i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

30 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
United States Consul E. H. Plumacher, Maracaibo,
reports that the government of Venezuela
has decided to give no titles to coal mines in the
future, but to exploit all such mines under its
own supervision and ownership. If there is any
government in the world that is carrying the idea
of government ownership to extremes it is that of
Venezuela. It has taken unto itself recently
asphalt, guano and some half dozen other things
and is still continuing to reach out. Unfortunately
its methods of absorption and conservation do not
always come up to the modern idea of common
honesty.
— o —
It is suggested, in view of the earnest efforts
being made in Philadelphia to obtain government
appropriation for deepening the Delaware from
its present 30-foot channel to 35 feet, that the
congressmen from Eastern Pennsylvania combine
with those of the Western end of the state in a
strong and determined effort to get the much
desired and needed depth in both the Delaware
and the Ohio. In union there is strength but it
is not to be forgotten that combined attacks sometimes
result in the annihilation of one force.
while the other is successful and reaps all the
benefits of the united efforts.
—o—
The fact that there will be no wage conference
or joint interstate agreement between mine workers
and operators next spring and a whole year is
ahead, free from the contentions and arguments
between miners and their employers, should give
reasonable assurance of an unusually long era of
peace to the trade. Its results may determine
the wisdom of biennial agreements in the future
instead of annual settlements.
— o —
The one feature of coal mining that was really
lacking in the fine exhibits seen at the St. Louis
Fair was the historic and ever-present mine mule.
The masses of people who saw the beautiful models
of mines, tipples and mine villages went away
without the first inkling of this very conspicuous
character in coal mining.
—o—
Two thousand coal heavers in Vienna. Austria,
have struck for a 13-hour work day and a weekly
wage of $5 flat. Here is food for thought for
those who are eternally expressing their dissatisfaction
at American conditions and wages and who
cite the easy and contented life the foreign workman
leads.
—o—
Recent developments in the coke regions, where
thousands of ovens were forced to suspend opera­
tions for lack of water, show a new element in the
difficulties of coke making that might in a large
measure be overcome, since the operators are now
fully aware of its presence.
—o—
The coal man at Lowell, Mass., who shows that
his failure was due to the fact that he sold coal
to the poor during the strike two years ago, might
recoup his fortunes by making a tour of the country
and charging an admission fee.
— o —
Japan is buying Welsh coal now. The correspondence
between buyer and seller must be a
philological curiosity.
BRITISH EXPORTS FOR TEN MONTHS.
The exports of fuel from Great Britain for the
ten months ending October 31 were as follows, in
long tons:
1903. 1904. Increase.
Coal 37,595.109 38,559,640 I. 964,531
Coke 567.736 611.782 I. 44,046
Briquettes 802,494 1,059,992 I. 257,498
Totals 38.965,339 40,231,414 1.1,266,075
In addition to the above exports 14,394,308 tons
of coal were sent abroad for the use of steamships
engaged in the foreign trade.
A Mammoth Coal Storage Plant.
President Baer of the Philadelphia & Reading
Coal & Iron Co., has awarded to the Link Belt
Engineering Co., of Peekskill, N. Y., the contract
for the construction of the largest eoal storage
plant in the world. The plant, which will have
a capacity of more than half a million tons of
coal, will be located at Abrams, on the main line
of the Reading Railway, near Bridgeport, Pa., and
will have railroad frontage of' fully a mile. The
plant will consist of eight piles, with a capacity
of 60,000 tons each. It will have a guaranteed
receiving capacity of 14.000 tons in ten hours,
and a discharging capacity of 10,000 tons in the
same time.
Receiver Asked For Coal Company.
A petition in involuntary bankruptcy has been
filed against Eli M. Upton and Thomas R. Levis
of Rochester, N. Y., individually and as co-partners
in the firm of E. M. Upton & Co. and E. M. Upton
Coal Co. It is alleged Eli M. Upton executed a
general assignment to Alvi T. Baldwin of about
$300,000 worth of property belonging to the copartnership.