Evening star., 1925-08-19
Article III.

aTIiCle HI.
Six weeks supply of anthracite
coal it is estimated. is stored in the
bins of retail dealers throughout the
country and at the mines. This is
in addition to the stocks in the bins
of householders who bought early
| How much their holdings amount to
can only be conjectured. Possibly
they run to 100000 tons. Certainly
| the amount is inadequate to meet the
Winters requirements, even If equal
! ly distributed.
| The United States Geological Sur
yey has measured the stock piles OF
| 497 retail dealers in anthracite as OF
| June / last. Here is what the sur
vey says:
ION June l this group had on hand
l1,18S,000 net tons of anthracite
against 1,0O6,S9 tons on June l, 1924;
| 555,S14 tons on June l, 1928, and 49,
| 26S tons on June 1, 1920.
| I'm terms of days supply. the stocks
on June l were sufficient to last o.
days at the average rate of delivery
| in March, April and May. With the
exception of stocks on September l.
1924, this is the largest days supply
recorded in the past 612 years, and
| the figure for that date was based on
| the Summer rate of delivery, which
ordinarily is comparatively low.
ut is impossible to estimate the
total stocks held by all anthracite
dealers, but it is felt that the figures
for this group indicate fairly &C
curately the trend of the total
Rush to Buy Coal.
i. Since the survey was made, how
| ever, the public has pricked up Its
| ears at the deadlock news from At
lantic City and has been rushing to
buy its Winter coal. The Summer
rate of delivery" has measurably
! quickened, drawing on the supply
| and lowering it somewhat. Anthra-
| cite production has quickened, too
rising from 1,854,000 tons during the
week ending July IL to 2,O49,OO0 tons
"a remarkably high figure-durlna
| the week ending July rs.
| Thus the fear of a. strike has been
] Immediately reflected in production
| and sales, sending the former to a
| level that would result, If maintained
| in an annual production or more than
| 1O6 ,OO0, 900 tons. When the ofnclaI
| figures are scanned 'it is found that
| the highest annual production ever
recorded was about 91,000,000 tons
! The strike fear has sent production to
a level 16 per cent higher than the
| highest maintained rate in the past.
| Six weeks ago there was little mar
| ket for anthracite; now the dealers
are working overtime. Prices have
| iumped to match the quickened pulse
beats of demand. The day the anthra
cite parley was broken increases in
price up to 81 a ton were reported
! from various localities. Indications
are that the experience OF two years
ago. when there was a strike or II
davs. will be paralleled to some extent
this year.
Price Movements Studied.
| The Federal Trade Commission
made a report recently to Congress. In
which the price movements of anthra
cite during the strike threat of 1923
| the strike itself and the period fol
lowing it are summarized as follows
| High premiums at the mines for
| small part of the supply stimulate
speculative wholesaling. In addition
retailers having no regular connection
with large company sources at sta
bilized prices must pay the high pre-
miums demanded by independent pro
ducers and wholesalers, and, there
fore, they are compelled to sell al
higher prices than would be necessary
to yield g. fair profit on supplies from
low-priced company sources.
Dealers who obtain their supplies
mainly or wholly from compan.
sources and who are unable in times
of shortage to secure enough anthra