i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

32 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
WALKING DELEGATE AT POKER.
James Zelink, an organizer in the service of the
United Mine Workers until recently, has been
arrested at Boswell, Pa., on charges of defrauding
boarding house keepers and passing worthless
checks. Zelink was sent to Connellsville last May
as an organizer of the United Mine Workers of
America. He says that during his stay in Connellsville
he succeeded in converting a large number
of the non-union miners and established several
local unions. About four months ago, Zelink
says, he got a touch of sporting fever and was induced
to take a hand in the fascinating game of
poker. A well known poker shark presented to
him a scheme to make money faster than it is
turned out of the United States mints. He had a
"greenhorn" with $700 and told Zelink that with
his assistance it would be an easy matter to secure
the roll. Zelink says he took to the scheme
and a game was arranged for the same day in his
room. Zelink dropped $50 in a few minutes. He
raised $o0 more by making a loan from a friend.
This went the same way as another $50 Zelink
raised on his diamond stud. For four months
after that day, Zelink says he played daily, and
nearly every cent, of his salary of $165 per month
went over the green cloth. The annual statement
published by the United Mine Workers of America
for the year ending January 1, 190;J, shows that
Zelink received $1,972.20 last year.
THE INDIANA COAL TRADE.
Regarding the condition of tne Indiana coal
trade, Jacob C. Kolsom, president of the Indiana
Operators' Association, says: "Not in 15 years has
coal been sold at the mines in Indiana at as low
price as at present. There is no agreed price at
the mines. Every operator is offering coal just
a shade lower to make a sale from week to week."
Inquiry among mine operators shows that coal is
selling from 50 to 60 cents less a ton than last
April. Coal has been sold below cost in several
instances. What is true of the bituminous coal
has been true of block. The older operators look
for liquidation in the mining industry. It is predicted
that with the completion of the yearly contracts
in April some of the new operators will go
out of the business.
Prussia To Buy Hibernia Coal Mines.
The upper house of the Prussian diet has
adopted the bill for state purchase of the Hibernia
coal mines. The minister of commerce announced
that he and the finance minister were thoroughly
opposed to any general nationalization of coal
mines, but that the nationalization of the Hibernia
mines was necessary in order to give the government
power over the coal syndicate.
THE FREEPORT VEIN.
Director Charles D. Walcott, of the geological
survey, throws some important light on the character
of a vein of coal located about 500 feet below
the Pittsburgh coal and which has attracted considerable
attention in Washington county, Pa.
Mr. Walcott says that although it is generally inferior
to the Pittsburgh coal, in some localities
it can be profitably worked. His report says:
"The coal referred to is undoubtedly what is
known as the Upper Freeport. In oil and gas
wells in Washington county it is the principal coal
noted by the drillers below the Pittsburgh bed,
and occurs at an average depth of 650 feet below
the Pittsburgh vein. This interval, however,
varies from 600 to 700 feet in the Amity quadrangle.
The one other coal in this interval has
been noted in a few wells only, and occasionally
reaches a thickness of three feet, but is believed
to be of little or no economic value.
"On account of its great depth we have at present
no means of knowing the quality of the coal
beneath Amwell township. The nearest outcrops
are in the valley of the Youghiogheny river and
Jacobs creek, five to eight miles Northeast of
Connellsville. Where known in that region the
Upper Freeport varies in thickness from three to
seven feet and it is often a good workable coal.
It contains, however, considerably more sulphur
than the Pittsburgh bed. In the vicinity of Amwell
township little is known regarding thickness.
The few well records which give the coal at all,
report it from three to ten feet thick, and the
figures cannot be regarded as at all reliable.
There is little doubt that the Freeport coal in
Washington county contains valuable fuel supplies
which will be utilized when the more accessible
Pittsburgh seam becomes exhausted."
MINERS' CO-OPERATIVE STORES.
As a result of President Mitchell's recommendation
that co-operative stores be opened wherever
possible and operated upon the Rochdale system,
which has proved so successful throughout England.
The Coaldale, Pa., local of the United Mine
Workers will soon make the initial move in that
direction. The stock for the establishment of the
store will be divided up among the miners, and
will be non-assessable. The store will have a
manager, who will be under the control of a board
of directors elected by the stockholders. It is
expected that a dozen of these stores will be
started in the Southern coal field during the coming
summer. One of the principal objects of the
union will be to establish one of these stores wherever
there is a company store in operation, for the
announced purpose of driving that concern out of
business.