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Show RESUME OF THE I COOTUAT1 !, The Various Steps and Nego-1 Nego-1 fiaiioiis Carried on Up to Midsummer. LABOR TROUBLES AND 5 SHORTAGE OF MINERS Opening of New Properties in Hope to Meet. Increased j Demands, ti Hj Midsummer lias arrived and the local Hj coal situation appears (o bo in as H precarious a condition as it was at the Hj close of winter. Little or no coal lias B' been stored; tho facilities for storing it have not been increased; tho produc-tion, produc-tion, in some instances, has been tho minimum : ' labor troubles have intcr-fered intcr-fered with the supply; miners aro scarce, and three months will witness Hj Salt Lake confronted with the most H; serious fuel famine in its history. And fl- through it. all the predominant note is tho assurance of an increase in the Hf price of coal. Like death and taxes that advance in price must bo not by Hi the people, and yet. with the price soar- H ing skjrward the mnrket will be dc- plcted. A resume of the various steps which have been taken and the negotiations carried on by the coal operators and the railroads since the opening of spring will be interesting at this time. First, fl came tho intimation from the opera- tors that coal was to be increased 25 cents per ton, the increase ostensibly to go to the teamster. This was in the spring when the roads wore muddy and heavy and hauling was difficult; but the a'dvauced price still remains wheth-er wheth-er the teamster is getting it or not. That the teamster is entitled to more H money for the long haul to the north and east benches and tho southeastern part of the city no one will deny; Hi but this blanket raise in price was made to meet this condition. Storage Bate Announced. B Following this came a circular from the freight, department of the Oregon B Short Line urging the dealers and the H, consumers to store co3l during the summer months. The railroad officials fl were insistent in this matter, claiming H' that there would be an abundance or H, cars for transportation and that storing would help the coal situation mate-rially. mate-rially. A few weeks later, about the end 'of May, the Short Line supplc-H supplc-H mentcd this circular with an official H' announcement that daring June, Jul' Hc and August a rebate of 25 cents per ton on the freight rate would be al-lowed al-lowed on all coal in storage on August, 31, the settlement to be made on that I Then came the labor troubles at the mines at 'Rock Springs, For three weeks the miners were locked out, no coal was produced; the stores the railroads rail-roads had on hand were drawn upon until the3' were exhausted and for a time the suspension of freight trains was threatened. Three weeks ago the miners returned to work at a 10 per cent advance in wages. This was granted by the operators, but it was not a final settlement of the difficulty, this will be determined at a conference to be held between the men and the operators in tho course of the next few days. But the lockout had a serious effect upon the local coal situation. Besides depleting the railroad companies' stores it prevented the shipping of coal to Salt Lake and other points for tlie use of consumers, and for a time tho daily supply sup-ply was only sufficient to meet the demand. de-mand. The result was that the storing of coal was hindered and the railroads are now, they assert, some 50,000 or 50,000 tons behind with their reserve tupply, which will have to be made up. Coal Increased in Price. Tho next move was the announcement announce-ment of the increase in the price of soal by tho Keanmerer company of Wyoming, Wy-oming, followed by the Western Fuel sompany. The increase was 50 cents, making" coal $6 per ton. The' Utah Fuel company, the Central Coal and Coke compan3r, the Citizens1 company ind the others have not yet met the raise, but they will, it is only a question ques-tion of time. During all this time the mines of the Utah Fuel company in Carbon county iiavc been in full operation; that is, 5o far as the force of men will per. nit. The Denver & Rio Grande rail-oad rail-oad has made no 'announcement of a storage rate on coal, nor is it believed, that it intends to. Probable Increased Output. The purchnse of the Grass Creek nines near Coalville by Eastern capitalists, cap-italists, announced on Tuesda3r morning, morn-ing, may assist partially in a solution jf the coal problem. Doubtless the bulk af the workings are in a dilapidated .ondition, but if they can be rohaulcd md the mines made producers to their fullest capacity by fall, the product vill help conditions. North of.Kim-nerer, of.Kim-nerer, up in the Fonteville district, aew coal properties aro being opened jy the Union Pacific company. Anchor An-chor property is being opened by the Utah Fuel company at Carbon county, which it is expected will produce 1000 ir 1200 'tons per day. All these increased facilities will as-liet as-liet the situation, but tho scarcity of abor has to bo reckoned with. Again ihe vast increase of population in Utah, rdaho and the Northwest, and the in-lustrial in-lustrial development moans a largely ncroased demand for fuel tho coming , vintor. Tho serious problem is, will , lie increased production meet the in-Tcased in-Tcased demand? It is not believed hat it will. The coal oporators Bhould ice to it that every man whom they an possibly secure should be put to vork in the mines, even though tho i-age scale has to be increased to do it. , "his is a duty incumbent upon them, lie coal is at our door; it should be iroduced. And in the meantime it be-looves be-looves evory dealer and consumor who ias the facilities to store coal wherever nd whenever they can get'it and make irovision against the winter's shortage. |