278 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



the facts in the case. The people of the New England 

 and Middle States are utterly at the mercy of the great 

 corporations controlling the Pennsylvania coal fields. 

 They must pay for their fuel just what these companies 

 choose to ask for it, and they have no means of escaping 

 from their dilemma if the companies are left in their 

 present condition. The companies have been steadily 

 increasing their exactions, and unless something is 

 done to check them, they will no doubt increase them 

 to a point at which anthracite coal will become accessi- 

 ble only to the rich. 



Doubtless these companies have rights, among which 

 is the right to earn a fair return for the labor and 

 capital invested in their business. But the people, the 

 consumers, have a right in the matter, which they will 

 yet be driven to assert. The Almighty did not create 

 the coal beds of Pennsylvania for the sole benefit of the 

 railroads and coal corporations that have secured the 

 control of them. He placed this magnificent gift in a 

 region easily accessible, for the benefit of the millions 

 who people the vast region it is intended to supply. 

 The people have a right to obtain it at moderate rates, 

 and they have a right to compel the great monopoly 

 that is bleeding them so unmercifully to respect this 

 claim ; and the day may come, and ought to come, if 

 there is not a change for the better, when the coal 

 monopolist will find that vested rights, and charters, 

 and stocks and bonds, are powerless to restrain the 

 wrath of a defrauded people bent upon supplying one 

 of the chief necessities of their existence. 



It has been suggested that a remedy could be found 

 in the introduction of the bituminous coal of the West- 

 ern States into the market of the East. This fuel, 



