Discover Top Posts Tagged with #coal yard

Capital Coal Yard at Guadalupe and Montezuma Streets, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Date: 1910?

Negative Number: 010655

"CIVIC COAL YARD IS DEMAGOGUE'S IDEA," Toronto Star. February 11, 1913. Page 5. ---- Mr. J. H. Milnes Says Suggestion Is Too Foolish to Consider. ---- PROFITS VERY SMALL ---- Many Other Lines of Business Make More Than "Robber Coal Barons." ---- "I think it is too foolish even to consider." said Mr. J. H. Milnes, of the Milnes Coal Company, as he summed up his opinion of municipal coal yards to The Star this morning. "They can go ahead if they like, but they will never make a success of it. It may be all right for the city to go ahead and sell coal at a low price, but it will sell at a loss. The people will have to bear this loss in the taxes, so what is the difference? The retail coal man, using his own money, cannot afford to sell his coal at a loss, as the city can. I think the whole affair will be a decided failure, as it was in the coal strikes about nine years ago, and the city tried to do it then. My opinion is that it is too foolish to consider. Why don't they start city bakeries and run every line of business themselves?"

"Robber Coal Barons." One prominent coal man expressed his opinion in an article on the subject in the February number of "The Retail Coalman":

"Whenever the demand exceeds the supply and there is difficulty in getting sufficient supplies of coal to take care of all orders promptly, there is generally more or less of a hue and cry started in different localities about the 'coal trust, the robber coal barons,' and other equally indefinite terms.

"Of course, these charges are always made by persons who have no knowledge of the coal industry, but who are invariably ready to believe that everyone else except themselves is dishonest and accustomed to charging extortionate profits.

Demagogues Get Busy. "AS a result, some politician or agitator is apt to suggest that the only solution is for the city to start a municipal coal yard and sell coal at cost, although why they should pick the line of retail business that shows the smallest margin of profit is hard to understand. In other words, why is it that these same agitators do not urge the establishment of municipal shoe stores, groceries, meat markets, dry goods, saloons, jewelry shops, and the thousand and one other lines that really pay an even larger profit than is the case with the retail coal merchants?

Much Unjust Criticism. "The past six months has been one of the most strenuous seasons for the coal merchants that the trade has seen in many years, and there is no question but that the average profit of the retailers will be much less than usual. Notwithstanding this condition, there has probably been more unjust criticism of the coal trade than ever before."

#toronto #municipal government #public utilities #coal yard #coal dealers #heating coal #coal #carbon capitalism #capitalism in canada #capitalist ideology #canadian socialism #public ownership #high cost of living

"There's lots of soft coal in Toronto but not much anthracite...." - from the Toronto Star. January 12, 1943. [From a story about growing coal shortages in Ontario - most homes still relied on coal for personal heating, and this photo shows one of the titanic coal yards in Toronto.]

Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Toronto Public Library, TSPA_0112683F.

#toronto #coal #coal yard #heating coal #anthracite #carbon economy #carbon democracy #coal plant #canadian winter #wartime shortages #wartime rationing #canada during world war 2 #home front

“North Bay Bandit Escapes With $80,” The Globe and Mail. December 30, 1936. Page 01. --- Coal Dealer Wounded in Finger When Gunman Fires Shot to Enforce Order to Hand Over Cash --- North Bay, Dec. 29 (CP). - North Bay’s first armed robbery in more than four years occurred tonight, when a masked man entered the office of Coleman & Prest, coal and wood dealers, fired a shot at Charles E. Coleman when he refused to hand over the day’s receipts, and escaped with between $70 and $80 in cash. Police launched a city-wide search for the bandit. Authorities said his face was covered by a red handkerchief. The bullet fired at the elderly proprietor of the establishment grazed his little finger.

The proprietor was carrying the money in his pocket and started for the door. When he put his hand on the door knob, the marauder drew a revolver and fired, wounding Coleman’s finger. The invader then tied the proprietor’s hands behind his back with string and rifled his pockets, obtaining, it is believed, close to $80.

Coleman was found a short time later by two employees who had been working outside at the time of the hold-up. They told police they did not hear the shot fired. Equipped with a partial description of the thief, police here and in the district are conducting an intense search tonight. As yet no trace of the man has been found.

The bullet which nipped Mr. Coleman’s finger was found in the office floor.

Sought at Sudbury. Sudbury, Dec. 29 (Special). - Sudbury police have been asked to watch out for an armed thief who held up G. H. Coleman at North Bay tonight and shot him in one hand. The thief is said to have escaped with $50.