Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1900 — Page 3

COAL FROM AMERICA.

EUROPE COMES TO THIS COUNTRY FOR FUEL. • ■ The Inadequate Supply Abroad Promotes Our Foreign Trade —Best Coal for Fighting Ships Now Comes from the United States. Mine operators from the United States and their agents are all over the European continent in the interest -of American coal and almost every day vessels loaded with the product of American mines are clearing for European ports, where they are to lay down bituminous coal at English prices. Great Britain, with an estimated coal supply for only 200 years, has been exporting 55,000,000 tons annually. The, British public has been looking upon' this with disfavor. An export tax upon the product is anticipated, and in the •vent of it the Mediterranean ports must draw upon the United States for their fuel. Already the United States has been supplying the best coal for use in naval vessels. In Europe coal deposits cover 27,000 square miles in Russia, 9,000 in Great Britain, 3,600 in Germany, 1,800 in France, and in all the rest of Europe are only 1,400 square miles. In Great Britain, France, and glermany especially these fields have been drawn upon for hundrds of years. Every square mile of resource has been sounded. Some of the English veins are worked to a depth of 3,887 feet,

AMERICA IS SUPPLYING EUROPE WITH COAL.

with 4,000 the estimated maximum possible. Russia, of all these countries, may develop unexpected deposits. British India shows only 35,000 square miles of coal beds, and the total of all these is only 77,800 for Europe and India. As against this are the United States deposits of 194,000 square miles, with thousands of possible miles unexplored and undeveloped. To this Alaska Is promising inexhaustible deposits of anthracite, which at least must replace the English coil that Is now supplying the Pacific slope of the United States. Aside from the United States in this coming world supply of fuel, only China and Japan can be looked to. These countries have deposits about as large as those of the United States, but are lacking In means of development. Their positions upon the map. too, are not fa vorable to the European trade. World’s Yield of Coal. As to. how the mines of the world have been drawn upon, the figures for 1898 are accurate enough for comparison. They show In long tons of 2,240 pounds: Tons. Great. 8ritain.202,042,000 UniteO 5tate5196.282,000 Germany 91,055,000 France 80.337,000 Belgium 21.720,000 Russia 9,220,000 Japan 5,080,000 India 4,060,000 New South Wales 3.750,000 Canada• 3,880.000 Spain 1,850,000 It will be seen from this that Great Britain, with only 9,000 square miles of coal beds, already lean from long mining, is drawing more heavily on her resources than is the United States, with more than twenty times the deposits, and they scarcely sounded in comparison. The exports of coal from the United States within the seven months ending July 31, aggregated 992,481 tons of anthracite and 3,009,274 tons of bituminous coal. The total exports showed an Increase of ,1,595,603 tons over the corresponding period of 1890. This increase was largely In shipments of bituminous coal. Export shipments of American coke during the seven months ending July 31, amounted to 240,253 tons, an Increase of about 90,000 tons over the same period In 1899. No Demand for Anthracite. The United States coal which Is to replace the product of England and Wales in 'the markets of the world is the soft coal of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Alabama. Anthracite coal has practically no opportunity for foreign exploitation at the present time or In the near future. It Is a fuel so much different from the coal that foreign consumers have been accustomed

to using that they are not at all Inclined to take it up, necessitating, as it does, the use of new grates or new stoves and entirely different methods of firing. Only the several varieties of soft coal now finding a market abroad need be considered. ■ — — In Pennsylvania there is produced for the seaboard trade what is know® as Clearfield coal, originating mostly on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad, but also reaching market over the Philadelphia and Reading railway. This general name Includes the coal from several minor regions and is a comprehensive trade term. Further to the westward is the Pittsburg district, closely centering about the metropolis of the western portion of the State. Some coal from the eastern portion of this district reaches tidewater by rail over the Pennsylvania, but the hopes of those who expect an export business in Pittsburg coal are based upon the fact that during certain portions of the year cheap transportation to the port of New Orleans may be by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. In Maryland the famous Cumberland coal Is produced, but this is decidedly soft, breaking into small pieces rather than crumbling, yet not in favor with foreign consumers notwithstanding. Its richness in fuel properties. foreign trade demands a lumpy coal, and for that reason the Cumberland can be left out of calculations concerning export trade. In West Virginia three Important railroad lines handle the products of the Elk Garden and Fairmont regions—in which Senators Davis and Elkins are

