Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-17
A Crisis in the Coal Famine.


One of the largest users Of fuel in the Dis
trict. the United States Electric Lighting
Company, supplying part Of the power
required by the Washington Traction
system of car lines, has come close to
the bottom OF its bins, and last night
was in danger Of shutdown, which would
have thrown the city practically into dark
ness and stopped many Of the street
cars Alarming though this fact is, when
1t is realized that 1t discloses the short
margin upon which the heavy consumers
are now proceeding, it is even less startling
than the intimation which comes directly
from the coal headquarters in Philadelphia
that the stockholders of the Philadelphia
and Reading company are now applying
pressure upon the officials of that corpora
ton to force them to abrogate the October
agreement to sell coal at wholesale rate,
permitting the retailers to sell it for 1925
a. ton These stockholders, it Is now re-
ported, are clamorous for larger dividends
asserting their right to profit as heavily
from the present emergency as the indie
pendent operators, who are sending their
coal to market for from 80 to 100 per cent
more than the Reading.
The withdrawal by the Reading company
from its October schedule would immediate
ly precipitate a rush Of other operators to
take advantage Of the break and Of the con-
sequently rising prices. The obligation to
hold to the lower rates would be removed
All check upon the greed of the independ-
ents would be destroyed, and season OF
competition would begin, with the certain
result of sending the retail price Of coal up
to SIS or $40 a ton, or even higher. Ihe
fate of the poorer classes of the cities under
such circumstances can readily be con-
ceived. Such prices would be absolutely
prehibitive, even to many people in fair
circumstances. The very poor would freeze
and starve.
1t cannot be believed that the men who
hold the control Of the great coal COM
panies will assume responsibility for the
terrible distress which racing competi-
ton for high coal prices would inevitably
cause. They now stand between the peo-
pie and the sharpest sufferings, and their
adherence to the October schedule Is to
their credit whatever may be said of their
attitude toward the miners during the long
strike idleness which is now causing such
q severe pinching of the people. This Is
no time for greed and those independent
operators who are putting their coal up
for sale to the highest bidder, as some Of
them are doing, deserve the swiftest retrl-
button which Providence can send to men
who fatten their purses through the suf-
ferings of humanity.
But whether the Reading rates are ad-
vanced or remain where they now are, the
truth cannot too often be stated that only
through rigid economy can the people of
this city in common with others in the
anthracite burning region. manage to
make the coal supply meet their actual
needs during the hard part Of the winter.
We are probably getting coal here now as
rapidly as it can be pushed on, short Of a
curtailment of the supply doled out to
other communities. There is no longer rea-
son to apprehend discrimination against
Washington, and If the present rate of re-
ceipts continues there will be coal enough
to meet about 70 per cent Of the actual
demand, not reckoning extraordinary
economies. This proportion should guide
every householder in his management of
the heating apparatus and cause him to
adjust his furnaces and stoves to the out
door temperatures, even at some personal
discomfort.