The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-09-17

receiving the government requisi-
tions will thereafter be unable to
fulfil completely the contracts that
they have made with consumers, even
at prices higher than the prices flx-
ed by the President. / am looking
into those contracts now, but my
present impression is that producers
will not be liable to damages for
failure to fulfil contracts. It is sim
ply a case of the government taking
the coal for the welfare Of the ma
ton and the producer is no more
liable than he would be If physically
unable to turn out the coal. Gov
eminent requisition is in the same
class as an act of God, the interven-
ton of which absolves a party from
carrying out a contract.
II do not think there will be any
trouble in requisitioning the amount
Of coal Needed. 1t is essential to the
welfare of the country and the eff
fective prosecution of the war. Coal
producers periodically win uphold
the government and obey the req
uisitioR Consumers periodically
will uphold the government and ac-
cept scaling down of their con-
tracts.
To Be "FueI Banker.
Il have talked the matter over with
number of large coal producers
and l am satisfied that the plan will
work out fairly to all interests. OF
course, there will be nothing to pre-
vent a producer taking from a single
contract consumer the entire amount
requisitioned, but do not think this
will happen. The operators tell me
that if 1T is necessary to scale down
NnnfFn Nfc IN nPAHr 81, NY4wrfeI, he @gaII
amount requisitioned by the govern
ment, they will scale down all con-
tracts approximately in the same
proportion after making allowance
for potent considerations, such, for
example, as the fact that a factory
making ordnance or other munitions
Of war should not be crippled by the
scaling down process.
When have my pile of spot coal
requisitioned from the 5000 compan-
les shall begin the distribution. The
national fuel administrator is a sort
of banker. He will receive deposits
of coal. which he will pay out to
those entitled to 1t. He will keep
a ledger account with the states and
honor their drafts for coal to the ex-
tent their actual needs require.
Wants No Dealers On Boards.
hlA0W AAOW hAN(AA wal CdSAA SNclGS
consumed in 1915, and how much
was shipped into each state that
year. That shall assume to repre-
sent approximately the needs of the
state this year, although the exact
amount will be chan1ed by existing
conditions, such as the increase OF
manufacturing as a result of the
war. But roughly shall be able to
start the ledger account of each
state with the amount of coal 1t
needs and the amount of coal it has
obtained up to date since the begin
ming Of the coal year. Whether the
coal year will begin with July / last
or with Oct ! next will depend upon
my ability to obtain accurate figures
on the supply in each state since last
July. If these figures are not OBJ
tainable, shall start the coal year
with Get. i, after which an accurate
account czn be kept.
about Oct. /, the state fuel adj
illustrators will be appointed by
the President. These administrators
will not be coal men, but men with
a knowledge of coal and industrial
conditions. The state administrator
will appoint local committees in each
county and municipality of 100000
or more population. The members
of these committees will not be coal