Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-16

ASHINGTON, d. c., Dec. 12.-Wh om
M you choose to blame Tor the fact that
w, you have just been threatened with
all the horrors of coal famine is largely
matter OF politics and point-of-view! But
one conclusion you cannot avoid if you look
fairly at the facts. Our failure to get an
adequate and continuous supply OF coal is
due largely to the FACT that our great in
dustral system, Of which we boast much
is poorly and even stupidity organized. And
for this we are all to blame.
Until the last few years the ultimate con-
sumner has been chiefly Interested ii the price
Of coal He has been able to get coal by pay
ing the price He has been led TO believe
that this price represents an undue profit
for somebody. Mr.. McAdoo says the opera
tors have BEEN getting it, and the operators
retort, Search u.s." !; "'
But recently the all-lmportant question of
what price we pay for coal was ecllpsed by
the still more important question CT whether
we were going to get any coal at all. We
have forty-sx per cent OF all the coal IN the
World-enough Of it to last us for several
centuries. There are enough worknen n
the country to dis it. And yet We have been
threatened with freezing both this winter
aid last ~
This state Of affairs suggests that some
tang is wrong with the way We go about
digging and distributing our coal. 4nyesti-
cations which have been made recently by
government experts strongly support this
suggestion. There is something wrong with
our coal-prOduction system. Ana the settle
ment Of the strike viii NOS by any means
remedy that trouble. a lack Of intelligent
cooperation between operators, the miners,
the railroads, and the consumer is at the bot
tom of the problem, according to the best
expert evidence available.
Let us start with the public The public,
Including both domestic consumers and fac
! I, 1NC>o,1 10 h1sr r.
coal when it needs it. which is in the Wint1%.
| The result is that we must have enc gh
mines and enough minorG on the job to sup
! ply that maximum winter demand. 1t fol
| lows Inevitably that in til spring and sum-
/ meH; when the demand il lax, mines and
miners are idle. They are in fact idle from
,one-fourth to One-third Of the time. This is
one of the things that the miners are kicking
! about. They want TO be assured OF five days
| of work a week, at least. Some Of the dear
| public still think that the miners want &C
work five days a week at most. AS mat
| ter Of fact the miners want TO Wor% more
not less. 1t is discouraging to go 10 WorB
in the morning and to be tod that there vii
| be no work that day, and no pay, because
! there is no market for the product. Yet that
is hat the miners are told again and again
| In some of the Ohio mines, the miners were
| given only about 200-days of work last year
In New Mexico they worked over 800. Ii
mo2t places they worked about $50 days.
So the miners are idle in the spring and
summer for lack of a market, and Whea tho
! winter rush comes along, they are idle part
I Of the time for lack of cars to handle the
coal 1t is quite evident that if the spring
! and summer market could be stimulated, the
miners could be kept busy then, and the win
! ter rush could be to some extent forestalled
There would then be more cars available, and
the miners would not be idle in winter. The
miners would have continuous work and We
| could have continuous coal supply.
! The present state of affairs has often been
I blamed on the operators, 1t has been stated
that they should provide storage facilities for
coal at the mines. Then coal mined in the
warm weather could be stored Until needed
But technical Investigations made by the
Bureau of Mines do not bear out the theory
I that the operators are to blame They show
| that the storage of coal at the mine is at
tended with serious difficulties. Soft coal
stored in large quantities--many thousands
Of tons---s in danger from spontaneous com