Arizona republican., 1919-09-12
OROMPT and effective cooper ation from the United States

ation from the United States
 Railroad Administration. and the prevention of a nationwide strike in the bituminous coal fields, are all that stand between the American people and bituminous coal famine next winter, according to testimony presented by officers of the National Coal Association to the United States Senate sub-com- mittee which is conducting an in- quiry into the coal situation
 Declaring that the American peo- pie were entitled to all the facts in the case MT. Harry N. Taylor, of Kansas City, President of the National Coal Association, told Sen ator Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the Committee, that there are three l--tinct factors controlling the sue cessful operation of coal mines and the successful serving of the public interests.
 These factors" said MT. Tay- Tor, "are the consumer, the producer and the transporter. If anyone of those three fail the other two are helpless. If the consumer wants the coal and the producer can pro- duce it and there are no cars to move it, the other two are helpless. If there are plenty of cars and plenty of coal and the consumer will not place his orders. the trans porter and the producer are help less-and so on. Any one of them failing in his share of the work rem ders the other two helpless.
 "In the early summer months of this year the one that failed was the consumer. I attribute that largely to the fact that for two years the government and the coal operators, in their effort to assist the government, had intensified their demand upon the public to store coal. The press was full of the necessity for winning the war, and amplifed the importance of the movement Of coal during the entire twelve months of the year, if we were allowed to produce enough coal to win the war. They laid stress on that In pre-war times, when there was no particular incen- tive, it was often the practice of the consumer to wait until he really needed coal, and if the railroads had plenty of cars and if the oper- ators had plenty of labor at their mines everything was all right.
 "So, through the Fuel Adminis- tration, that condition of affairs was made known to the public and the production during the war time was made almost continuous. The ultimate consumer either stored his coal in the factory yard or in base ments of the home users and the railroads stored large amount of coal, so that the production of these years was practically only limited by the transportation and the ability to get it through the con- gested centers. After two years of practically bounding the people to buy coal, when the armistice was signed there was a relaxation on the part of the consuming public which was reflected in their lack of buy ing, and the Geological Survey figures distinctly showed that the production was falling off By the first of June there had been a less production in this country, as com pared with the year previous, of about seventy million tons, and it became evident to the coal industry that unless something was done to make up in part that large shortage of production it would so congest The business in few months that it would be impossible for the rail roads to move the coal. especially as they would probably be called upon to do so about the same time that they would be asked to move the largest food crops ever pro duccd in this country"
 Situation Can Be Saved.
 Questioned by Senator Freling, huysen as to what would have to be done to prevent bituninous coal famine this winter MT. Tavlor saic that the operators would have tc produce at the rate of a little over eleven million tons week during the remainder of the year.
 "If we get busy right away car we save the situation in timer" de, handed Senator Frelinghuvsen.
 Absolutely we can." said MT Taylor. This confidence on hi -~-s wss shared in by all the wit