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December 6, 1902. RECORD AND GUIDE 845 naterial Market. COAL. Five dollars a ton wholesale—if you can get any. It is difficult to convict the party who is responsible for certain things that are irritating in the matter of anthracite coal. The consumers look askance at the coal-yard proprietors, who in turn decry the speculators, who thereupon indict the companies, and so on around. A citizen who this week approached the firm that acts as selling agents for one of the largest coal roads, and asked a civil tiuestion concerning the situation, was of the opinion that he was in the presence of the real Essence. He continued to think so after having been pleasantly informed that the repre¬ sentative of the great corporation had nothing to say. The policy of silence had been enthroned. It reigned throughout the great building, over all the big and little companies, and the big and little jobbers and agents. With the advent of "coal" weather the public anxiety increases. The railroad companies will sell coal for $5 a ton. wholesale, but the total delivery falls far short of the requirement. Most of the roads are shipping their coal northward and westward. The Erie is loading about one hundred canal boats daily at Newburgh, its principal tide-water shipping point. Nearly all go north and west through the canals, and the principal delivery will continue in those directions until the close of navigation. New Tork can be supplied as well at one time as another, and the preference must, therefore, for the time being, be given to distant com¬ munities. "Coal arrives here only in small and irregular quantities," re¬ marked one wholesale dealer. "Some dealers are asking only $6.50 for domestic sizes, but this favor is extended only to old customers. Some dealers, indeed, are actually selling coal at a loss. When a dealer can get a shipment it is by buying outside and paying the price, which may range from seven to nine dol¬ lars. We hear of combination at the expense of the public, but you cannot prove it. It will be several months before New York gets back to normal conditions. For one thing, coal is not yet being mined at its former rate. The effects of the long strike have not all passed." The retail prices of coal were given on Tuesday as $7-50 for pea and $8.50 for domestic sizes, by a dealer whose yard is on the Harlem Hiver. "Hardly any straight coal is coming Into New Tork," he said. "We have to get it from speculators, and only limited quantities at any price." Some families are obliged to pay higher prices than these, depending on location. The conditions favor those who take every opportunity to en¬ force abnormal profits. That some part of Lhe profit represented by the difference between $5 and $8.50 or $10 is chargable to or¬ ganization, must be believed. The coal business is organized all the way through, from the bowels of the mine up to the coal-hole in the consumer's sidewalk. It would be curious to know how many profits we must pay before it can be shoveled Into our furnace. There is excellent authority for saying that the original cost of a ton at the mine ready for shipment is not more than one dollar. But some dealers are more feeling than others. In some towns it has been a matter of honor with the sellers not to take a penny more than the usual profit. BRICKS. The week has brought no improvement, according to the pro¬ ducers' observations. Prices are kept low by heavy receipts, which exceed the requirement largely. But most of the product of the Upper Hudson will all be in this week. Owners will hardly risk their boats out after December 10th. This refers to the manufacturers situated north of Rondout. Many yards have their stock nearly depleted. Since coal has been obtainable they have been burning and shipping furiously. A month ago it was apprehended that the spring marltet wouid be crushed with an over-supply. But the indications are that, while it may not be in high spirits, it will by no means be flattened out. The close of navigation no longer works a complete transfor¬ mation in the brick market. New York can get a supply at any season, the Haverstraw yards never being beyond the reach of powerful tugs. Besides, city dealers have millions in stock, and boatloads will be at the piers through the winter. Brick-makers do not expect that the construction of the Hud¬ son River tunnel wi!! be any windfall for them. The modern en- gineer has a prejudice against bricks, the manufacturers of them believe. Steel and concrete will be the chief materials used in the construction in all probability. But no one can make a brickmaker believe that bricks are not the best material in the world for tunnels. ROOFING TIN. The reduction in price ordered by the American Tin Plate Com¬ pany for goods shipped on or after December first, has not yet been felt in this market. Certainly none of these goods can arrive