The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-06
COAL $40 A TON
ANO, PRICE SCARS
SKYWARD IN ITALY
Jumps $40 in a Week and
PeopIe Are Now Buying
q Bag Through Necessity

Rome, Dec. 6--CoaI is $40 a ton
in Italy. andN continues to soar. 1t
went up $40 a. ton in one week. This
has become serious, and might be-
come a. decisiv Q, war factor, SO far
as ITALY is concerned, for coal is the
fundamental element of italian in
dustry and comm eEce moving the
always, running the factories, and
keeping ups such public uti1fties as
electric light and power plants sras
and water works, street railways and
trarnways, as well as for househ old
heating and cooking. notonTy in Rome
but all over italy.
Such a. phenomenal rise in the
price OF coal has never before been
known To Italy the shortage is
serious chiefly because Italy possesses
no coal mines Of her own at home
or in the African colonies, SO there is
no outlook for getting a supply except
from abroad. and the foreign supply
| is In the hands of the enemy or tax
ed to its utmost Capacity for its own
needs. While there. was no war italy.
needed no coal fields of her own, as
the French, and Belgian fields were
need at hand. But now the French
local fields of Pas de Calais. and those
of Belgium, have passed into control
Iof Germany. the ally of Austria, with
VIII ON italy is at war. Similarly Aus
ltria stretches as q barrier betty cen the.
about the only supply left for Italy
is England, where the Welsh coal
fields are hardly equal to the de-
n1and of Esngland's own factories and
navy. and her nearby ally, France,
without also supply Ita1yss needs And
SO coal is tnounting--$5 s. some time
ago, then SO. then $40. $25. $50 and
now $40 a ton. ~
People can no longer buy coal by
the tom but by the bag, and a bag
II = - L. 80
sh oulder costs ST. This meanss of
course that poor people can no longer
buy coal and can no longer keep
warm, except as the mild italian cli-
mate may help them. But the eli
mate does not help the railways and
factories, and Industrial Italy is the,
worst sufferer frdn coal sh portage and
excessive price,. There has even been
talk since italy is not at war with
Germany, of getting coal from Ger
MANY. and for the possible exchange
| of some other articles Of mutual need
Importing coal froI1aJ apan is also be-
ing considered but the transporta-
ton cost is SO great that Japenese
coal would. probably not bring the
price down in, Ita1y.s Wood as a SUBJ
stttuteefs out OF the question, for
ftaIy's tree and timber supply is prac-
tica11y exhausted, and even buches of
sxfgs ana ia gsots have become q lux
L1ry at high price.
Tho leading hotels of Rome have
posted a notice stating that owing to
the high price of coal the Association
of Hotel Keepers have agreed to
charge each ,guekt one Ira GO cents)
per day for The hotels expense for
eoaf This is in the large and import
ant hotels known to Americans. where
noasuch requirement. has ever before
prevailed. A family Of five thus pays
! $40 extra per month for its share of
ktheh otefS coal
American coal shippers have been
urged to enter the Italian field. But
the scarcity of ships and the High cost
of transjortation--du to the dangers
Of coal as contraband of warfare
said to stand in the way Of relief from
tflat quarter. So that one of the ef-
fects of the European war is to bake
the high price of coal vital ques-
ton for italy, and the Absence of any
apparent remedy is even a more SER
ious question.