New Britain herald., 1917-12-01
POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF THE
COAL PROBLEM HERE.

New Britain has had, and yet has
its coal question; just as other cities
of the nation are wrought up over
J this situation. The difference has
been that New Britain paid slightly
| more for coal than most of the cities
| within what might be called its i'm
| mediate vicinity. Therefore, New
Britain has been more than anxious
to solve the problem.
The coal dealers of Meriden have,
for the past year and a half, so wc
are informed by reliable authority,
sold their coal for 1926 ton. Meri-
den Is one of our nearest neighbours
as cities go. Its dealers must have
known what coal sold for in this city.
Yet they, without government action,
dispensed with the commodity for
forty cents less a ton than the same
brand can now be purchased in New
Britain, even under government regu-
latton. And, be this remem bered, the
freight rates to New Britain are but
slightly higher,-f1ve cents,-than the
freight rates to Meriden. Yet coal Is
sold here for forty cents moro a ton
than In the Silver City.
1t might be argued that it costs
much more for coal dealer to do
business in New Britain than it does
for coal man to hold forth in Meri-
have found that it is very difficult
to learn, from coal men, just how
much 1t really does cost to handle
coal, once it Is taken off the cars,
put in the dealers bins, and then de-
livered to the consumer. This for
the reason that each and every coal
dealer seems to have a different set
of figures. OF this we are sure: there
is no Standardization in the coal bus
mess. Where one man might handle
a ton of coal at certain expense,
his next door competitor may claim
it costs twice as much.
All pleas for higher prices on coal
sold here are made on the high cost
of handling,-and the higher the cost
can be figured the higher the prices
the coal dealers want. There is a
method, then, in their madness,-the
madness that shoves prices up to the
top rung of the ladder. Yet the prin-
ciple involved is that the public
should not be taxed because some few
dealers must expend more money
than their brethren in business. Not
that we advocate the triumph of big
business over small business. The
thought is this: There are some men
in the coal business here who can
handle coal at the present prices and
make money by doing so. There are
do this, who say they must necessarily
lose money. Rather than force the
public to shoulder their troubles and
save them from actual losses, we be-
lieve the best thing for them to do is
to get out of the coal business and let
it remain in the hands of those who
can take care of it. Ostensibly, every
body cannot be in the coal business.
The same is true in other walks of
life. There is just so much room for
each and every factor in the realm
OF business. There is a point some-
where that marks the beginning of
the end. If there is just one more
grocery store added to a string al
ready in operation at a certain time
and place someone is going to suf-
fer. And so on down the line. Where
there are eleven coal dealers in New
Britain now there Is just about room
enough for ten,-if that Were some
of them to go out of business and
leave the worry and care to a smaller