Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-26
Coal Problem
Up to Ignace
BY Frederic j. Haskin

| by chunk Of shrapnel, hIs picture rs
| published IN the paper he gets pension
! and possibly a medal. He is a hero.
| But If lgnace stays at home in West
Virginia to dig coal, and large chunk Of
| that commodity falls on his neck, he
gets no credit or glory whatever. He IS
undoubtedly more valuable as . coai
miner than he could possibly be NJ
soldier, but no recognition Of this fact
Is accorded to him
Because miners are very scarce he
gets good wages-very good wages.
Some skilled miners-the men that work
the drills make aa much ns $3.50
month. In one colony Of IL miners in
Ohio 81 automobiles are owned. lgnace
never before saw so much money.
Naturally, he wants 10 enjoy it. lie has
q tendency to work four days week
| and devote three to the arts of pleasure.
In case Of wedding, christening, or
q funeral in his family, he commonly
takes about two days off 10 observe the
| occasion IN bchtting and dIgnlfled
manner
Why shonldnt he? True, the nation
needs the coal he could dig IN those days.
Bh until recently nobody told him 80.
| lie will get nothing except money Tor
working those extra days, and he already
has more money than nc ever learned how
10 spend So Ignace knocks of and
practices spending IT, You would do
the same
RECOGNfZED SOW.
The fan drive which the Fuel Admins
| tratlon Is making for more coal produc-
| ton IL based upon q recognition OF this
point Of view which fgnace shares with
nearly MI The other coal miners IN tho
country For the vast majority Of them
nre Of alien blood and speech like he.
Tho problems of transportation and
| price and management have been worked
out scicn'licallv and the coal experts
| have now arrived at the fundamental
problem of lgnace and his viewpoint
They arc trying to solve = by telling
Ignacc how necessary he la bv making
hifn fecl his responsibility, and bv giving
him duo credit when be docs respond
That Ignacc i by no means deaf to this
appeal is shown by he fact that the hitu-
mlnous coal production IS creeping mp,
month by month, despite the fact that
labor il becoming steadily scarecr Ig-
mace is doing y
Tho method by which his responsibility
is being brought homo to ignace is called
Il he quota method The Fuel Admins
tratlon assigns a certain amount Of coal
which each coal district must produce IN
order to meet The nation = needs The
director in each region assigns q certain
quota to each minc And in each mine
a quota is assigned to every miner.
SOW FoR iG>AcE.
That's where the system reaches
Ignacc Meanwhile his priest or the
pastor IN his church il telling him that
the fate Of civilization depends npon his
efforts 10 meet that quota The teacher
IL telling the same thing n little lgnace,
.Ir, IN school If Ignace works six days
n week little Tgnace comes home with
4 big button pinned on his chest bearing
the legend Ny Dad Is a Full Tune
Worker
II is furthermore known that themle
Administration will give a dinner to the
miners from the mine that produces the
largest amount of coal per workers
The amount of coal which ignace can
dig has suddenly become a matter nf
consequence, quite aside from the amount
Of money he can get Tor digging Il. He
not ONLY works b1t with that dinner n
mind. ne keeps an eve on his fellow worker
The foreman enters the mine
Here he demands, Why am
yo4 fellows keeping up to the quota
CP TO DEMETRIo roo.
iguace BrZlpskv Levels damnng
finger Al Demetri0 Prczwalskv
IL no dig he alleges angrily
You lie retorts Demetr!o.
And Individual responsibility for the
nation ; coal production IS forcefully
tlxed then and there.
Whether the Lnited States will nave
enough coal this winter to keep war IN
dustries gong and also 70 keep warm
depends largely upon individual con
science It Is to worse FOR lgnace to
get drunk on pay day and lay otf he next
dav than it is for sou keep lights burn
ing that YOU don need. stoke your fur
mace wastefullv ana insist on maintaining
an August temperature IN Your fiat when
65 or 20 degrees Of heat are better for
YOUR health
The point Is that ail ot the factors OF
productions distribution and consumption
which can be controlled by law and regula-
ton have been 50 controlled, and the coal
supply can nov be Increased only by what
Ignace digs and what you save for the
good Of the cau.e
THREE BIG ChNTRES
The country Is dependent far f, war-
time coal supply largely upon few dis
tricts in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and