Show FOR CHEAPER COAL j One of the subjects discussed in the very comprehensive report of the Chamber of Commerce is the reduction of the price of coal The welfare of Salt Lake City and the territory generally rally would be much promoted should further and just concessions be granted 4n the price of that indispensable ar tide Scientific authority estimates that Utah contains enough coal to supply the United States for at least a thou sand years Our neighboring states Wyoming and Colorado are not less endowed with this necessary product Coal is mined at numbers of places along the Union Pacific and Rio Grado railways It is mined afi an expense ex-pense so far as labor is concerned of from sixty to eighty cents per ton The varieties in chief use in this city are obtained at coalfields distant from forty five to two hundred and thirty miles and are transported almost without exception ception on down grades There appears ap-pears to be no good reason why lump coal should not be sold and delivered in retail quantities in Salt Lake and vicinity at less than four dollars per ton and in large quantites at less than three Sudh a reduction 5n rates could be instantly secured if combinations between be-tween railways to keep up their tar ifs and between the mine owners to maintain old time prices were to be swept away Railroads have acted in the matter of coal as they have on the sUbject of freights generally They have persistently charged the highest possible rate for freight in order that their immediate revenues might be swelled and at the sacrifice of the permanent development of the country For years we have been paying higher rates on local consignments from Mis souri River points than are paid by Californians For years we have been compelled to stand helplessly by and permit the Union Pacific to build up Nebraska at the sacrifice of Utah on the plea of the long haul Such a policy should be instantly abandoned It is dictated not by broad management manage-ment and a statesmanlike regard for the best interests of the road but is the illgotten offspring of a desire natural na-tural enough perhaps on the part of the management for the time being to I make the best possible financial showing show-ing The rule adopted is to mak shippers ship-pers pay the utmost farthing they can pay without destroying their business A wiser plan would be to encourage industries in-dustries and jobbing by granting living rates So far as cheap coal is concerned Its It-s obvious that fair rates wouldeause industries to be established and developed de-veloped here which are now Impossible and would make living cheaperwould in short develop our basin cities and make of Salt Lake the manufacturing centre of the west The segregation of the Union Pacific will uo much to bring about this desideratum |