Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-12
GIVE US COAL
II Mr.. Garfield Cannot DO ], He Should
Be Superseded by Man Big
Enough for the Job

will stand for the bungling of Harry A.
Garfield. the national fuel administrator.
He is exercising despotic power over
the business Of the country, deciding
what industries may have coal and what
mag not. Not long ago he ordered 4
reduction of 80 per cent in the amount OF
coal supplied to the cement manufsctur-
ers. This was because they were selling
cement to builders who were putting up
houses in cities where he thought there
were already houses enough. II was not
to conserve the supply Of cement for
building houses for war workers in those
districts in which population is coneested
by an influx of new people. It was merely
to put a stop to a business which Mr..
Garfield and his advisers did not think
was necessary.
And now he has announced that unless
the supply Of coal is increased the brew
ers may get no fuel after their present
stock is exhausted. This means that the
bre yers will have to shut up shop in less
than three months. Mr.. Potter, the fuel
administrator for this State. acting on
the authority of Mr.. Gsrfeld's decision,
has already announced that he will seize
forthwith all coal that may be in transit
to the breweries in his district.
This action has been taken in spite Of
the refusal Of Mr.. Hoover to exercise the
authority he has to cut off the supply Of
grain to the breweries on the ground that
if there were no beer the only alcoholic
stimulant left for those who used it would
be whisky. In the absence Of national
prohibition he held that it was much bet
ter that beer with 21a per cent Of alcohol
should be brewed than that men should
be able to get nothing but whisky with
40 per cent. The conservation Of grain
was secondary, in his opinion. to the
moral and physical dangers of putting
the drinkers of the country on a whisky
diet And of course he was right.
Congress has not yet ordered prohibi
tion as a war measure. Mr.. Garfield has
anticipated its action and he has over
ruled the very sound decision of Mr..
Hoover.
If Mr.. Garfield can reduce the coal sup
piled to the cement manufacturers by
one-ha'f and cut of entirely the coal sup
with every industry. He can stop the
MANUFACTURED Of pianos, he can force
every newspaper to suspend publication.
He can drive out of business every pro-
ducer of breakfast cereals save one, or he
can even stop the whole breakfast cereal
business. He can close every woolen mill
except those making the kind Of cloth
which he thinks is necessary.
And we have no guarantee that he will
not do any or all of these things in order
to save coal.
OF course, fuel must not be wasted but
the crying need is the production of
enough to meet the normal demands Of
business in these abnormal times. Mr..
Garfield seems to be devoting more at
tention to saving coal than to producing
it. He does not need to be told that the
coal is in the mines waiting to be taken
out. He ought to know that more than
10000 miners have been taken from the
anthracite regions and put in the army
when they are needed in the mines. He
ought to have profited by the experience
of England, which had to send to Franc :
and comb the miners out of its armies
there in the early days of the war who
had walked up to the necessity of keeping
the mines running for the needs of the
country.
The national fuel administrator has
demonstrated his incapacity and incom-
petence from the first months Of his ap-
pointment. He muddled the coal situa-
tion last winter by cutting down the
prices, which cut down the production.
The veriest tyro in economics could have
told him that the way to increase pro-
duction is to increase the prices. This
year he is issuing arbitrary orders cut
ting of the supply from men engaged in
legitimate business and doing nothing to
put the drafted miners back in the mines.
Unless a man big enough for the job is
put in his place in the near future the
coal famine next winter will be worse
than last winter. The summer is pass
ing and the number of days in which
coal can be taken from the mines with
greatest ease is growing less and Wash
ington is making the future uncertain for
every business man in the country by its
orders restricting the use of coal.
We plead for action which will produce
coal, not for the benefit of the brewers or
the cement manufacturers, but for every
legitimate business and for every house
holder in Pennsylvania, New York and
New Jersey, where nearly 10 per cent of
the production of the anthracite mines
is consumed.