Evening star., 1920-02-17
PUB[|CPAyS COAL
WAGE ADVANCE IN
RATES Of UTILITIES
Companies Are Compelled by
Contracts to Absorb In
crease, They Say.

Because their coal is purchased un
der contract. public utilities are
charged the recent II per cent wage
they buy. and they in turn have to
pass the increased cost on to their
patrons, representatives Of the utility
corporations testified today before the
coal strike settlement commission and
the Senate coal-investigating commit
tee.
The witnesses said there apparently
operators had agreed to absorb the
IA per cent increase on all coal mined,
but that as . matter Of fact they had
agreed to absorb 1t only a. to coal
not purchased under contract. They
exple&ea that the contracts entered
any wage advances to miners should
Be absorbed by the purchaser.
Will Call lGr. GarAeld.
Az a result Of the complaints, Chair
man Robinson Of the strike commits
sion announced that he would ask for
mer Fuel Administrator Garfield to-
day or tomorrow to explain his strike
settlement proposal.
More than SO per cent of their coal.
the corporation witnesses testified, is
bought under contracts with opera
tors providing that miners wage in
creaSeS shall be absorbed.
Failure of the strike settlement to
abrogate the utilities coal contracts
was declared to be an ANOMALY"
Utility companies. the commission was
told. are being plunged into deeper
financial straits and embarrassed by
complaints from the public, due to its
belief that the ultimate consumer was
to be protected from the miners wage
raise.
Criticise Rail Omcials.
Although declaring official regula-
tion of coal distribution must be con-
tinued until normal conditions are re-
stored. the utilities spokesmen said
the railroad administrators exercise
Of this function was high handed +"
They also criticised the administration g
conf1scation of coal
Coal storage conditions were dis
cussed at length, and the corporation
heads expressed willingness to un-
dertake greater storage.
Agreed as to Regulation.
Spokesman for the utilities agreed
almost unanimously that regulation
Of the distribution of coal until nor
NAL conditions were restored was alb
solutely necessary to protect the in
terests Of the consumer. They criti-
cised the Railroad Administration
exercise Of this function. however,
since taken over from the Fuel Ad-
ministration. on the ground that it
was high handed" and that whole
sale confiscation Of coal loaded for
their use had rendered their supply
precarious and in many instances
forced them to buy high priced coal in
the open market. Much high quality
gas coal is being confiscated by the
railroads for steam use. they asserted.
criticising the practice as against ali
laws of conservation.
Taking up the SueStion of storing
coal in the summer to create a win
ter reserve. Charles L. Edgar, presi-
dent Of the Edison Illuminating Com
pany of Boston, told the commission
his firm had endeavored to do this
for years. but had never been very
successful because Of the failure Of
car supply or the great demand for
bituminous coal even during the sum-
mer months.
Spokesman for other utilities said
they were willing to undertake stor-
age of coal on a greater scale, and
Chairman Robinson asked for a state
ment Of the storage capacity, of vari-
GUS companies, indicating that the
commission believed this to be the
most important question involved in
the problem of winter supply.