The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-09-06
COAL AND FLOUR.

The President has tackled the high cost
of living with vigorous effort. 1t re-
mains to be seen how much he can &C
ecomplish. The price of coal at the mine
and Of wheat in Chicago has been fixed.
If anybody expects to get reduction of
more than so cents ton on coaI or more
than dollar barrel on flour that person
is likely to be disappointed. If Congress
had passed the food bill four months and
a half ago when it began to talk about
lynching those who were robbing the
people, the present price of coal might
have been quite materially reduced, but
when the President was finally authorized
the winter supply of anthracite coal, for
the State of Maine at least, had been
made. Coal dealers could not run the
risk of waiting for the action of a jabber-
ing Congress. They had to get into the
market and do the best they could, and
as one mining magnate confessed, I'VE
saw our opportunity and took advantage
of it" Fixing the price of coal at the
mines was accomplished by the President;
VIII ether it will stay fixed is in some
doubt. Already some of the mine owners
are rebellious, and hint at shut down or
that they cannot maintain their present
output, and strikes among the miners
are not infrequent. But one of the real
problems to be solved by the administra-
ton is the proper control of transporta-
4ion lines and the prompt delivery of coal,
till the wants of the consumer are sup
piled. Only last week there was strike
of 1875 coal handlers in Portland. The
grievance was that one man, trim
mer had been discharged. The news
Dapers report that men from New York
have arrived to unload the coal Those
strikers should have been told to unload
that coal with double quick movement
or the next steamers across the Atlantic
would take them to join the army of
General Pershing, and there would be no
exemptions from any cause We all hate
the Kaiser, but we shall have to admit
that he is a premium strike breaker
He would have settled that little Port
land affair in 90 seconds.
The next difficult problem to be solved
in reducing the price of coal, is to effec-
lively reach the wholesalers, iobbers and
retailers Possibly system of control
can be worked out to be effective next
year, but not il season to avail much at
present. Mr.. Garfield who is in charge
of the coal supply, distribution and prices,
is an earnest, honest man. 1t is unfortu-
nate that he has had no training in the
special fields in which he is to work,
where a cupful of experience is worth
more than tub full of theory. But he
is worker and not a talker. He will
probably make good but the public must
be reasonably patient. The price for
wheat has been fixed at $3.50 cents a
bushel. That means that the cost of the
material for a barrel of flour is to be
S11O0 Add to this rs cents for the mil
ler's profit, the freight from the mill to
1be wholesaler in Maine, the trucking
and handling, the wholesalers profit, the
freight from the wholesaler to the retailer
and the profit of the latter, and we may
quite safely conclude that the four
months Elaboration" by Congress and
the best efforts of the President cannot
be expected to keep the price of flour
below where it is now. The best that we
can hope from the food bill is that it may
prevent prices from going higher.