The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-10-27
Every Year If the Prop sed
Advance Of Freight Rates
Goes Through.
tByG. O. Mcintosh

| \ fltIl
Claiming that the loss to the state
would amount to six times more each
year than the full sum Of the Vir-
iginia debt, Colonel ]. w. Dawson, of
Charleston, presented q startling ar
ray Of facts before the state board Of
trade at Fairmont last week.
Colonel Dawson made some other
comparisons for the purpose Of show
ing the wide extent of the coal bust
ness and the terrible and instant
havoc that would follow In the wake.
of the railroad program to increase
the freigh rates on coal.
The coal production is fifty per
cent more valuable in dollars and
cents than the agricultural products.
The coal industry brings to the
state annually, about one-halt as
much cash as all the money on de-
post in all Of the banks combined.
And II the shortage Of money was
responsible for the panic Of 1907,
what would happen to the banks Of
SIS, 200, 00c annually, or $3.50 900
daily. should be hereafter cut of.
The present coal crisis affects $50
operating companies employing "80,-
600 mine laborers, 100000 women
and children-families Of mine labor
ers, other laborers in all walks OF
life, the farmer and his laborers.
wholesale and retail merchants. and
last, but not least, the state as
whole through its taxation"
Fifty-five million dollars per year
would be the direct loss to the mine
workers.
1t would affect thousands Of rail-
way employees.
It will reduce the demand for farm
productions.
The wholesale and retail merchants
will be affected by the withdrawal
of the present wage rolls. amounting
to $75,000,0 900 per year.
Mr.. Dawson also showed that II
west Virginia could market Its coal
on as favorable conditions as Penn
sylvania. the values Of coal lands
would grow from 500 to 5000 per
acre, their presnt values, to $500
to $4,000 per acre, the values that
obtain In Pennsylvania. He showed
that there had existed for years a de-
Hberate plan and campaign on the
part OF Ohio and Pennsylvania to de-
stroy the West Virginia coal indus
try, and quoted from public records
to prove 1t. The combination formed
against the coal industry in'this state,
Dawson declared to be illegal.
He showed, Furthermore, that be-
sides trying to keep West Virginia
coal out Of the northern and western
markets. the Pennsylvania railroad
had succeeded up to this time, abso-
lutely, in keeping our coal away from
New York and other eastern mar
kets.
IF by chance" said Mr.. Dawson,
the coal operators of West Virginia
could continue doing business under
this advanced freight rate, 1t would
be necessary for them to decrease the
amount Of wages paid their en-
ployes. and curtail expenses in every
other way to absorb this fifteen cents
advance in rate, and thus if they con
tinue to ship coal in the same guam
titles as at present there would be an
annual loss to the state OF this If
teen cents ton or about $11,0OO,-
O00." q
In concluding, Mr.. Dawson urged
the people of the state, individually
and collectively, to demand Of the
department Of justice at Washington.
protection from the influence Of the
illegal combination of the Pennsylva-
mia railroad and the Pittsburg Coal
Company and their associates"
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