The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-12
OPERATORS. STATEMENT
 ON COAL SITUATION

s The following statement has been issued by the committee of anthra-
 ,sIn view of the uneasiness about the supply of anthracite, and the fact that some consumers are complaining that an abnormal1y nigh price is asked for &coaf at fhis time. the operators de- Fefre to make positive statement as Ito their course of action in the pres &ent situation
 .~The larger mining companies are holding absolutely to their circular prices They have not advanced these Hc the dealers to whom they sell and have no intention of doing so. By far the greater part of the total anthra- cite output is being sold by the or 1ginal producers at the circular prices.
 Some Of the independent' operators are selling their outputs at a premium thst ,s st g pFlss the aSsene eirou many cases, because they are paying a premium to such operators for some part of the coal they handle But for whatever reason the retail price may be advanced to consumers it is not due to any increase of prices on the part of the larger operators.
 Tt is true, unqueStionaSoly, that there has been a relative scarcity of coal The severe weather of last win ter and spring exhausted the reserve. ss sed fsh % Or aweve g sn iI1ion haon tons in production. By ful1-tine op- sration of the mines, however, the op-
 
 loss, and 'the shipments from January i to October 31 of this year, instead of being ten or twelve million tons less, show a decrease of sonly 6,145, 01s tons from the shipments in the cor responding ten months of 1911.
 The operators are shipping the out put of che mines to market with the railroad cars on outside or connecting FUads has caused some trouble but the proportion of the coal output that
 4rr<[ small The product has been distri- bufed to the different sections with absolute fairness. and upon prlnclples settled by long experience in meeting the needs of widely-diStrfbuted mar ket- With the approaching close of Lake navigation, delivery will nadur- ally be concentrated upon the nearer markets, and -the~supply should be ample for all demands or emergencies. --.-Strilxes declared because of the en- ployes decline to continue payment of union dues and wear union buttons strikes in plain violation of the agreement between the mine workers and the 0perators-hayet caused a ser fous loss in production A number of companies have suffered from these strikes This last week, for exaInp pie, collieries with combined daily capac- were idle Holidays celebrated by the mine workers-not only regular legal holidays but special holidays which they observe of their ow naccord-have had the effect of sti11 further reduc- ing the output By full-tinle opera tion the operators have scored heavy fonnages. but the quantity of coal avail able for the market would have been much larger but for these interrup- ti5ns-
 .-The operators are convinced that. though this years, consumers will not suffer for want of coal if they will contenta themselves with moderate purchases for the fime and not at tempt to lay in large store in ad- vance and thus create an artificial scarcity. In the ordinary course of business that is, in the absence of strikes, or other abnormal happenings there will be no lack of coal to meet the demand of every market.''