Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-27

for the retail coal buyer in Iowa Mr.
Thorne has our sincerest good wishes.
THIS IS NO RATE CASE.
Clifford Thorne is wizard with
freight rates. Gladly we proclaim him
so. He can take dry, musty platoon
OF rate schedules and perform more
wonders with them than town cut-up
with deck Of cards and a correspon-
dence course in parlor tricks. Down
in Washington, when he walks into a
hearing before the interstate COM
merce commission the dismayed rail
road magnates cry "Kamerad," or NUT
ter profanely.
But coal, now, is another thing
again, as Abe Potash might say. Mr..
Thorne's success in fighting the tan
gled fuel situation cannot be called
startling. Some weeks ago he prepar-
ed written argument longer than the
list of German sins, sent nicely mimeo-
graphed copies to all the newspapers
in Iowa and filed the original with
Coal Administrator Garfield, who, up
TO the moment we 60 to press, has
given no indication that he has even
Laid eyes" on 1t.
After waiting In Washington long
enough to have ended the war. Mr..
Thorne comes back home and ar
ranges for an Iowa investigation OF
coal. Governor Harding falls In with
the plan. for certainly the coal prob
lem needs some more discussion. or
course, the government has taken
charge of the whole industry and ap-
pointed state fuel administrator.
This official, in turn, has selected COM
mittees in all the counties and larger
cities Of the state. with state advis-
DRY board and an office force for good
measure OF course, the Illinois de-
tense council tried plan for state
control and became snarled In such
tangle that the resulting strike In the
Illinois mines came near involving tho
whole country.
But anyway, the Iowa hearing was
begun yesterday with all the pomp and
ceremony of a Kelly murder trial.
Then the coal operators, who had been
notified to be present with lot OF
sworn and tabulated reports OF costs
and selling prices, sent an attorney In
stead, and this attorney told Mr.
Thorne and Governor Harding his
clients were accountable to the federal
fuel administration and not to the
state nor any other power.
So Mr.. Thorne called some other
witnesses, whose testimony estaD
lished the fact that steam coal
such as public utilities concerns AMI
other big industries use. rose from So
cents a ton to $1.70 Immediately after
President Wilson announced his tenta-
tive price schedules last summer.
Then another witness, secretary to the
state mine inspectors. testified that In
1916 the cost of mining coal in Iowa,
for miners wages alone, averaged
SLAP ton. The price this year. this
witness said, will be higher because OF
increased wage scales.
II the figures obtained from these
witnesses by Mr.. Thorne are correct.
the industrial concerns which bought
their coal at SIS cents a ton In 1916
we're cutting under the actual labor
price 81 cents a ton. OF course. the
coal operators would make their
prices high enough on that portion OF
their product sold for domestic con-
sumption to make up the loss on steam
coal and afford them profit on their
entire production. When the price
went up to $40 as result Of federal
intervention the burden Of paying part
of the coal bill of the Industries was
removed from the householder's shout
ders.
II 1t is Mr.. Thorne's aim to restore
the old system through the medium OF
the so-called state investigation, we
would be moved to protest more VIC.
lently were it not for the consoling re-
Election that such an aim would not
receive particularly favorable atten-
ton, II any. at the hands OF the FED
eral administrator.
II would be vastly interesting to
know Just who Mr.. Thorne is repre-
senting in this coal quiz. II he is rep
resenting the general public which
buys its coal at retail he has concealed
the fact with an ability like that which
DISTINGUISHES the governments war
censor. If he is representing the pub
lie utilities concerns whose coal bills
have been boosted, why does he not
saw so and have done with it? He has
every right to represent them, to be
sure Dispatches say he is represent
ing the League Of Iowa Municipalities
which derives its support indirectly
from Iowa taxpayers. all OF whom are
retail coal consumers.
One argument which steam coal
users employ to defend the old system.
under which they obtained coal ~