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GOAL TRADE BULLETIN.
Vol. XIII. PITTSBURGH, PA., AUGUST 1, 1905. No. 5.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN;
PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH.
Copyrighted by THE COAL TRADE COMPANY, 1903.
A. K. HAMILTON, Proprietor and Publisher,
H. J. STRAUB, Managing Editor.
SUBSCRIPTION, - - - - $2.00 A YEAR
Correspondence and communications upon all matters
relating to coal or coal production are invited.
All communications and remittances to
THE COAL TRADE COMPANY.
926-930 PARK BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA.
Long Distance Telephone 250 Grant.
[Entered at the Post Office at Pittsburgh, Pa., as
Second Class Mail Matter.]
WHAT MAY BE MILDLY TERMED uncalled-for criti­
cism by disgruntled marginers of Pittsburgh Coal
Co. stock is brought to its quietus by a single
statement which THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN makes
on absolutely reliable authority. Referring to
the much-discussed contract of the company to
supply the United States Steel Corporation we
are enabled to affirm that the direct profits from
supplying the steel corporation's mills, railroads.
lake freighters and other possessions with their
fuel supply are sufficient in themselves to take
care of the Pittsburgh ^oal Co.'s bond interests.
The contract is on a profitable basis. Beyond this
it is patent that so gigantic a contract has a re­
markably steadying effect and enables the com­
pany to produce its coal at a minimum cost. In
mining it is the volume and the steadiness in the
operation of the plants that counts in the pro­
duction cost per ton.
Apart from the steel corporation contract reve­
nue, the Pittsburgh Coal Co., through its Hocking
Valley properties, priceless docking and distribut­
ing facilities on the lower and upper lakes, its
railway lines and thousands of railway cars, its
farms, surface land ownership, etc., has a legiti­
mate income more than sufficient to meet bond in­
terests. This leaves entirely out of consideration
profits from the operation of the company's mines
in the Pittsburgh district. Over its lake docks
the Pittsburgh Coal Co. handles the coal from all
fields that supply the Northwest territory includ­
ing anthracite, Pocahontas, West Virginia, Hock­
ing and other coals. These facilities, together
with other sources of revenue mentioned, outside
of the company's tremendous contracts with the
steel corporation and large railway consumers,
are therefore alone the means of meeting all fixed
charges regardless of whether or not coal is being
sold at little above the cost of production. Is
there any other concern in the Pittsburgh district
or any other field of which this could be said?
One of the great resources possessed by the
Pittsburgh Coal Co., which has been lost sight of
for the time being, is its 8,000-acre coking coal
tract along the Redstone branch of the Mononga­
hela division of tue Pennsylvania railroad. The
company is only developing this tract to feed
something upward of 600 ovens. Immensely valu­
able for coking purposes this tract does not begin
to be delved into for so trifling a group of ovens.
With this contract the company may either become
a strong factor as a coke producer or the coal
may pass out of its hands at a round profit to such
an interest as the steel corporation, the manage­
ment of which would be glad to entrench its cok­
ing coal possessions and operations in the Con­
nellsville region. This coal is far too valuable
to develop as a steam or gas product and such
practice would never be considered in face of the
fact that the Pittsburgh Coal Co. now holds nearly
a monopoly of the steam and gas coal of the Pitts­
burgh district which it is practical to develop.