or getting their coal to a market; and the
price at which they can afford to sell it depends on the railroad
rates. Finally, consider that these seven companies work in harmony,
both as to traffic rates and prices for the sale of coal, and the
conclusion is irresistible that competition in anthracite-coal
production in the United States is practically dead.

Let it be noted, for the benefit of those who may conceive that the
above statement is unfair to the railway companies, that no charge is
here made that the prices fixed by the companies for the coal are at the
present time extortionate or unjust. That is a separate matter; in
which, doubtless, there would be plenty to affirm on the one hand that
the prices charged were no more than a just compensation, while their
opponents would declare that the prices adopted by the pool favor some
points to the prejudice of others, and that the statement that they were
on the whole exorbitant was proven by the fact that the railway lines in
the coal regions, where honestly managed, have paid great dividends on
the actual capital invested.

Compared with the production of Pennsylvania anthracite, the coal
production of any other single section seems small. But it is only so by
comparison, for the Western coals, while inferior in quality, are
abundant and easily mined, and must remain the staple for general
consumption throughout the region west of the Mississippi, as well as
for large sections further east.

As is well known, the people of the Western and Northwestern plains are
wholly dependent upon the railroads for their supplies of every
description, except the raw products of the soil. The railways
themselves are great consumers of coal, and have bought up large tracts
of coal lands and opened mines. In the desire to develop traffic and
ensure a supply of coal to the settlers on their lines--we will even say
of cheap coal,--the railway companies have entered the coal trade
themselves, either directly or through subsidiary companies. Thus it
comes about that hundreds of thousands of people of the West and
Northwest must pay for coal, which is an absolute necessity of life
during several months of the year, whatever price the managers of a
single railway corporation may demand. Let it be understood that no
charges are here made of injustice or extortion on the part of the
railway companies. It is only wished to bring out the fact that
competition is here wholly absent. It i