New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-18

ment against coal and avoid having
that statement challenged.
Electricity and Coal
A perfectly typical attitude Of the
coal users is that which is expressed
by the electric light companies. 81
far as the people know, the only thing
which the electric light companies pro-
duce is the power for electric lights.
They have an idea that this absorbs
the attention of electric light COM
panies in certain municipalities. There
fore, when the electric light company
proposes to put up its light rates and
gives as an excuse the rising cost of
coal. the people are not prepared either
to combat the advance or refute the
statement. The only thing they can
do is to submit meekly and then curse
the coal man, who, they think, is re-
sponsible for it all.
Contrary TO this general belief, the
electric light company has quite va
riety of customers. II has, therefore,
quite variety of rates. For example,
il charges, we will say, the house
holder eight TO ten cents per kilowatt
hour for electric current. 1t charges
the factories, the department stores
and others one-half TO one cent per
kilowatt hour.
If the cost OF electric power Is in
creased. il would seem that the proper
thing 10 do would be to increase the
charges to those who get the power at
less cost. That is, it would be best 10
increase the cost TO factories, depart
ment stores and others who are getting
vastly higher prices for what they sell
and, therefore, can afford to pay the
bill The objection of the managers
of electric light plants to such a pro-
gramme is:
"But, my dear man, we have con-
tracted with those people to supply
them with power over long periods of
years at fixed cost. That contract
cannot be broken; those people will
not consent to an increase in charges"
To which our reply is:
"Then your officials made bad guess
when they made that contract. Your
directors made a bad guess when they
approved that contrR. You took a
business chance. Youhave lost there
by. 1t was a business risk, and your
officers and directors are responsible
for it, Therefore, if any one is TO suf-
fer. they are the ones who should.
"However, you propose that your Of
ficers and directors shall be absolved
from a bad guess and that the men who
supply YOU with coal shall be the ones
who shall suffer. In other words, you
ask the coal man to give you a lower
price on coal in order that you may
escape the consequence OF an unbusi-
nesslike contract"
Gas Companies and Coal
Another first rate example 10 that Of
the gas company. 1t says that the
price Of coal has gone up. and there
fore It must both depreciate tho quail
ity of gas and increase the price. Our
answer to that is this:
"The gas companies do not produce
gas alone. Therefore they haven't gas
alone TO sell. They have, instead, coke
and tar products and long list Of
light oils and heavy oils, which are all
selling at very much higher prices.
You haven't, as matter of fact, a
legitimate excuse for asking an increase
in the price Of gas or a decrease in
the price If coal. What you pay more
for coal is more than Offset by what
you get from your by-products."
II is not necessary TO go through the
entire list 70 show that the same thing
applies in every business which is to-
day blaming coal for its increased cost
of doing business and therefore for the
increased selling price of its product.
To make long story short, the bust
nesses of the nation are trying to make