The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-06-21
DANIELS HOLDSUP
VIRG|NIANS
COAL CONTRACTS
Patriotic Action of States
Producers Treated With
Suspicion.
lAVI'S NEEDS ARE LARGE
Agreement Which is in
Allegiance Calls for 1,75o,-
900 Tons.
HAWKS NEEDS ARE large.
....,,, n,,n.tch to west vIrginlanI

y q tpectAl Dispatch 70 NCsI wa
WASHINGTON, D. c., June I'll
me Navy uses 1,750,OOO tons Of blum
nous coal q year. anu west Virginia
mines furnish most OF It
The latter part Of last month, repre-
sentattyes Of the coal companies were
called to Washington to agree on a
mice and to sign up q contract win
the Navy. They came, but they didn't
axe much Of part in fixing the price.
IA view OF the war and the heavy de-
mands It has made upon the govern
Tnant-in view Of their sound Amert'
can patriotism and good citizenship
they told the officials Of the Navy to
"a ahead and fix the price to be car
red in the contract; they were willing
70 trust in the fairness Of their gov
ernment and Its representatives. They
would abide by 1t, and furnish the full.
amount Of tonnage required by the
) Navy In these abnormal times, II IL
was within the bounds Of human effort
TO get it out.
Accordingly, the price was fixed by
the Naval authorities. 1t was $2.9S q
ton, figure way below the prevailing
market prices. They ran at that time,
as they do now, from 81 to less than
81. But that didn't matter to the West
Virginians. 1t about covered the In
creased cost of coal production, the
several wage advances OF the past
year and the mounting prices OF every
article which goes into mining, and
left, with good luck, reasonable prot
1t. Not wartime profit, but about
normal profit in prosperous times.
SO the contract was signed, Dot
parties expressing themselves as MT
I1alIy pleased and happy over the out.
come. Likewise, both were proud. Be.
yzcause tie represent atfve OF me Navy
said that by their generous attitude
the mine operators had saved Uncle
Sam the tidy sum Of $50,000,000. The
mine owners felt that they had done a
great patriotic service. Rich mine
owner or Just mere wage-earning man
are alike when it comes to being class
ed as patriots they pun up with pride
and feel good over it; for which there
Is justifiable excuse.
It was the understanding when the
contract was signed that it was entire.
IL satisfactory to Secretary JosephuS
Daniels. In TACT. it was represented
that he was highly pleased with its
terms and its agreeable consumma6on,
he may have been.
But the face OF things is changed
now. The contract wanting Secretary
Daniels sign: ture then to complete It,
still wants it. Indeed, it is current re.
port he has torn it up. That is proba
bly, untrue. WHAT he has probably done
Is to withhold his signature to the
agreement until the mine owners &C.
cept his new terms, which are 1898 a
ton. He has figured it all out, 1t is
said, or somebody has whispered It
into his ear, that they used to sell
West Virginia coal at the mines mouth
for 81 ton, run of mine. And so they
did. They could mine it pretty cheap
in those days, not so long ago. Wages
have been almost doubled since then
and every other cost Of operation out
side of that one big item, has beat that
In increasing.
And that is the way matters strand
now between Secretary Daniels and
the coal men of West Virginia. Only
there is this to be said. the coal men
are threatened with having their prop
critics taken over by the government:
and managed by government clerks,
unless they agree to the new price.