before the'fifteenth, and it will be well along toward the latter part of December, or even the flrst of January, before store stocks will acknowledge the new standard of value. CEMENT. Winter is upon us and the building trades feel its detaining hands. While orders for present use have fallen off this week, there are others still unfilled, and there is heavy buying, espe¬ cially of Rosendale, for stock, in anticipation of the close of navigation and an increase of price in consequence of larger transportation rates. Winter makes but little difference in the shipment possibilities of domestic Portland, as a large share of the production comes by rail anyway. The imports of the Ger¬ man continue in comparatively large quantities. No changes are necessary in the quotations for immediate delivery of domes¬ tic Portland, but it is understood that bids at a discount are be¬ ing accepted for delivery at indefinite dates. The domestic cement men look back upon the season of 1902 with almost perfect satisfaction. The conditions for their busi¬ ness have been ideal. The hare has always kept ahead of the hounds, and there will be no killing at the end of the run. The public have also been exceptionally well dealt with throughout. Prices have been only fair. The advance over five years ago has been scarcely 10 per cent., which is very fully represented by increased cost of production. The profits of the manufacturers have come from fhe great volume of business rather than from the larger price. It must be admitted, however, that foreign brands have performed an important function in behalf of American consumers during the whole course of the season. They have been undeniably Instrumental In preserving the equib- brium. The prospects are for another year fully as busy as this. The work on the subway will be continued, and the railroads of the country at large will use even a greater quantity than they have during 1902. Many of them are rebuilding bridge abut¬ ments so as to bear heavier traffic. The elaborate flreproofing of modern structures of bulk in cities and the infinitude of new uses for cement all predict a heavy requirement. And it may be hoped that the Pennsylvania tunnel under the Hudson will be another large receptacle for cement before the close of another year. Concrete building, long crude and cumbersome, is rapidly under modern patronage and skill becoming a simple operation. Houses are now being constructed In some towns of moulded blocks of concrete. The blocks are colored or ornamental when desired for special work, and ordinarily present a rich and sub¬ stantial appearance. With the newest invention there Is no need to back up the blocks with bricks, at least not in small struc¬ tures. It is positively asserted that there is no danger of build¬ ing too high with them, and that under test at the New York University a specimen block stood the teat necessary to sustain a wall of such blocks thirteen hundred feet high before the lower course would be crushed. The blocks are made with one- third of the interior space open. The hollow space affords facili¬ ties for inserting gas and water pipes, electric wires, speal^lng tubes and ventilators. Cheapness of cost of construction, with handsome appearance. Is the comprehensive claim for all such blocks. The blocks are moulded on a machine at tbe rate of two hun¬ dred a day of ten hours. They cost to manufacture from 18 to 22 cents each, and commonly measure 9x10x32 inches each. IRON AND STEEL. There is indeed a change in the wind when pig Iron drops as far as it has this week. Notwithstanding that it is officially said that the call for iron and steel and wire and tin plate is larger now than at any time during the year, yet this recession in values has occurred. It is not believed that prosperity is leaving. A more probable explanation is that prices reached such a height that consumers simply called a halt. Orders, of course, are far in advance, but It is significant that premiums for spot iron and premiums for special deliveries of manufactured prod¬ ucts are diminishing. The general tendency of iron and steel prices is at the mo¬ ment downward. In nearly all the items entering into building construction, under this head, values have either turned or are stationary. There has simply been an awakening to the fact that they were advancing beyond the ability of the public to buy. In builders' hardware a descent to a lower level is only a question of time. In structural steel prices are getting scat¬ tered. Premiums are not so large or 30 easily exacted. If there could be an assurance that quotations would recede still farther, there would be no question about building activity next season. Some independent mills will now accept easy orders for delivery in sixty days at official prices. The demands for small lots from local Stocks have fallen off considerably, which, however, is attributable to the season principally.