Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-02
PEA COAL

To the Editor of the Telegraph:
I will endeavor to tell YOU the
story of pea coal-the poor mans
coar'-the price of which has just
been fixed by the President of the
United States at 81 per ton at the
mines. The operators had always
been glad to sell it for $2.S0 per ton,
and 1t was not until the direct order
of the President was promulgated
that the new price of 81 per ton at
the mines went into effect.
This coal is being produced at O.
labor cost of less than IL cents u
ton. Wherein is the justice to the
consumer in the order of the Presi-
dent in increasing the price $1.20 a
ton to the poor people?
do not believe either the Presi-
dent or Fuel Commissioner Garfield
has the faintest idea of the true sit
uation. And l fully believe that an
examination by them as to the true
facts in the case will be the means
OF relieving the poor man from this
new added burden, which is without
cause or excuse. The President
knows little of the mining region
and must rely on hearsay. But the
situation in the anthracite coal field
is such now that something must be
done.
The miners are talking strike, and
they mean business, too. A strike
now would be a national calamity
They are talking strike now because
of the increased price of coal. They
know pea coal-the poor mans
coal'-the President does not. They
know what 1t costs to produce the
poor mans coal" as it is now pro-
duced-the President does not.
Ennxu hn 90.
We mention in this article are send
ing out coal at an actual labor cost
of less than thirteen cents a ton and
that the President says, Charge
$4.00 ton for it?"
Does the President know that the
greatest quantity of this, the poor
mans COAL" pea coal, comes not
from the mines now in operation,
but from the hands of dead men,
men who have long mouldered in
their graves? And yet this is fact
1t is natural for the President to
associate coal with mines. And it is
also true that all coal originally
comes from the mines, deep down
under the ground.
But the President also ought to
be informed that the vast majority
of the pea coal, "the poor mans
COAL" now on the market, was dug
and most likely forgotten graves
the men of half a century ago.
He should also be informed that
all this former waste product has
already been paid for by the public
once, and that the present owners
of this formerly scorned waste, glad
ly receiving $3.50 ton at the mines
before his order. should not be al
lowed $500 ton. Nobody found
a fault with hA 60 f.y
are finding fault now.
That there may be no question as
to the author of it or any doubt as
to his relia bility, I want to say I
am from Ashland, Pa, served in the
Legislatures of 1901, 1908, 1905,
1907. 1909 and 1915. / also had the
honor of serving my constituents in
Congress. l have spent all of my
life among the coal miners and know
what am talking about.
Coal Mined by Dead Men
When you read the story don't go
away with the idea that I say deep
mined coal, coal cut from the mines,
can be had at a labor cost of thir-
teen cents a ton. 1t cannot But
also recollect the vast majority of
your present pea coal was mined by
dead men-gone and forgotten long
years and years ago.
of the anthracite coal operators in
filling your coal bins by means of
the modern coal washery. 1t is this
new source of coal supply that keeps
the ammunition plants. the manu-
factories, the engines which run the
country, the thousand-and-one
things for which power is necessary,
going.
Were 1t not for this modern meth
cd, these same power driven plants
would be seriously handicapped by
n lack of fuel; the price of coal,
high as it now is, would soar. not
only to the clouds, but the clouds be
compelled to seek much higher
altitude to make way for these same
son ring prices. The coal harons are
now reaping millions upon millions
of dollars of rrofita from q waste
product scorned as trash within the
past ten years; and now this same