The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-12-06

Ask $40 to SIS n Ton When Legitimate
Price Is $50 at Mine -- Coal Com
panies Give Independent Spectators
the Preference.
NEW YORK. Dec. 6.-Evidence OF
extreme profteering" by both "compa.
ny" and Independent" coal dealers de-
veloped at the hearing of the senate
reconstruction committee Saturday, ac-
cording to Senator Calder, chairman of
the committee, and District Attorney
Lewis of Kinks county, who assisted in
the investigation.
Charges made by witnesses to the COM
mittee were:
That New England consumers are com
PEELED to pay 100000 on anthracite
coal through charges by Independent"
dealers over the proper charges of the op-
orators.
That this surtax is based on the esti-
mate that 40 per cent OF the total coal
consumption is independent coal; and, as
New 1ork's percentage is higher than
TINS, New York consumers are mulcted
of much more.
That Independent dealers, whose trans4
actions run into hundreds of thousands
OF tons yearly and who never actually see
a. ton OF coal, buy and resell coal many
times, adding from so cents to 81 for
each resale.
That the same railroads that own
company" mines are shipping so-called
independent coal in preference to their
own cheaper product
mat the rule prevailed in New Eng
land that the poorer the quality of coal
the higher the price.
That at the present time 100 shipping
vessels in1
ports which should be used as coal car
rlers to alleviate the present situation
Eugene I. Huffman. fuel administrator
for Massachusetts, who made most of the
charges, when asked to define an indie
pendent operator, declared:
II could be arrested for what I think
OF the Independent operators"
At the opening of his testimony Mr.
huffman, under oath, charged 25 big coal
hrms with protiteering ii of them in this
city. The specific charge against the ele-
ven was selling coal to New England con-
sumers at prices ranging from $40 to SIS
a, ton, when the stipulated price for an
thrac1te at the mine is $3.50 a ton
At the close of the hearing both Sena-
tor Calder and Mr.. Lewis said certain
witnesses had been evasive and the tes-
tlmony had shown clearly the immediate
necessity for a remedy to halt prohteer-
ing. Two OF the witnesses who were
charged with attempting to pass the
buck by those conducting the hearing
were W. II. Williams, vice president Of
the Delaware and Hudson railroad and
the. Hudson Coal. Co., and l. R. Schu-
Coal Co.
In his statement to the committee Mr..
Schumacher said his company handled 200
600 tons of coal yearly and that during
. last t. year the company had made only
S24O0 profit; District Attorney Lewis
nuLo ko &
come tax paid by the company. Mr..
Schumacher said that it amounted to 81
600. MIR. Lewis attempted to have him
explain how the company came to pay
that amount. leaving itself only $500
profit for the year.
Mr. Schumacher, his voice trembling and
his feet, shutting under his chair. could
not explain the variance. Neither could
he estimate this years profits
Are you sure about that 400 pro-
fit?" asked Senator Edge. Are you GER
tain you did not cheat yoiIrself?2
As the witness again failed to explain,
senator Edge closed the hearing. remark
ing, Well, then we will have to examine
yonr books"
Mr.. Williams gave his version of the
history of the coal crisis to the com
mittee and then said there is no coal
coal panic" exists and that prices would
drop overnight if the public refused toI
Mr.. Williams also said all the manu-
featuring plants in New England had
piled UP large SURPRISES Of coal and "pan-
lcky' buying was responsible for pres
ent prices This was fatty contradicted
by Mr.. Huffman, who cited figures toll
show New England was now receiving
10000 tons of coal per month less than
had been received in the past SIX years.
When Mr.. Williams next charged the
New England public utility companies
with coal. boarding he was again contra
dlcted by Jeremiah Campbell. represent
ing Charles H. Tenney & Co. of Boston,
public utility company operators. Mr..
Campbell told the committee it was al
great puzzle to large New England conf
sumers Just how closely related the an
thracite and bituminous operators were.
=. Mr.. Williams also charged that ,mauyI
householders in this city were boarding
coal. He was contradicted by District At
torney Lewis.
Hours We're consumed in futile at
tempts By Senators Calder and Edge and
District Attorney Lewis to draw from
both Williams and Schumacher a clear ex-
PLANTATION of how they arrived at their
selling prices for coal. Both men declared
that the recent wage award to the an
thraclte miners was a large factor in de-
termining prices. '
Mr.. Schumacher admitted that the wage
increase would not increase mining costs
more than 81 a ton, but when questioned
as to the wide variance in price from the