Evening star., 1917-09-16
COAL DEALERS HERE
ARE TO Be LICENSED
Fuel Administrator to Be
Named to Regulate Busi-
ness in Washington.
FIXED PRICE AFTER OCT. |

| washington. IN common WITH 1orty'
| five states, is to have fuel administra
| tor.
Every coal dealer in Washington, as
all over the country, will be licensed
about October l. Theneeforth. he will
be permitted to charge a fixed price
this price to be based on the price at
the mine. plus freight. jobber's profit, if
! jobber is involved, and a reasonable
profit for his own service. The price
| fixed will be that for delivery at the
home or place of business Of the buyer
A small reduction will be allowed for
! persons who buy from the yards.
Other Regulations Planned.
Other regulations. clear and simple.
will be issued to the dealer receiving a
license. These regulations will provide
that he must sell to regular customers,
and that he must not sell to persons al
ready we'll provided with coal. Viola
ton of regulations will mean forfeiture
of license and confiscation of his coal
supply:
of the proposed regulation of the coal
trade yesterday, DR.. Harry A. Garfield,
fuel administrator, said:
I'VE can promise that, after October
l. the price of coal will not advance. as
normally it would do in war time. In
fact for most communities the price es-
tablished. it is safe to predict will mean
a reduction in the present price of both
bituminous and anthracite coal"
Asked about his advice to consumers.
tn iayH- of
and the prospective reduction, DR.. Gar
field said:
My advice to consumers is to buy
freely enough to meet immediate needs.
In few cities, not many, there are re-
ports of exorbitant prices. This cannot
be helped. 1t will do no good to suner
and to decline to buy coal now. There
is a shortage. and the price is driven
high by operation of natural laws IN
many communities.
No Cause for Panic.
"On the other hand, this shortage is
no cause for being panicky. 1t is never
worth while to buy for boarding, least
of all now
DIR. Garfield explained in full the fuel
administrations plans relating to the
distribution of bituminous coal. Those
connected with anthracite coal have
not yet been completely worked out,
except that it has been determined that
luminous dealers. Most dealers handle
both kinds of coal.
Appointment of fuel-adlninistratarsiR in
states, he said. is to be accomplished by
traitor and the head Of the state council
of defense. Probably the same method
will be followed in Washington. State
fuel administrators then will appoint
local committees, in counties and In
cities. 1t is probable that there will
be one committee under the District OF
Columbia administrator.
Duties of Committee.
Duties of this committee. composed of
representative citizens not connected
with the coal industry. include sub
mitting to the administrator needs OF
consumers of spot coal. giving prefer
ence to the normal needs of domestic
consumers. public utilities and neces-
sary business enterprises.
The first move under the national
plan Dr. Garfield explained. will be to
ascertain through the state fuel admin
istrators the exact requirements OF
each state above the amounts that have
been contracted for. These will be as
sembled and the total supply required
will be apportioned among the coun-
try's mines Operators will be required
to trim their contracts enough to en-
able them to supply the necessary
amount of spot coal.
The amount of the probable de-
ficiency in coal in each state will be
ascertained by state administrators
through local committees. which also
will be charged with distributing the
coal when obtained. The coal will be
handled through regular dealers, but
the committees will see that it is ap-
portioned properly
May Increase Mine Prices.
A general readjustment of mine
PRICES fixed recently by President Will
son will be recommended by Dr. Gar
field within the next few weeks 1t is
regarded AS likely that many of the
prices. based on cost of production fig
ures furnished by the Federal Trade
Commission, will he increased slightly.
No individual mine prices will be re-
vised until the entire new scale is
increases may be made pending a final
scale.
Retail prices will be fixed for every
community in the country. possibly
tentative, and will remain in force
until final prices are fixed on the
recommendations CT the local coal
committees.
Jobbers and retailers under the re-
tail prices fixing plan stand to lose
money on any coal they may have pur-
chaesd and stored at the high prices
that have prevailed, and one reason
for delaying the fixing of retail prices
| DR.. Garfield said was to give them an
opportunity to get rid of their stocks.
The greatest problem facing US"
said DIR. Garfield, last night. "is to get
out OF the ground all the coal we pos
sibly can to supply ourselves and those
countries depending on for fuel
Canada takes much coal from us and
must be supplied, but we cannot permit
an unequal distribution and must see
that she receives only her fair share
There are four needs for coal
transportation, manufacturing public
utilities and the householder. Ali must
be supplied. One of our intentions is
that the output shall not be reduced y"
| To Invoke Priority Law.
| In distributing the spot coal reouisi-
toned. DR.. Garfield will call in the di-
rector OF priority OF shipment and the
! Interstate Commerce Commission +ha =
il lf. moved by the hor .s..s..-