COAL - Clpdigital.org

WHAT ANTHRACITE COAL HAS
DONE FOR THE RAILROADS.
Probably no group of railroads has accomplished
such an expansion of earnings as the anthracite
carriers. In some cases the net earnings, or income,
has more than doubled in the last six years.
There has been material broadening of the market
for anthracite, but an important factor in
bringing about the larger earnings has been the
concentration of control among these roads, wdiich
has done away with the ruinous competition policy
which cut prices for coal right and left.
Contrasting present earnings with those of the
year 189S, from which time the substantial improvements
in earnings dates, the following results
are shown:
Inc.
Gross earn. 1904-05. 1898. per ct.
Reading $37,000,000 $21,986,834 68
Lehigh Valley 31.000,000 19,742,537 57
C. R. R. of N. J 19,298,000 13,187,270 46
D.. L. & W 28.701,991 22.168,345 29
Del. & Hudson 15.071,124 9,907.358 52
Pennsylvania 118.145,270 65,603,737 SO
Erie 43,100,000 33,740,861 27
Ont. & West 6,950,000 3,914,635 77
Inc.
Net earnings. 1905. 1898. per ct.
Reading $16,800,000 $9,600,806 75
Lehigh Valley 12,220,000 5,554,310 120
C. R. R. of N. J 9.675.000 5,118,95f 89
D., L. & W 12,049,228 7,889,793 52
D. & H 5,875,843 3,838,851 53
Pennsylvania 29,603,672 21,093,722 40
Erie 13,150,000 8,302,822 58
Ont. & West 1,950,000 1,112,992 75
Total net income:
Reading $20,975,000 $10,420,364 101
Lehigh Valley 13,500,000 6,799,255 98
C. R. R. of N. J 11.175.000 5,715,482 95
D., L. & W 16,191,419 6,765,832 139
D. & H 5,256,447 4.794,297 9
Pennsylvania 41.017,935 26,560,366 54
Erie 13,000,000 8.716,189 49
Ont. & West 2.430,000 1,112,992 118
The gross earnings of the railroad properties
are given, the net earnings of the coal companies
being reflected in the total income item. Where
the fiscal year ends June 30, the results for the
year ending June 30, 1905, are partly estimated,
and where the year ends December 31, the earnings
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1904,
are given.
The roads are arranged in order of percentage
of the total anthracite tonnage which they respectively
carry. Pennsylvania's traffic, of course, is
largely diversified, but it is one of the anthracite
roads, its proportion of the anthracite tonnage
of the country being 8.23 per eent.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 51
Of all the anthracite roads the Reading, which
carries by far the largest anthracite tonnage,
makes probably the largest gain on account of
anthracite business. Its net income is 101 per
cent, larger than in 1898. and while the Lackawanna's
is 139 per cent, and the Ontario & Western's
is 118 per cent, greater than at that date,
the Reading has increased its gross earnings 68
per cent, while the gross earnings increase of the
Lackawanna and the Ontario & Western was but
29 per cent, and 77 per cent, respectively.
The Pennsylvania's gross earnings are 80 per
cent, larger to-day than they were in 1898, but
the net earnings increase is 40 per cent. The
Lehigh Valley's large gain in net is due in great
part to bookkeeping which now discloses the real
earning capacity.
A New Method of Testing Coal.
A quick and useful method of determining the
amount of slate in the small sizes of prepared
coal is employed by the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western Coal Department at its mines in Pennsylvania.
When the railroad car is being loaded.
samples of coal are collected which aggregate 10
pounds. About one-quarter of this 10-pound sample
is set apart at the testing house for the slate
determination. The method is as follows: A
solution is prepared by mixing sulphuric acid with
water until the mixture shows specific gravity of
1.7 by hydrometer test. This solution is placed
in an earthenware jar. A perforated copper vessel,
of several times the capacity of the coal
sample, is suspended in the solution. On the
sample being poured into the copper receptacle
and agitated, the slate sinks, while the coal floats
on the solution. The coal is skimmed off, washed,
weighed and compared with the total weight of
the coal and slate. This leaves nothing to the
discrimination of an inspector as to what should
be classed as slate.
British Coal Exports.
The half year's exports of coal from the United
Kingdom were 22,893,560 tons, an increase of
288.981 tons. Coke exports were 318.861 tons, an
increase of 9,642 tons. There was a heavy decrease
in the exports of briquettes, the shipments
being 553,206 tons this year and 653,586 tons in
1904. Exports of bunker coal this year were 8.-
334,461 tons as compared with 8,480,457 in the
previous year. The exports of coal to the United
States were 80,268 tons, a falling off of 6,277 tons.
The chief exports were to Germany 3.806,235. Italy
3,306,476 tons, France 3.191,891 and Sweden 1,230,-
088 tons.