The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-08

lar set up the claim that it had lost
 sl .16 per ton on coal marketed up to April 1.
 What the Birmingham retailer
 pays for his stock of coal placed in
 cars in his yard in case of particu-
 lar coals is as follows: Sterling (Black Creek), s5.45 at
 the mines. freight s1.os1s and war
 tax of cents, making total cost in car in his yard s6.54i5.
 Carbon Hill, s4.05 at the mine, freight s1, war tax cents, total placed on yard tracks in retailers yard, s5 0S.
 Corona, s495 at mines. freight s1,
 war tax cents, total of s5.9S placed on tracks in yards.
 Montevallo and Piper, se.95 a.
 mines, freight ssh cents, war tax 5 cents, total $7.S6iz in cars on yard tracks.
 Price to Retailer These are the prices at which the
 coal comes to the retailer. what he adds for operation of yard, incluolns license. mules, feed, clerk hire, driv-
 CTS and the like, may be ascertained by subtracting the above totals from the price to consumer. In the case of the coals mentioned that reads this way: Carbon Hill--Delivery price ss and s7.75: cost to retailer $5,0S; retailers charges $2.s2 and s2.67 according to
 whe ether one or five tons IS taken. Corona-Delivery price, $S.75 and sS.50; cost to retailer $5.ss; retailers
 charges s2.7 and $2.52 according to whether one or five tons is ordered. Montevallo and Piper-Delivery price SLOTS and s10.5o; cost to re-
 taller 7.S61a; retailers charge, $2.Ss1a and 2.63h according to whether one
 or five tons is taken. From this 1t will be seen that the retail yards charge for the operation of their business, including placing the coal in the cellar, from S2.50 to s2.S0 and $2.sO.
 Under Average. Jones and Suydam's charges on Sterling, for example, are under the
 average, being $2.71 and s2.52 accord Ing to amount of coal ordered.
 Domestic coal producers have rep resented to the governor that charges f. 0. b. mines now are from 62 cents
 to $120 under the charges made for l the same coal at this time last year. It is understood that 1t has been represented to the governor that s3 Is a fair average price for operation of retail coal yard with allowance. of profit of something like 50 cents per ton for net profit. | Vice presidents of three large southern railroads have declared that there will be no reductions in the 1 freight rate on coal, which averages 1 to Birmingham $1 where 1t was 40 cents before the war. | Meanwhile the domestic coal con sumer is on a strike. whose effects remain to be seen.
 New Cheap Source. 1 Mines close to the city are begin | ming to offer coal at prices consider
 ably under those charged by the re-
 tailers. Delivery is direct from the
 mines in trucks. Some of these coals
 that have been delivered at $50 have , been pronounced satisfactory, and | that price has been lowered in some instances to S6 with one mine report
 ed to be offering it at even less. | How much figure this direct de- l livery will cut in the coal business of
 this fall and winter remains to be
 seen and would appear to depend on 1 the mines making the consumer ac-
 quainted with the opportunities as well as their capacity to serve. | It's possible volume cannot be de- termined without comprehensive | survey.
 l At the same time this direct-from
 mine coal has already made its ap- pearance at cafes, which are regular consumers of high-grade domestic lump, and proved acceptable. It is a new element in the retail coal busi- ness and may cut considerable figure | by reason of being a direct to con-
 sumer proposition with avoidance of freight and double handling in yards