widely Interested—the New River and Kanawha districts, and the Pocahontas regions. Of these sections the New River, the Fairmont, and the Elk Garden mines promise to contribute the greater share of the State’s coal for export. The Pocahontas coal, howeveY, will be In limited but strong demand for naval steaming. In Alabama the coal fields lie in the northern part of the State, near Birmingham, and the way of outlet will be through Mobile or Pensacola. With these coals from these States, and paying even $5 a ton for ocean freights, the American shipper may have a margin of $1.56 profit at Gibraltar, $2.20 at Marseilles, and $2.68 at Naples, in addition to the profit in the home nrlce of $2.50 a ton. Yet this freight charge Is vastly greater than would hold if colliers, especially constructed, were to do the carrying. All of the possibilities leading to this new exploiting of American coal have found source in the high rates of freight in Great Britain, the cost of mining, and In the unmistakable limitation of the coal supply. The foreign production of coal Is not decreasing, of course; it is increasing steadily. Freight Chief Factor. W’ith freight rates from the United States at $5 a ton, some one has figured the comparatlvqtshowing that the United States product can make with that of Great Britain in continental ports.

PROBLEM OF CHICAGO HOUSE-SHIFTING.

Moving a large church structure across elevated railroad tracks in Chicago.

Bituminous coal, with the mines* profits already added, is worth $2.50 a ton. The freight to the Mediterranean is $5 a ton, making the cost, with only local profit to the mine, $7.50 a ton at the several ports on that sea. Welsh coal is worth $7 a ton at Cardiff. and the freight to Gibraltar is $2.16, making it $9.16 a ton. These freights vary until this Welsh coal brings $9.70 a ton at Marseilles and $9.58 at Naples. Over this coal the American product has a margin of $1.56 a ton at Gibraltar, $2.20 at Marseilles, and $2.68 at Naples, even after the mine profit has been received on the American side. These figures are reached, too, with the Inadequate present means of transporting coal across the Atlantic. Most of the vessels now canning coal were designed for package freight and are about as well adapted for the coal business as is a box car compared with one of the modern 100,000 pound steel coal cars. Colliers especially made for the coal trade will be Indispensable to trans-atlantlc business. It has been calculated that the cost of operating a 7,000-ton steamer to such an accessible port as Gibraltar, making the length of the voyage and time of unloading fifteen days, will be as follows: Insurance, $875; interest on cost, $750; depreciation, $625; crew, $580; provisions, $168; pofTcharges, $184; pilotage, $330; fuel, $2,025, allowing full selling price for company’s coal used for steam. This, with SIOO for Incidentals, gives a total of $5,637, making 80.4 cents a ton the actual transportation cost on the coal. Vessel owners like to secure and count upon a return cargo,

and coal men owning such a vessel would get more or less freight destined for the United States. But suppose that practically nothing- could be secured and that the freight charge would be $1.50, It will be seen that American coal can be laid down in Cardiff, in the seat and center of the greatest coal industry in the world, at $4 a ton, $3 below the selling price of the Welsh coal.

Curious Cradles.

In the palm region of the Amazon River there is a tribe which cradles their infants in palm leaves. A single leaf, turned up around the edges by some native process, makes an excellent cradle, and now and then it is made to do service as a bath tub. Strong cords are formed from the fibers of another species of palm, and by these this natural cradle is swung alongside a tree, and the wind rocks the little one to sleep. Long ago the Amazonian mothers discovered that It was not wise to leave baby and cradle under a cocoa palm, for the mischievous monkey delighted to drop nuts downward with unerring precision. An older child is stationed near by to watch the baby during his- siesta, and the chatter of monkeys overhead Is enough to cause a speedy migration. If you once get Into the habit of telling the truth you will find it much easier than lying.

MR. JONES’ TRUST.

DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN STOCKHOLDER IN AN OCTOPUS. Bryan’. Campaign Manager Hold* Cotton Ginnera by the Throat—The Round Cotton Bale Trust and Why Bryan Does Not Denounce IL Senator J. K. Jones, Chairman of the Democrat National Committee, is a defendant in a proceeding brought under the anti-trmt law of Texas. He has company in his trouble. John E. Searles, well known in Wall street as one of the biggest “trust magnates,” is a co-defendant. The Texans have placed these two gentlemen under fire because they are the heaviest stockholders In a concern known as the American Cotton Company. John E. Searles is President of the organization. The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee says his company Is but a “large business concern,” but the Texans—and Texas Is a Democratic State —think differently. It is charged that the Jones-Searles combination constitutes a conspiracy against lawful trade and free competition. The American Cotton Company is a monopoly if there ever was one. Not only is entrenched behind $7,060,000 capital stock, but It is fortified by patents which exclude the possibility of competition. Nlcoll’s Stock Exchange Handbook, a recognized authority, says: “The American Clotton Company is a corporation which controls the patents for machinery and processes in making round lap bales.” “Controls”—that word itself is suggestive of the “octopus.” It is the word over which Mr. Bryan fumed in his St. Louis denunciation of trusts. Every cotton-ginning plant in the South must have one of the machines manufactured by the American Cotton Company. They save time and money. The cotton ginner must make his arrangements with the Jones-Searles combination. It

