Coal Shortage and Winter Suffering
Coal is still a leading topic east of the Rocky Mountains. In Kansas, as the coal supply shortens, the weather has become colder. In Topeka dealers announced on the 20th inst. that they were practically out of coal. Two manufacturing concerns had been obliged to close down. The State Reform School had but two days' supply. At Ottawa, Lawrence, and Atchison riots had been narrowly averted when coal cars arrived. In Chicago there is extensive suffering because of cold, and on the 4th inst. four persons were reported dead from exposure to the cold. Some big packing-houses are said to have confiscated several carloads of coal consigned to the city pumping station. Citizens of Arcola, Ill., stopped a coal train bound for Chicago, and the coal (sixteen carloads) was confiscated. “In the crowd were two pastors of churches, the presidents of two banks, and other prominent citizens.” The police of Chicago say no such condition ever existed in Chicago before as is now brought on by coal famine and the extreme cold weather. The city of Detroit has petitioned the legislature for permission to go into the coal-furnishing business as a municipal enterprise. At Sidney, Neb., there was a proposition to raid the railroad coal yards, and the company said arrangements had been made to have the coal protected by the soldiers. A press despatch of the 8th inst. says that in Toledo, Ohio, a physician's certificate that coal is necessary because of sickness in a family must be shown before any coal can be purchased, and then only a small quantity can be purchased at a time. The combination of independent coal operators, who now have control of the anthracite market in New York, have advanced the price of anthracite coal to $10 per ton at tide water. A coal convention to be held in Washington at an early date is contemplated for the purpose of devising means for relief throughout the country. Even in the midst of the coal region in Pennsylvania prices for home consumption are gradually rising. And all this in a country where there is plenty of coal.