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32 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
ESSEN CHAMBER OPPOSED TO
GOVERNMENT MINE OWNERSHIP.
The annual report of the Essen Chamber of
Commerce has been received by the Prussian minister
of commerce. Essen is the chief center of
the German iron and steel industries. It is there
that the Krupp steel works are located. The report
sets out that the Essen Chamber of Commerce
is opposed to the contemplated movement of the
coal trade. The government is already owner of
coal mines, but its interests are not sufficient to
give it control of the trade. The Essen capitalists
suggest that the government, as a mine owner,
join the coal syndicate and thus "exert a moral
influence over the latter." The avowed object of
the government in its purpose of securing enough
additional mines to make it master of the coal
business in the empire is to prevent the abuses
practice* by the coal-syndicate;: whereby the con­
sumers and the industrial interests of Germany
may be injured, and the miners subjected to low
wages and other undesirable conditions. The temporary
surrender of the coal miners, after maintaining
their great strike for months, was brought
about by the expectation that their grievances
would be remedied through the government's influence.
Public opinion was largely on the side
of the striking miners, and the government openly
sympathized with their demands.
ACTION AGAINST UNION SUPPLY CO.
Proceedings under the law of 1891, commonly
known as the "Company Store Act," we.'e instituted
before Attorney General Carson, at Harrisburg,
Pa., on June 9, to abolish the company stores
conducted by the Union Supply Co. in the soft
coal regions of southwestern Pennsylvania. The
proceedings were brought by Alfred E. Jones, district
attorney of Fayette county, in behalf of
Joseph Hantman and George L. Moore, of Edenborn,
Fayette county. The attorney general fixed
Wednesday, June 21. for hearing the complaint.
The petition alleges that the H. C. Frick Coke Co.
is a corporation formed for the purpose of mining
coal and manufacturing coal into coke in Fayette
county and elsewhere and that the Union Supply
Co. is a corporation formed for the purpose of conducting
a general merchandise business in the
locality. The petition alleges further that the
Union Supply Co. owns and operates many company
or general supply stores in Fayette county,
all of which are located on or near land of the
Frick Coke Co.; that the men who own and operate
the Frick company are interested in, own and
operate the Union Supply Co., compelling their
employes to patronize the supply company or suffer
discharge, thereby unlawfully forcing them to
patronize the stores of the Union Supply Co. The
last proceeding of this kind in which the assist­
ance of the attorney general was invoked was in
1898, when Attorney General McCormick was asked
to proceed against the Old Bangor Slate Co., of
Northampton county. The petitioners failed to
prove their case and the proceedings were dropped.
To Work The Spitzbergen Coal Fields.
The coal fields of Spitzbergen, after consider­
able experimental mining, have been found of
sufficient value to justify more extensive operations.
An expedition has been fitted out at Sheffield,
England, in which also some Norwegian
capital is invested, and the leader has arrived at
Trondhjem, where he is preparing to begin operations.
About 70 men have been engaged. It is
the intention to erect 11 buildings, to be ready-
made, and when set up to be used for lodgings,
sheds for machinery, etc. The larger part of the
machinery is to be taken from England. There
is said to be an excellent harbor near the mines.
A wharf will be built and connection made by a
funicular wire railway with the mines, which are
located at some elevation on the mountain. It
is thought that the summer season will pass in
making preparations, and that but little actual
mining will be done before the winter sets in.
After the shafts have been sunk, cold weather
will not present any serious obstacles to the work.
The capital invested is about $150,000.
GERMAN COAL PRODUCTION.
The official figures for the production of coai in
Germany last two years are as follows, in metric
tons:
1903. 1904.
Coal 116,637,765 120,815,503
Lignite 45,819,488 48,632,769
Total 162,457,253 169,448,272
The increase in coal last year was 4,177,738 tons,
or 3.5 "per cent.; in brown coal, or lignite, 2,813,-
281 tons, or 6.1 per cent.; the total increase being
6,991.019 tons.
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