has been appointed to take testimony about the so-called Coal
Trust, to see if such a combination really exists. If it is found that
there is indeed a Coal Trust, the Attorney-General will take proceedings
against it, and, if possible, break it up.

The Coal Barons are of course fighting this action fiercely.

They declare that the new law, under which their business methods are to
be looked into, is not in accordance with the Constitution of the
country, and that they will not submit to it until the State has proved
that the law is constitutional.

This new law, which was made after the Lexow investigations, only came
into existence on the 7th of May, 1897. It provides that the price or
the supply of an article shall not be controlled by any one, and that an
attempt to assume such control is unlawful and shall be punished.

It also adds that the Attorney-General may order witnesses to come
before a judge, and may ask them any questions he chooses about their
business methods, and that he may also examine the books and accounts of
their business whenever he has a mind to.

Finally, the law states very clearly that witnesses must answer all the
questions put to them, and that if they refuse to answer they shall be
punished for contempt of court.

The Coal Barons say they are quite willing to answer any questions,
because they have been carrying on their business in a perfectly proper
way. They are, however, most unwilling to have the Attorney-General go
over their books. They insist that the personal liberty of a citizen is
interfered with if this law is carried out, and so they are determined
to fight it.

The modern method of mining coal is very interesting, and especially so
when we understand that from the mine to the cellar the coal is handled
almost exclusively by machinery.

The miners go down the shaft and blast off the coal. They shovel what
has been loosened by the blast into wagons, which hold about two and a
half tons.

These wagons are hoisted on the elevator to the mouth of the mine, and
from the moment the coal sees the daylight, the work in connection with
it is done by machinery.

The wagons dump their loads into a chute which sends the coal sliding
down into the breaker. This machine breaks up the large lumps in which
it is brought out of the mine, and divides the coal into the various
sizes, nut, stove, egg, etc.

From the breaker the coal is carried to the washer, and then back to the
br