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seven cents per ton will not bring relief to the
operators of Central Pennsylvania; it will not
give the miners of Central Pennsylvania more
work than they would otherwise have. It means
less earnings to the miners and no more profits to
the operators. I have not the figures concerning
the production in West Virginia during last year.
I have been unable to secure them so far. Our
friends state that the Eastern
SHIPMENTS HAVE INCREASED;
that the shipments from Central Pennsylvania
have been decreased. I know that the shipments,
or at least the figures that we have, show that
the shipments from Central Pennsylvania were
less in 1904 than they were in 190d, but it is also
a fact that the shipments in 1903 were as large as
they ever were in any previous year, or 1904 were
as large as they ever were in any previous year
except 1903 and larger, much larger, than they
ever were in any previous year with the exceptions
of 1902 and 1903, which were considered boom
years. So far as the competition from West
Virginia is concerned, and Virginia, it does not
appear to be as keen now as it has been in the
past. One of the first large contracts let during
the present year, and I have reference to the Boston
& Maine contract for a million tons, or approximating
a million tons, the bulk of which had
formerly been supplied from Southern fields because
of the convenience of water shipment, was
within the past three or four weeks taken by
Central Pennsylvania operators in competition with
West Virginia. The coal trade, as I have stated,
during last summer and well into the fall, was in
a demoralized condition. That is not the case at
present. It is stated by almost everyone connected
with the coal trade that the steel trade, the
iron and steel industry, is a good barometer of
the coal trade. When the iron and steel industry
begins to fail, shortly afterwards we feel the
injurious effects in the coal trade; when it begins
to improve, shortly afterwards we feel the beneficial
effects in the coal trade, and more directly
in the coke trade. For the past 11 months, or
12, the iron and steel trade has been gradually improving,
until to-day it is almost
ON THE VERGE OF A BOOM
condition. There are many contributory causes—
causes that are likely to remain during the year
to come. The result of the improvement in the
iron and steel trade has been a gradual improvement
during the past three or four months in
the coal business. In addition to that, men who
are buyers of coal, during last summer and fall,
held off in their purchases, held off with the expectation
of getting cheaper coal, and fortunately
for the miners, although it may be very unfortunate
for others and undoubtedly is, we have had
a number of blizzards, a number of storms that
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. .",1
have interfered with transportation during the
past winter. As a result of the interference
with transportation the stocks of coal in the
market had been depleted. What is the result?
The result is, and has been, fancy prices for spot
coal, in some instances. The result is, and has
been, an improvement in the tone of the market
for contract coal. With an improvement in the
tone of the market for contract coal, with at least
last year's prices being obtained and in some
cases better, why should we have a proposition at
this time for a reduction in wages?
This West Virginia condition has been a bugaboo
as long as I can remember in the coal trade. We
have feared it when prices were going up, we have
feared it when prices were going down, and yet
GEORGE E. SCOTT,
Manager and Treasurer of the Puritan Coal Mining Co.,
Secretary of the Conference of Operators and Miners, at
Altoona.
with all our fear of West Virginia competition
the coal trade in Central Pennsylvania has continued
to expand. We are producing in Central
Pennsylvania to-day
A GREATER AMOUNT OF COAL
per diem than we ever produced in the history of
Central Pennsylvania, notwithstanding this fearful
competition from West Virginia. In view of
all the facts of tne case, gentlemen, I cannot understand
why the operators come in here at this
time with a proposition for a reduction in wages.
The joint scale committee went into session the
same evening. Mr. Kerr was elected chairman of
the committee and Mr. Scott and William Currie,