"It Sort o’ Looks as If I’d Have to Expand."

has exclusive possession of the field. The glnner must come to the terms of the combination. He can deal no place else. He cannot even buy Independence from this $7,000,000 combination. The American Cotton Company refuses to sell its product. It leases Its machines. The manufacturer attaches one to his plant and yearly pays tribute to the American Cotton Company. So great are the profits of this combination that in the short time the concern has been In existence Senator Jones Is said to have risen from the estate of a comparatively poor man until he is now regarded as a millionaire. And the Southern ginners continue to swell the bank account of the Democratic cam palgn manager. William Jennings Bryan, in his denunciation of trusts at St. Louis, gave a list of the great corporations of the country; but he left out the American Cotton Company and the American Ice Company. The others he denounced; but these two great Democratic organizations he ignored. He exclaimed: “Those who attempt to divide private monopolies Into good monopolies and bad monopolies will never make any progress toward the overthrow of trusts.’’ Therefore Mr. Bryan will not succeed as a trust smasher. Even in making his division In monopolies Mr. Bryan showed strong discrimination. He specified such concerns as the Federal Steel Company. Yet this combination is only one of several iron and steel companies In the country. No one Is forced to do business with the Federal Steel. There are the American Steel and Wire Company, the Republic Iron and Steel Company, the National Steel Company, the Carnegie Company, and there are others. But Mr. Bryan made his division in favor of the American Ice Company, which bad absolute control over the prices in New York City, and which, last spring, turned upon the poor of the tenement house districts and added to Its wealth by the suffering of the pov-erty-stricken; and Mr. Bryan also makes his division in favor of a concern which is so strongly fortified that every cotton-ginning plant in the United States is forced to pay tribute to It It depends, when Mr. Bryan denounces trusts, upon whose ox Is being gored. * . Prosperity on the Farm. Between July 2d, 1896, ths date of Mr. Bryan’s first nomination for the Presidency, and July sth, 1900, the date

of his nomination this year, the price of ten of the principal farm products Increased 45.8 per cent. There was not a single decrease in price of these articles, which Include wheat, corn, oats, lard, mess pork, beef, cotton, wool, hay or butter. Against this the increase of the articles bought by farmers was only 19 per cent. There was an. actual decrease In the price of sugar amd tea, and small Increases In the price of rice, sisal. Iron, petroleum, tin plate, leather, sugar and cotton cloth. In every case a bushel of wheat will buy more to-day than It would four years ago. These statements are all official and can be verified from the public records. The assertions of the Democrats and Mr. Bryan four years ago that McKinley’s election would bring misery, have In every case been disproved. The farmers know the difference between distress and prosperity, and they are not likely to vote to bring about that old condition.

COAL EXPORTS BOOMING.

Valne of the Exports to the Islands Now in Our Control. A great part of the increased exports of coal have been due directly to the Republican policy of expansion. Th# following comparative table of exports for the years ending July, 1899, and 1900, shows an enormous percentage of gain In the export of coal to new lands over which the American flag has been waving (temporarily In Cuba): Twelve months ending July: ——— 1899. 1900. Cuba ... 337,368 726,815 Porto Rico ’ 21,980 53,829 Hawaii 37,982 117,741 Philippines 44,740 143,633 In the case of Cuba and of Porto Rico the exports of American coal have more than doubled. In the case of Hawaii they have increased threefold. In the case of the Philippines they have increased by more than 200 per cent. The opportunities and the “ifs.” This enormous Increase in the export demand for American coal means that

