Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1923-04-06

cite mining companies enjoying mon
opolistic control of fuel mined, or held
in reserve" in Pennsylvania, was OBJ
tanned here today by the New York
American.
This information, obtained and pre-
pared by w. Jett Lauck, statistician
and economist, on behalf of the United
Mine Workers of America, is a part of
data that cost $4,000 to gather.
1t will later be used in a battle to
be waged either to obtain the nation
alization of the anthracite mines by
the United States Government, or so
to regulate and inspect the output of
the mines that the public can no
longer be gouged.
The selling of mine refuse banks
and the marketing of everything
black from underground, both dur
ing the war and in the postwar
period, when profits kept swelling in
stead of decreasing, have proved so
efficient as dividend producers that
they are now fixed policies.
To Exhaust Waste Banks
The present plan of the companies,
it is a~scertained, is to continue sell
ing the contents of mine waste banks
to the public until the banks are x
hausted. In come localities, az the
New York American has already
shown, the waste banks have already
disappeared.
Mr.. Lauck says:
"The principal anthracite mining
companies have to a certain extent
concealed the bulk of their profits by
transferring their product at an ar
bitrary price to separately incorpor-
ated selling departments. Although
these subsidiary corporations show
by far a larger gross margin of profit
than the parent companies on sales
of anthracite, it is significant that the
net income of seven companies jump
ed from a 20 to a Sc per cent return.
"This jump was from the pre-war
earning rate to the rate at the close
of the war.
"In the case of net income per ton
of output there was an advance from
Poi cents in 1914 to 37.5 cents in 1918,
for instance. This constituted an
average annual increase of 69.7 per
cent. Coal production increased only
11.6 per cent during the war.
Railroad Influence
"Those companies that have sepa-
rately incorporated selling agencies
record big profits, but their selling
companies get the bulk Of the profits.
An outstanding feature of the anthra-
cite industry is the predominating in
f1uence of the anthracite railroad COM
panies and their affiliated mining COM
panies both in ownership of coal de-
posts and in actual tonnage produced
each yea
"The Federal Trade Commission as
~certained that of a given recent year
the railroad coal companies controlled
for market, not counting coa in stor-
age, SIS, $685. SOC tons, or 1916 per cent
of total commercial production.
"Three of the most important an
thracite companies in volume of out
put are the Lehigh Valley Coal Com
pany, the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western Company and the Delaware
& Hudson Company. These are ex-
clusively producing concerns and
market their entire output through
separate selling companies, the profits
of which are seldom of public knowl-
edge.
One Sales Company
'The Lehigh Valley Coal Sales Com
pany, subsidiary of the Lehigh Valley
Coal Company, which is in turn owned
by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, was
incorporated in New Jersey in 1912. 1t
has a contract to buy all coal mined,
purchased or otherwise acquired by
the Lehigh Valley Coal Company and
affiliated companies.
"Of the $4,000, 900 authorized CAPT.
tai stock, virtually all is outstanding
at $50 par value. The original stock
outstanding was $6,060,8 500, which was
sold to stockholders of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad Company at par in
1912, the latter using for the purpose
the extra 10 per cent dividend de-
clared at that time.
"In January, 1914, those who got
the company stock through an extra
railroad dividend, received a special
dividend of rs per cent.
"Other dividends since have been
as high as AZ per cent per mum. In
1918 there was a special dividend of
10 per cent paid in United States 4
per cent Liberty bonds. On at least
two occasions there have been 80 per
cent extra dividends declared" 4
Lackawanna Profits
Mr.. Lauck shows that the Lacka-
wanna Coal Company, child of the
Lackawanna Railroad, began business
with a capital stock of $6,590,7OO, and
that in three years after having paid
dividends of $2,141, 961, it had accumu-
lated a surplus of ~$4,49S,382.
This coal company vas organized
by the officers and directors of the