COAL - Clpdigital.org

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF
COAL MERCHANTS FORMED.
The National Council of Retail Coal Dealers
Associations and the International Anthracite
Merchants' Association were amalgamated under
the name of the International Council of Coal
Merchants during their meeting at Buffalo, N. Y..
September 21 and 22. These officers were elected
for the new organization: President, W. F. Endrese,
Jamestown, N. Y.; vice-president, Robert
Lake, Jackson, Mich.; treasurer, C. A. Cruikshank,
Hannibal, Mo.; secretary. W. M. Bertelet, Reading.
Pa. G. H. Reeves, of Minneapolis; J. M. Watts,
of Baltimore; and J. S. Smoot, of New York, were
elected an executive committee.
Among the representatives at the meeting were
the presidents and secretaries of state or division
or city organizations in territory from Maine to
Texas as follows: Northwestern Retail Coal Dealers'
Association. C. M. Morse. Winona, Minn.; Illinois
and Wisconsin Retail Coal Dealers' Association,
Frank Mosher, De Kalb, Wis.; F. E. Lukens,
Chicago; Iowa and Nebraska, Frank Gregory, Marshalltown,
Iowa; R. E. Harris, Omaha, Neb.; Kansas
and Missouri, C. A. Cruikshank, Hannibal,
Mo.; H. Nesbitt, Atchison, Kan.; Ohio, W. F. Vogele,
Mansfield; Ford R. Cate, Columbus; Oklahoma
and Indian Territory, A. M. De Bolt, Oklahoma
City; Maine, E. A. Larrabee, Bath: R. S.
Webb, Yarmouth; New York and Pennsylvania,
George H. Mitchell, Mill Village, Pa.; William F.
Endrese, Jamestown, N. Y.; New England, F. G.
Humphrey, Waterbury, Conn.; W. R. Batchelder,
Boston, Mass.; Pennsylvania, Samuel B. Crowell,
Philadelphia; Wellington M. Bertolet, Reading;
Western Ontario, John C. Hay, Listowel; H. A.
Mcintosh. Woodstock; Kentucky and Tennessee,
E. G. Fristoe, Mansfield, Ky.; W. C. Williams,
Louisville, Ky.; Philadelphia, Charles K. Scull;
New York, O. J. Stevens, J. Samuel Smoot;
Baltimore. B. M. Watts, G. H. Natchman;
Wilmington, Edward N. Phillips; Albany,
John H. Lynch. William B. Vernoy; Atlantic
City, S. P. Morris, William Lewis; Texas, B.
G. Moss, Bonham; Walter D. Lacy. Waco; Cleveland,
H. G. Brayton; Harrisburg, F. J. Wallace,
J. H. Palmer.
The officers of the new organization will soon
take steps to have it incorporated under the laws
of Illinois. The headquarters will be in Chicago.
The coal dealers meeting discussed the subjects of
railroad demurrages and short weights of carloads
of coal. The dealers expressed themselves
as bitterly opposed to the system the railroads
have of charging the recipients of carloads of
coal for rent of the cars in case the cars are not
unloaded promptly, even though the delay in unloading
may be the result of the railroads' neglect
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. ,",9
to ship the car promptly to its destination so that
the dealer can get it to unload when he has plenty
of time. The dealers condemned the practice of
making the retailers pay for coal that is stolen
out of cars while they are in transit. The retailers
complain that oftentimes cars are a ton
or more short when they get to their destination,
and they passed strong resolutions calling upon
the railroads to stop what the dealers call the injustice
of the demurrage and short-weight practices.
A discussion of railroad rate legislation such as
proposed in the Esch-Townsend bill and other
measures having for their object the conferring
upon the interstate commerce commission of the
power to substitute a reasonable railroad rate for
a rate which it condemns as unreasonable, took
place. William Ellis of Chicago, representing the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, attacked
the features of the Esch-Townsend bill. He
argued that every railroad rate depends so much
upon other rates that if the commissioners began
disturbing rates at all they would soon be swamped
with the task of trying to fix a growing number
of rates in an endless chain. According to Mr.
Ellis there are about 7,000 persons in this country
now engaged in investigating rates for railroads,
and the interstate commerce commissioners would
find themselves in a peck of trouble trying to do
their work if the powers were enlarged as proposed.
A resolution was passed condemning the
idea of allowing the interstate commerce commission
to name any rate to be substituted for a rate
condemned.
ANTHRACITE SHIPMENTS.
Shipments of anthracite coal for the eight
months ending August 31 are repo rted as follows.
in long tons:
1904 .
Tons. Pei rCt.
1905.-
Tons. Per Ct.
Reading 7,440,190 19.4 8,233,808 20.6
Lehigh Valley. 6,220,981 16.3 6,355,755 15.8
N. J. Central. . 4,836,166 12.6 5.159,874 12.9
Lackawanna .. 6,129,249 16.1 6,166,527 15.3
Del. & Hudson. 3.712,029 9.8 3.830,578 9.7
Pennsylvania .. 3,185,835 8.3 3,272,796 8.2
Erie 3,912,514 10.3 4,100,616 10.3
N. Y.,Ont. & W. 1,765,333 4.6 1,894,547 4.8
Del.,Sus. & Schl. 1,003,873 2.6 1,061,480 2.6
Total 38.206.170 100.0 40.075,981 100.0
The total increase this year was 1,869,811 tons,
or 4.6 per cent. Every company exhibited an increase.
The total shipments in August amounted
to 5,041,838 tons, being an increase of 716,104 tons
over those in the corresponding period in 1904.