within a short time thousands of square miles of coal lands now lying Idle throughout the West may’ be opened, and the wage paying and the wage earning capacity of this country may be enormously Increased. Porto Rican Trade. Four months’ operations of the Porto Rican tariff law show an Increase of more than 100 per cent Ip our exports to that Island, as compared with the corresponding months of 1899, and more than., 300 per cent as compared with the corresponding months of 1897 or 1896. The act went into effect May 1, 1900, so that the figures for August, which have just been completed by the Treasury Bureau of Statistics, complete the record of the fourth month of commerce between the Island and the United States under the new law, and render practicable a comparison of the four months’ term with corresponding periods in preceding years. The exports and imports are as follows: Imports from Porto Rico into the United States: 1896. 1900. May $480,821 $1,103,867 June 516,746 1,218,257 July 254,676 640,023 August 107,880 281,903 Total 4 m0nth5.51,360,123 $3,244,050 Exports to Porto Rico from the-United States: 1896. 1900. May $113,069 $696,479 June 178,313 890,999 July 101,944 529,729 August 194,361 408J538 Total 4 months. $587,686 $2,525,845 Decrease of Wool Imports. Year ending June 30. Pounds. 1897 —Cleveland and free trade 350,852,026 1899 —McKinley and protection 76,736,209 •Difference favoring protection 274.115,817 Mr. Bryan favors free wool and.large imports. What do the wool-grdwers say to that? - Well Answered. “Hello, old chap!” exclaimed the man with bls hat on the back of his head. “How are you prospering?” “I’m goIhg to vote for McKinley,” replied the man with the sample case. And no other answer was needed.—Chicago Tribune.

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

The press of Europe is severe in its condemnation of Gen. Lord Roberts, for having permitted the execution of Hana

HANS CORDUA.

der Englsh officers. On trial by court martial he was found guilty and sentenced to death. His execution has been condemned by some as a harsh and unnecessarily Severe punishment; while others hold that his sentence was justified, because, having violated his parole and engaged in the plot, he repaid the kindness of his captors by a dastardly act and showed himself lacking the honor of an officer and a soldier. It is one of the saddest incidents of the war. The re-election of Charles A. Boutelie of Maine to a seat in Congress is an extraordinary event in politics, because

of the fact that Mr. Boutelie is now ~an inmate of an insane asylum. Boutelk- has represented the Bangor district in the House of Repre sentatives for a score of years. He has been an active man at Washington and, as . chairman of the naval committee, has been responsible, to a large extent, for the great develop*

ment of the navy in recent years. The great mental strain told uponTus health, and last spring he was a total wreck. He was taken to an asylum at Waverly, Mass., where, for a time, he was a raving maniac. In spite of this, he was renominated by* the Republicans of his district and re-elected by a big majority. Dr. Winthrop Ellsworth Stone, who has succeeded the late James H. Smart as president of Purdue University, La-

DR. STONE.

from the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and later studied at Gottingen, where he received a doctor’s degree. After completing his studies in Germany, Dr. Stone was for a time connected with the chemical department of the University of Tennessee. In 1889 he left the Tennessee University to accept the chair of chemistry at Purdue University. Bad as the situation in Pekin, the capital of China has been during the last few months, it has been doubly bad for

women and thrice bad for single women. Miss Abbie Goodrich Chapin, representing the American board and the Woman’s board of missions, Boston, is among those whose fate has been in the

hands of the Chinese government and mobs. She is a missionary by birth, it may bo said, for her parents were missionaries, and she was bom in Tung-Cho, North China, from which she and her associates were driven to Pekin by the mob or the soldiers. She was graduated from the Methodist University of Southern California, and embarked for the mission field as a missionary in 1893. Miss Chapin’s work is work for girls and for women. Prince Eui Wha, of Corea, second son of the king and heir apparent to the throne, arrived at San Francisco a few

PRINCE KUI WHA.

with the good taste in dress that seems to be so easily acquired by the Japanese. This i* Prince Eui Wha’s third visit to the United States. He came first when he was 20 years of age. He is now 25.

Record for Cattle Receipts.

Receipts in Chicapo of native cattle for the. last week of September broke all records. Shipments of natives and Texas cattle have been increasing steadily, while westerns became fewer. The week’s receipts of natives exceeded those of the corresponding week of 184)9 by 8.500 and those of 1898 by 5.100. For the entire month receipts of natives broke all records with the exception of that of 1890. ’ Butte, Mont., has a population of 301-470. 470. increase 184.16 per cent.

Cordua, the Boer officer, who was convicted on the charge of having conspired to kidnap Lord Roberts and other British officers in the interests of the Boer cause. Cordua was ip the service of the Boers and taken prisoner by the British. While on parole he engaged in the plot tp kidnap Lord Roberts and mur-

C.A. BOUTELLE.

fayette, Ind., served the college as viee-president from 1892 until his election to the presidency last July. Dr. Stone is a young man, enthusiastic in educational work. Although only 38 years old, he has won wide recognition by his learning and his progressiveness. He was graduated

MISS CHAPIN.

days ago, en route to Roanoke, Va., where he will continue his studies of the English language. He was accompanied by Sin Ta Moo, second secretary of the Corean legation at Washington. I n appearance both Prince Eui Wha and Sin Ta Moo are not unlike Japanese. They are small and dark.