El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-11-25
COAL TROUBLE
NEARING CLOSE
With Granted Increase OPP
orators Will Raise Min
ers' Scale Of Wages.

been a return OF the fuel admins
I tractor and a check kept on the price
Z Of coal In other words II II hadn'e
/ been for the controversy itself, a.
rice OF coal might have gone up
not ic sly 40 cents but several dol
Q lars, anc the miner knew that mig-it
happen and t they might not get
c7y share OF that increase
As or the viewpoint that the impO-
sltion Of 40 &c Is per ton more on the
price Of COL to the consumer IS an
unfair burden, the miner points out
constituting the general public
! have increased his cost o. living ~
percent and IS ling him to pay
more for his shoes, his clothing. his
I build materla and everything
else. If the general public would re-
duce the cost living, the miner
would be content. But experiments
in the last few months show how fu-
tile is the effort to reduce the cost OF
II ing. Profile ne can be checked
and certain limits - profits can be
arrived at in ~ertaii. commodities but
the governme. was never permitted
by congress 20 exercise any cOntr0l
over the prices Of anything but food
and fuel, while clothing, building
materials, Agricultural implements
and other things that are pointed TO
by the farmer and the wholesaler and
retailer as the rea- n for increased
prices are IN ntroled.
In the absence OF government
control over economic factors,
generally the opportunity to re-
duee the cost Of living remains
out OF the hands OF the govern
ment agencies and In the hands
Of laws Of supply and de-
mnnd. When production q
brought up to demand prices viii
beUfn to descend.
Trying To Make Profit.
But as for coal, transportation IA
cilities are limited. docking facilities
are Inadequate, foreign countries are
crying for American coal and can Z
get II, and the American consumer is
demanding more shan can be gotten,
Normal conditions are not expected
to ensue until the whole world stu
alton clears up. In the meantime II
is a game OF get-as-much-as-yo u-can-
Both operators and miners are trying
10 do business at PROFIT me re-
straining hand OF the government IS
upon them both TO keep their de-
mands from imposing too large
burden on the public. The dirIer-
ences between the miners who want
81 percent. the operators who otter
20 percent and the secretary OF labor
who believes 20 percent is about right
would not take long to adjust II the
miners were sure. for instance OF the
accordance by the operators OF the
position taken by the secretary OF
labor. and II the operators in turn
were sure that DR.. Harry A Garfield,
fuel administrator, could assure them
OF permission to raise the present
maximum price OF coal which was set
during the war and recently reim-
posed when the coal crisis began II
is an effort at present 10 figure how
the increases in wages can pc az
sorbed and q simultaneous ettorL 20
keep the increase OF wages down as
low as possible while operators per
suade the government OF the neces-
sity OF being allowed 70 charge more
10 the consumer
which confronted the country when
Herbert Hoover fixed the price otI
was too high; the farmers said IL
wasn't enough and the effect OF the
stabilized price was varlously dis
counted. In the end, 10 was found
that while costs Of uncontrolled com
moditfes went Up the price OF flour
remained stable, so 10 vas with sugar
The extra wages in mining ton OF
coal may seem TO some people too
much TO pay but IL means II ABSORBED
nartIv by the operators and partly py
the public that for the next winter az
least the price OF coal viii be stab
Uized and the incentive OF the op-
orator TO produce would be sufficient
to give this country and Europe the
coal so urgently required 70 keep IN
dustry going and the household
warm-Copyrigh 1913, The Fl Paso
Herald