258 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



tions are enabled to control the amount of production 

 and to regulate it in such a manner that coal shall 

 always command such prices as they see fit to ask for 

 it. So great has been their success that at present they 

 are able to name the price at which coal shall be sold 

 in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The people 

 have no choice in the matter; they must pay the rates 

 demanded, or do without fuel. 



The majority of the companies manage their affairs 

 in such a manner that the public are able to learn very 

 little concerning them. Some refuse to publish any 

 statements at all ; others make public the most meagre 

 and unsatisfactory returns. Enough is known, how- 

 ever, to make it evident that a very heavy profit is 

 reaped by the stockholders upon their investment, in 

 spite of the efforts of the companies to keep secret the 

 exact ratio of this profit. 



The principal member of the great coal monopoly is 

 the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, one of the 

 richest and most powerful corporations in the Union, 

 and, beyond a doubt, " the life and soul " of the mo- 

 nopoly we are discussing. Poor's Railroad Manual of 

 the United States, for 1873-74, sums up the history and 

 present condition of this company as follows : 



" This company was chartered by the Legislature of 

 Pennsylvania, April 4th, 1833, to build a road from 

 Philadelphia to Reading, in Berks county, 58 miles 

 from Philadelphia. Work was commenced early in the 

 Spring of 1835, and portions of the road were opened 

 for travel in July, 1838. By Act of March 20th, 1838, 

 authority was given to extend the road to Mount Car- 

 bon, or to Pottsville, one mile above Mount Carbon. 

 As these two points were already connected by a road 



