The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-16
"NATIoNALIZATIoN'
 OF COAL MINES.
An Absurd Idea and Its Logical
 Consequences.


 New York Times.
 A blush of shame ought to colore even the experienced cheek of David B. Hill when he seeks to mislead an audience of Democrats by telling them that the ac- Quis1tion of the anthracite coal mines by the government through the exercise of the right of eminent domain would be neither revolutionary nor Socialistic but constitutional, necessary, and right. lie knows better. He falls far in the public esteem when he teaches this wild doc Urine that a sensible ape would reject and a lawyers office boy riddle in half minute. From an irresponsible political blatherskite, like Mcguire of Syracuse, plank of the Democratic platform could excite no surprise You expect ignorance from an ignoramus and folly from tool. But Mir Hill, who is constitutional law yer, who is never ignorant and not often foolish. has no right to load down the party platform with such idiotic stun, and it is beneath him to insult Demo- cratic audience with this shallow dema- gogy.
 What is it these blind leaders of the blind would have the Federal Government do? Why, take possession of the anthra- cite coal mines by eminent domain ana property by eminent domain can be ex- ercised only for public purposes. MT. Hill says that anthracite coal, like water, is public necessity. This is too shallow even for party leader riding for fall. There Is water everywhere in the world and 1t is indispensable to the life Of man. But outside of the State of Pennsylvania there is very little anthracite coal any where in the world Ninety per cent. of the worlds supply lies in the ten coun- ties of Pennsylvania which constitute the anthracite region. In the towns and cities of the Eastern and Middle States most of the anthracite coal is consumed In the West and South only here and hn it. It is a pleasant and convenient fuel, and in that sense luxury. It Is even very great convenience. It is nowhere a public necessity, for all but a few mll- very comfortably without it. We should readily learn to get along without 1t here or in any city where it is now used.
 It Is simply silly to pretend that the a National calamity. For that reason, while the taking of the mines would be, as a matter of law and of constitutions. impossible in political theory and prac- tce it would be runous to those who tried 1t. What would the people oi Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois, where twice as much bituminous coal is produced in year as the anthracite regions yield say II pill was introduced in Congress authorizing the buying and operation of the anthracite mines for the Federal Government? The government would then become their dl- rect competitor in business, and as 1t could afford to operate the mines at a loss and most likely would do so if it op- erated them at all the bitumtnous coal States would resent the unfair competl- ton and their peaple would use their votes to make an end of 1t.
 If the anthracite mines were acquired certainty the bituminous mines would have to be taken. and where would you stop? The advocate of the private own ership of the coal oil fields wouldn't have fa. NAfr. Nl.attVN iC oafl in every household. The newspapers would come next and the book publishing houses, together with the international Paper Company. or the paper trust. In fact, there Is no stopping when once you have set foot in that strange path.
 Even a. man so intelligent and usually SO thoughtful as Professor Goldwin Smith, failing to give due consideration to the elements of the problem. writes down the foolish statement that the mines are "a National interest of the most vital kind" and puts his name to 1t. The trouble with these nasty reasoners is that they confuse the conflict between employers and organized labor, which is a matter of general National concern, with the continuance of the anthracite supply, which is in the main of local in- terest. To cure the evils engendered by a temporary condition they propose fun damental and permanent change Tn our political theories and in the nature of our government When it Is all over they will wonder how they could have been so thrown of their mental balance.
 No intelligent labor leader will take up the National ownership idea save as a club against the present owners. IT the government should own and operate the anthracite mines the wages of the min CTS might be advanced. but they would discover that the relations of the union to the government would be defined with inconvenient clearness. The walking delegate would find himself excluded. and if at any time strike should be ordered violent demonstrations against the "scahs' whom the government might choose to employ would be suppressed in busi- nesslike way by men wearing the uniform of the United States regular army. 1t would not be necessary to wait upon the slow motions of MT. Quay's henchmen in the Executive Chamber at Harrisburg.
 A man who really believes in the Ma tional ownership and operation of the an- thracite mines could, if he put his mind to it for ten minutes, convert himself to a belief in the national ownership and operation of the moon The notion Is not a whit crazier than the owner.
 PERMANENT MTSCILAR STRENGTH