The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1917-06-28
General Reduction Of 81 to $l.50
a Ton Is Agreed Upon, Means
Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
in Consumers Pockets.
MINERS ARE ANXIOUS
TO AID GOVERNMENT
Sweeping Changes Probably Will
be Made in the Method of
Handling and Marketing, May
Have Bureau at Washington.
BY Associated Press

By Associated Press
WASHINGTON june 2S-Nu immo-
diutc general reduction of 81 to Si.50
a ton In { price of coal at the mine
was agreed upon today by repre-
.outatNcs Of the coal operators.
This reduction ls expected to be
followed by stul further decreases in
price after investigation into the
costs oi mining coal aud % iS prUunnlc
tAa. the government viii Doc stNcn a
still lower price than TINT 90 the Etu-
,rI public Hundreds of millions ~
dollars VIII bc saved To the American
people through this decision.
The conference OF iUr operators
representing an coal producing states,
to-day adopted resolutions authorizing
their committees TO give assent to
such maximum prices for coal free
ON board cars az mines In the 3, $40
GUS districts as may be named py the
sscretar, ct tho interior. federal trade
commission and the council ut Uu
tIuunl coat production committee.
the resolution giving 'dsscht' To iN-
ing of maximum prices Was reported
hy former governor Fort rom "a
spccial committee. Tie said he believed
thc resolution was cntireN safe TOT
the conference to adopt and that any
responsibility as tu the legality ut The
fixing of the prices was put ON the
government. and not ON the operators,
under the terms Of the resolution
The resolution points out that great
national emergencS nov exists I'm the
nations fuel FupplN Hud thai the coal
operators ana miners desire 20 ciureN
cooperate with the government
As soon a. the resolution Wds
Jpreed to. another one was presented
under which b was proposed that the
government authorize the government
representatives named boz the re~ulu-
fIpu Geo l-.us a statement forthwith
fixing tentative price which 100 THEN
Judgment. shall 1c TAN aud reason
able one for th, various districts ana
20 be effective from JulE Q until the
committee shall fix permanent
price.
Creation of national association Of
coal operators. With a central bureau
at Washington for ~taudardiziul
statistical ana other Information re-
luting 90 coal production. mdrkctinl
and other matters was agreed tu nN
the conference II will bc made ui
uf the various state and district voa|
associations and vii serve as an lu-
tcrmrdiary for information hctwcei
the coal operator and the govern
mcut
The conference finally ndiourno'
and the various state delegations went
into separate meetings to frame sug'
gostinns AZ to prices {" he sunmitte,
later tu Chairman Peabody
The operators agrcc- tp thc imue'
diatc reduction az q meeting today
after adopting O. resolution hN Whyl
coul prices VIII be- fixed with the ut'
ana approval ot the secretary ~ the
interior the federal TRADE commits
sion and the committee uu Goa
production of the national dcfeu~'
council
about 600 million tons of coal were
mined In this country last year on'
secretary Lame who has earnestly
urged reduction believes hat th'
saving 10 the American people VII
hc enormous After hearing uf th'
operators action Mr. Lane wrote th'
following letter 90 = = Peabody
chairman uf the coal production com
mittoc. who had been u constnu
conference with the operators
- have Just learned uf the action
of the coal operators and wish ~
cXproF- mN appreciation the generous
pruutp ana patriotic manner %
which they have acted. The, have
dealt with tho situation bon IN" wa
that 7 had huucd they would "a
largo men dealing with large Uucr
tiun~'