' ,- duty fixed for slack. As most of tn ? Nova Scotia product is used in maf y ing coke, it arrives in form suite
 to the purposes of New England ga Q manufacturers. MT. Elkins offere IS an amendment defining coal slac C. which he believes will prevent thi IS mis interpretation of the law.
 H. T..g... S more mines would be opened immed -t ately in Nova Scotia said MT. E g. kins. and being al the very door -s of New England and the east. tn IS increased production would find ,t market which. with the low cost ( n ltransportatiou and cheap labor. woul i, ultimately drive the West Virgini ,s and Maryland coals out of the Ne sf York. New England and New Jerse r, markets. These results would be s T, disastrous, so ruinous and demora ,d izing that West Virginia can nevt Ia consent to free coal or low duty. an ,t the coal industry. il Seems 10 me- nc ,.. only in' West Viryinia and Marylan' ;n but all over inc t-nifed States mu. m be protected in framing tariff bin ,r Tn ~pe~'-'-~ If the petroleum indu r1 if--. - FIkins said he proposed ., % -Htect 1t by Ievying a re ,,, --~---e duty on II. and that he woul .. rc' vote otherwise in resporsA to -, Tveiudice a-ainst the Standard o ,S coapany He offered figures to sho that during the past two years c
 production has doubled in the Unite
 States. The value of oil producir property of independent concerns al as Independent reiineries, he said, eu about eight times greater than tn o' of the Standard oil company. n a i independent producers sell most oo o' their oil to the Standard Oil coI .ir pany. which MT Elkins explained ne the fact that this company has nea ny ly all of the pipe lines to the sea al at does most of the refining. AccordiI a- to the senator's figures, the Standa 'z- oil company produces only eley' as per cent of the crude oil of the tn ne ed States and independent operate th produce the other eighty-nine p as cent. Placing oil on the free list.
 said. would injure the independe '0o producer of oil. because he produc 'eo nearly all the crude oil of the Unit 'o9 States and foreign oil would COT
 pete with the independent produc' 100 Speaking for the 250 independent { '0o producers in West Virginia. MT. DO kins said that they insist that If | - cou,s,ssvailing duty on crude petro DO um and it's products is taken of. %. provided in the Payne bill, the lze should be a duty of forty ner cent ith Vaiorep on petroleum and IS pro in iucts or a specific duty of one ce en a gaiion on crude oil.
 Ike Mir Flkins declared that no 1