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GOAL TRADE BULLETIN.
Vol. XIII. PITTSBUBGH, PA., SEPTEMBER 1, 1905. No. 7.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN;
PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH.
Copyrighted by THE COAL TBADH COMPANY, 10O3.
A. R. HAMILTON, Proprietor and Publisher,
II. J. STBAUB, 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
THK COAL TKADE COMPANY.
926-930 PAHK BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA.
Long Distance Telephone 250 Grant.
[Entered at the Post Office at Pittsburgh, Pa., as
Second Class Mail Matter.]
THOSE WHO EXPECTED PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, in
his address to the anthracite miners, to deliver
himself of sensational utterances, probably are dis­
appointed. His speech was entirely devoid of
melodrama and gallery play. Neither was it a
mass of meaningless words. His views on the
relations of capital and labor and more especially
those between the coal miner and his employer
were presented tersely and clearly. If his dis­
course was a severe disappointment to any one, it
was to those misguided individuals, of whom there
seem to have been a large number, who expected
a "jingo" speech. Instead the inalienable rights
of both miners and employers were plainly set
forth and both were warned that unless the prin­
ciples of justice and equity were strictly adhered
to, neither government or public support could be
expected in the event of a disagreement. There
has been a manifest tendency on the part of the
anthracite miners to regard the president as a
sort of Hercules who would stand behind them
and enforce their demands. They have been told
plainly that when they are right they can depend
on the president's support and that when they are
wrong, they can count on his influence being
against them. There was nothing in the speech
that should not have been expected by the rational
public. It has completely set at rest the idea
that the president was or could lie made a club
for anybody.
* * *
AMONG THE PETITIONS TO HE PRESENTED at the next
session of congress will be one asking for govern­
ment aid for the Ohio and Lake Erie ship canal.
The government will be asked to help the project
by properly canalizing the Ohio river from Pitts­
burgh to the point at which the canal will strike
that stream. The canal company is prepared to
show its ability to do the rest of the work and
will ask for assistance only on that part of the
route which is to remain under government super­
vision. This project links in with that other very
necessary one of improving the Ohio sufficiently to
make it navigable during the entire year. It is
certain that there will be no canal from Pitts­
burgh to Lake Erie until the upper stretch of
Ohio is improved. It would seem, therefore, that
the best step for all concerned would be to unite
efforts on this point. Congress has already shown
a willingness to appropriate money for waterways
improvements which have also had state or pri­
vate aid, and for which, otherwise, it is not be­
lieved that national assistance would have been
given. The Muskingum river, in Ohio, and Phila­
delphia harbor are examples in point. A con­
certed, earnest effort may bring success to both
river and canal interests.
* * *
WHILE EVERYBODY INTERESTED in the Illinois coal
trade took a turn at condemning the shot firers'
law, THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN urged patience and
a fair trial on the ground that the enforcement