New-York tribune., 1919-03-28
TELEPHONES.
Beekman 8243
Beekman 5000
Coal Men Refuse to
Confer Further ~,
Bituminous Prices
Accuse Railroad Admin.
tration of Unfair Tact;..
and Demand Assuranos
OF Greater Co.operation

" WASHINGTON, March 27-p..
minous coal operators, throuch q, D,.u-
tional Coal Association. annoura", Na-
night that they would not rosrns '0-
ferences with the Industrial Roa.s sOn.
the Department Of Commerce MIN VI
view to readjusting coal price. m..,
the cooperation and supnor. @""
railroad administration and otbos ~ 'ne
ernment departments buying cos, IS wv,
been secured" Whenever tbo Ina. "au
could assure such cooperation, +h oOafd
men sald. they would be willing ~ s eoai
tlnue the conferences which hrgau ~ sOn-
terday. Oegan yes
The operators, who represent s,,.
lmately three-fourths Of the coun..''. rp,os-
bituminous production. after couSys oOSSusrys
to-day with the board. adonted td"a'irhg
luton setting forth their att,tra.' 'eSo.
issued statement CHARGING Tho ,as' aio
road administration with "unfs's s"e ia'i'
tees, which would drive the n,in p'ac,
railroad fuel below the cost Of nroSn, rres u
ton" Piouuc.
Members Of the Industrial no.sa =,
which George n. Peck is cheir,na,,u' ",u' oi
fused tonight to comment on b", tbo .a' w.
fercnces with the coal mon Lo,', WI,
saying that "only general policies S"g S"g
been discussed II WAS undors,a'9g "sg
however, that in the conferences ,t'
prices fixed by the railroad admin
tration and other governmental aron
c1es Tor coal was the chief contenf,on
ne representatives Of coal indns,,r
told the board that approximately "a
per cent OF the total production ~ HI
luminous coal was consumed by TIM
faliroads OF the country, and. accord
lhR'N' 'nc pr'ces at which the railroad
a"h'lhls'ratlon bought coal had u diree,
bearing upon the price to tho nnhi;c
~ ndcr thcac circnmaianccs sad
the statement issued by the coal ayso'
cation, "thc operators consider Il v,,'l
TOR the board and the industry To lnow
at the outset whether or not na
United States Railrond Administrator
would accept the decision Of the con.
terence as TO reasonable and fair prices
Tor coal and make its purchased NJ
railroad fuel at those prices.
"It developed at the meeting that in
spite Of Director Hines publicly an.
nounced policy in the purchase of rail.
road fuel, the United States Railroad
Administration had adopted unfair
practices which would drive the price
of railroad fuel below the cost of pro.
duction. This would necessita,e nd.
yanclng the price of coal for the gen.
eral consuming public TO a point suffi.
cient to absorb the loss involved in the
production of coal for railroad use. |,
was, therefore, apparent that unless
the Railroad Administration would
lend Its cooperation and bind itself
to accept the findings Of the confer
ence no beneficial results for the gen
eral public could be obtained
Such assurance of cooperation on
the part of the Railroad Administration
was not forthcoming.
"Thc operators, accordingly, made
clear to the board their readiness to
resume the consideration of the ques-
tion of prices whenever the co0pera-
tion and support of the Railroad Ad-
ministration and other governmen.
departments buying coal. mad been se
cured.