Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-29
COAL DATAFUNDS
PLEA UNHEEDED
Controversy Shows How
Both Sides in Congress
Disregarded Warning.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

| Whatever else the coal controversy
may teach the American public. 1t has
! revealed to the naked eye how first
the democrats and then the repub-
| lIcanS in Congress neglected to heed
the appeals. warnings, petitions and
pleas of several bureaus of the gov
| eminent for funds to get the facts
about coal
Anticipating just such a situation
as has arisen--where statistics are
supreme and where figures reliably
gathered can alone carry conviction
! requests for money to keep the Am err
! lean people informed about coal
production. it's costs and factors of
distribution and sundry other items.
all Of which DR.. Harry A. Garfield.
| fuel administrator. confessed in his
| open statement of last Tuesday that
| Congress had failed TO provide.
Warning Given in June.
/ Everything went well during the
war. when the fuel administration Vae
| creatcd-for the United States geo
! LOGICAL survey and the Federal Trade
| Commission We're nrade integral pats.
| 50 far IS coal vas concerned. OF the
| machinery of that administration.
Funds we're provided by the fuel ad-
! miniSt ration Then the ar'niStice
came and the fuel administration was
! dissolved. The geological, survey
! asked for funds to continue the work.
| TIL" appropriation committees of Con-
gress last January failed to giant the
! request. When the republicans came
| into power in May and appropriation
! bills were considered The matter came
! up again. and in June the director of
! the geological survey told the Se"at~
! committee on approximations that
this country is not yet out of dan
| ger Of a fuel shortage and needs
/ '"ec''lv reports"
| Later on the Senate interstate com
merce committee got busy and aD-
/ rofrt.d subcommittee, headed by
Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jer-
| sew. to max" an inquiry into the coal
. situation. The New Jersey senator
was amazed to find that the geologi
| cal survey was unable to furnish da'?
concerning the countrv's coal require
| mants He went so far as TO ask ~
| Secretary Of the Interior. in who's
| department is the geological surve"
TO request Congress again for tina
! appropriation it was only $40 oh'
| The senator from New Jersey was So
impressed with the necessity Of funds
| to get coal data that he appeared
himself before the committee on ar
; organizations and supported the re
quest of the geological survey. Bl
| so.ne of the senators felt that tn
thing should originate in the Hous'
ard no action was taken. Ihe Hops"
committee on its side wouldn't reope'
the bill That happened in Septem-
Der
Trade CommissiOn's Experience.
| Somewhat similar experience con-
| fronted the Federal Trade Commission
! 1t had the machinery to do even more
than the geological survey. but par
! ticularIy with reference to costs of
production. Sixty thousand dollars
was requested. Chairman Good of the
. House appropriations committee was
willing. but the time of Congress was
no action.
These facts reveal the tendency of
| Congress to turn down requests for
funds that have anything to do with
| statistics. The bureau of labor statiS-
| tics has had many discouraging en-
counter with Congress on that score.
and whether the United States gov
eminent ever adopts a budget sys-
tenn or not, the flaw will never be
| cured until the men in Congress be-
come responsive to the advice of those
/ various bureaus which are in touch
! with public needs.
| Reports by Geological Survey.
J Just now the geological survey is
putting out some coal reports after a
| fashion, but it is somewhat humiliat-
! ing for the bureau to be required to
accept the generosity of the National
/ Coal Operators Association. which is
helping to foot the bill. There are
those, for instance, who fear that if
| the figures or statistics of the geo.
| logical survey are ever attacked, the
public may have wrong impression
J from the fact that they are gathered
| by funds furnished by interested par
| ties. On the other hand. a certain
amount of cooperation is necessary
! between the operators and the gov
eminent bureaus, but the latter would
feel better if it could point to the fig
| ures gathered as its own. and so
would the coal operators. who would
| be able to use those figures without
mbarrassment.
All sides-the operators, miners
government bureaus and such men
as DIR. Garfield. who had experience
| in the fuel Observation-Disclosures agreed
that the data is necessary. They have
been agreed ever since the armistice,
| but Congress hasn't seen it that way.
| The argument that there must be
economy first seized the democrats as
the armiStice came. and the republi-
cans on coming into power in May
have added even more Zest to the cut
ting down process. If the curtailment
of expenditures were scientific, the
boasts of the party politicians about
| the amount of money they have saved
, would be valid, but it so happens that
| a failure to appropriate relatively
sand dollars. may mean an expense to
the public Of several millions of dol
lars, much inconvenience and much
suffering due to coal shortage.
Facts Badly Needed.
Furthermore, facts would have en-
abled the public to learn exactly what
the supply of fuel was. so that buying
would be better regulated. And a
more regular method of purchase
might have assisted the operators in
| furnishing more regular employment
! to miners, so that much Of the con-
! troversy about lack Of opportunity to
! work and tagging production might
have been examined in the light Of
| unquestioned data.
| The whole controversy ranges
around statistics Whose figures are
| right? Whose computations are accu-
| rate or fair? Many government
| agencies have existed to do the job of
answering such questions, but the eff
| fort in Congress to make record of
| economy has caused the executive
| branch Of the government to grope it's
way through unlighted paths of aver
ages, estimates. calculations and in
| diyidual gueSSes. And while the party
! politicians crate and point to their
achievements the public pays the bill
of neglected opportunity.
Copyright, 1912