The Washington times., 1905-09-25
Fixing the Price of Goal.

Within the year every householder
In the United States will pay an in
creased price for coal. The opera
tors will lay the burden Of this in
crease at the door of the miners The
miners will lay it at the door OF the
operators. Wherever 1t lies, in fact,
the householder will pay it, and the
outlook today is that he will pay a
great deal
The causes that are to produce this
extra impost are all artificial. They
spring, on the one hand. from an
artificial control of the fuel supply,
and, or the other. from a similarly
artificial control of the labor supply.
Coal is more easily boarded than la
Dor. In the end. therefore, it is like,
ly that the keepers Of the coal viii
get the extra profit and the keepers
of the labor will get nothing. But
whatever the distribution Of the gain,
the consumer will pay the cost.
This dismal forecast is fully war
ranted by the news which has come
from the coal fields this past half
year. President Mitchell. of the
United Mine Workers Association, in
behalf of the workmen. has notified
President Baer, of the association Of
operators, that on the expiration of
the Roosevelt agreement, April l,
1906, he will demand concessions in
advance of those granted the miners
by that agreement. Specifically, the
miners will insist upon the recogni-
ton of the union and a uniform wage
for helpers and boys. To meet this
demand, or for other purposes, the
two associations of mine owners,
which represent practically all the
anthracite and bituminous operators
Of the whole country, are to unite
in Chicago in November and agree
upon a plan of action That plan
is already fairly well understood 1t
is this:
All the coal now on the dumps,
and all that is mined up TO April 1,
economy. Every ton which can be
saved will be held at the mines. This
supply will then be used TO cover
the period OF shutdown until either
the miners recede from their demands
or a new supply Of mine labor is OBJ
tanned. In the meantime the price ot
coal to the consumer is to be raised
because, according to F. l. Robbins
president of the Pittsburg Coal Com
pany, 1.-The stockholders of our com
panies have not been earning any.
thing"
Every tangible evidence of the Goa
market stamps this plan of actor
as merciless and wholly unjustifed
The retail prices OF coal have never
been so high, save during a period
of absolute non-production. The cos
of mining has never been so low
The profit per ton of coal is unpre
cedented. If the stockholders do no
share in this profit, il is either be
cause the promoters of the coal com
paines have sold them stock far in
excess of the value of the mines o.
because the profit is absorbed befor'
it reaches the stockholders. TIL,
public is paying more than even tn,
artificial condition of the market re
quires
The truth of the matter is tha
any increase in the price of Goa
this winter due 10 the plan of action
the operators have outlined, is clea
evidence of willfal violation of tn
law. That plan has in it all the ele
ments of a conspiracy to maintain
srAeas which are artificially high,
conspiracy specifically forbidden b
the Sherman antitrust act But III
greatest offense is not that agains
the law of the land. 1t is that agains
humanity, the offense Of weighing a
unwarranted profit against the SUI
fering and privation of the Who'll
country and seizing the profit
Sooner than such men think, thi
kind of greed defeats itself in Amer
ca. If the people of the countr!
spurred by this disregard of all the
interests, shall take matters in the
own hands and endeavor to correct th
abuse by legislation so stringent an
sweeping as TO endanger even tt
basal rights OF mine property. NJ
Baer, Mr. Robbins, and their assoc
ates will have only themselves
blame.