Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-13
COAL OPERATORS
OPPOSE PUBLICITY
Fight to Exclude Exhibits Offered
Bearing on Profiteering and
Monopoly.

Scranton. Pa, July l2.--Representa--
tivcs of the mine workers today renewed
their argument before the Anthracite
Coal Commission for the admission in evl-
dencc Of seven Of their exhibits, which
deal chiefly with alleged monopolfstic
control and profiteering IN the hard coal
industry The charges were included IN
statement containing eighteen points or
exhibits presented to the commission last
week by w. Jett Lauck, but the operators
objected To the submission OF the seven
points dealing with profiteering and
monopolistic control, and the commission
still has the question of their admission
under consideration.
In their argument today the mine
workers admitted the power and authority
of the commission extends only to such
issues as are formally submitted TO IT by
the operators and miners, but declared 1T
has an additional implied jurisdiction,
which is only limited by the public IN
terest"
'Under this implied jurisdiction" the
miners declared. "thc commission may not
be able to act directly. but il can, neverthe-
less, exert its power indirectly by advice or
recommendation to specific agencies hav-
ing direct power or jurisdiction
This implied jurisdiction, even duty OF
the commission, arises from the peculiar
circumstances under which the commission
has been constituted The commission
Is not an ordinary arbitration board-it ~
a public body, charged with not only
the duty Of deciding certain issues as 10
wages and conditions Of employment but
also with the development of all the facts
bearing on the public interest. The com
mission, therefore, has complete and un.
limited authority to inquire INTO all
matters in the present anthracite situa-
tion which bear upon the question OF wages
and prices. This, unquestlonabiy, was the
intention Of the President IN creating the
commission and it, unquestionabiy, IL the
expectation of the public that the COM
mission will do so.
obviously the commission has no
direct jurisdiction over profits and prices
of coal companies, or Of rates and profits
of transportation companies. There Us one
very important point in our evidence,
however. which is directly IN line with the
specific jurisdiction of the commission.
One Of the eighteen issues directly sub
mitted to adjudication is the question OF
union recognition.
"You will recall in this connection that
the United States Steel Corporation has
recently opposed any form of collective q
bargaining among their employees, and
especially collective bargaining on the
basis of union recognition. The pre-.
dominating influence back of the steel
CORPORATION is the banking house of j.
p. Morgan & Co. This same banking
house is the predominating influence IN the
anthracite coal monopoly. The mine
workers feel that If the matter of union
recognition had been left to the local man
ayers and officials and independent opera
tors with whom their representatives have
come in contact In the anthracite held
the recognition of their union would have
been an accomplished fact. They believe
that their failure to secure formal recogni-
ton has been due to absentee landlordism
and the sinister influence of these extreme
reactionary and misguided financial in
terests which are back of and really con-
troll the labor policies Of the anthracite
monopoly. They wish TO submit thus tact
to the commission and also make it
known to the public"