N&W in 1912--Coal rates

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Sat., March 23, 1912

COAL-BURNING COMMUNITY IS SECTION'S NEED
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Increasing Freight Rates Now Work Against Rapid Development of Field
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TIDEWATER TARIFF MAY BE ADVANCED ANY TIME
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Home Market Necessary to Permit of the Manufacture of Rich Resources Into Marketable Merchandise at Reasonable Cost
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DECISION OF THE COMMERCE COMMISSION NO BIG SURPRISE
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    While it may be said that the action of the interstate commerce commission in granting permission to the Norfolk and Western to increase its freight rates did come as a sort of a surprise to the coal operators it was not entirely unexpected, although the operators believed in many cases that the commission would base its findings on the present capacity of the Norfolk and Western to earn money, which enables it to make a good surplus over and above what the commission itself has declared is a reasonable profit when declared as dividends. Ever since the Pennsylvania Railroad secured a majority control of the Norfolk and Western many of the far sighted operators and coal men have looked for an increase and it was fear of such an increase which in many cases made them adopt such strenuous measures to create a western demand for the local coals so they would be bettor known in case of an increase in freight. rates.
    The increase was staved off for a long time by legal methods, and at times by reason of the good offices of the Norfolk and Western which road cut the rate ten cents during certain periods to assist the local operators. It must also be remembered that the Norfolk and Western, since the Pennsylvania secured control of it, has tried to increase tidewater rates, and it is reasonable to expect in view of the increase permitted on western shipments that it will be but a short time before the rate to Lambert's Point is changed, as the cost of hauling coal.to Norfolk is greater than the haul to the west, because of the grade. A prominent railroad man recently said it takes but one engine to haul coal from Williamson [to the west], while it takes two to haul to Roanoke from Bluefield, two or more to haul from the coalfields to Bluefield, and two or more to haul to Crewe from Roanoke, while from that point on the grade permits of more economical hauling. The Norfolk and Western would like an increase of ten cents a ton on eastern shipments, and in view of the .recently changed policy of financing improvements it follows that the increase is not a matter beyond possibility.
    It, is recognized fact that the Norfolk and Western does haul cheaper than other lines and it naturally follows that the interstate commerce commission cannot place a tax on efficiency.
    An aid, in a small way it is true, to some solution of the proposition from the standpoint of the operators is a coal burning community in the neighborhood of Bluefield which section offers all kinds of facilities for a coal burning community. Coal, coke, iron, limestone, dolomite, silica, timber, shale, clays, and other mineral resources are within reach, none of them being more than twenty or thirty miles distant and most of them less than that, and all could be fused in the neighborhood of Bluefield and a great coal burning community built up. By employing engineers to make an exhaustive report on the resources of the section and the best location for a coal burning community the operators could build up a great future. When President Kimball of the Norfolk and Western predicted years ago that the Norfolk and Western would become a beehive of activity he was laughed at and called a dreamer. His dream came true because he planned something definite and because his successors continued to work on that plan until last year the Norfolk and Western hauled over twenty millions of tons of coal, and several millions of tons of other products. The same plan can be followed by securing engineers who are the pioneers of industry and permitting them to lay out a future for the section, which would give it some home market for its coal, coke and other resources and permit of their manufacture into marketable merchandise at a reasonable cost.
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Gordon Hamilton
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