The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-06-24
|I|IA |.
EI||II|DE TOWARD
llIL IS NEEDED
Must Be Helped to Es-
cape from Intolerable
Car Situation.
he's ABOUT INDUSTRY
as They Are Seen by a Writ
er for a Great Peri
odical.
AEIS AB0UI INDUSTRY
D..i.I Dispatch West Yirqinian

EASHINToN June 24.-In the
tilfFent issue OF Leslie's Weekly. DR..
Charles a. Eaton, its associate editor
writing on .The Truth About the Coal
Situation urges that II the problems
Icing the soft coal industry were
better understoon by the public there
would be q far different national at
titude toward It. Dr.. Eaton, who. dur
i6e the war, was director Of the Ma.
tlDnal Service Section Of the United
eta4es Shipping Board, and is regarded
an authority on industrial prob
lens, says that the soft coal industry
llas been badly misrepresented be-
ARE 3 hostile and uninformed or mis-
iftprmde public opinion which is
fsady, To believe anything bad about
Z ne coal operators and nothing good"
Tie writer dwells upon the serious
shortage Of coal cars as one Of the
ditHcnlt problems facing the soft coal
industry. In discussing prices Of coat
che mines he says that "the rank
md file Of operators are not open
& 10 The charge Of profiteering. nor have
hey made undue profits. even during
4 Tie war
The article reads in part as fol-
lbNs:
Next to agriculture coal is the ma
Cons basic industry. What food is
t1 the body coal is to the economic
( fabric OF society. Along with these
{ fWo stands transportation, constitute
ing q threefold foundation for the
prosperity, progress and stability OF
M classes and sections alike
The coal industry Is Of vital i'm
1ortance to every one, but its condi-
don has been, and still is, so chaotic,
mat one wonders how we have man
ned to get as far as we have with
6iit serious national disaster.
Roughly speaking there are about
Z I'm thousand bituminous coal mines
nnd some 1000 operators in our coal
nroducing areas. The country needs
annually for normal use about five
hundred million tons Of bituminous
coal. The mines now being operated
have an annual capacity Of ESQ mil
Hon IONS"
. Dr.. Eaton points out that, with an
annual value Of $1,000, 100000 for the
sc0ai mined, the labor cost Of produc-
Ing Il has been $741 100000. and that
Etis was increased by $2OO,00O.0OO I'm
der the recent wage advance Of q
\ per cent awarded by the Bituminous
y Coal Commission. He goes on to say:
st needs always to be kept in mind
that after the coal leaves the mine
there are the wholesalers and retailer
r5Ih0 come in for a profit. And
among these are some who do not
hesitate to take all the traffic will
sand.
eBut the rank and file Of the oper-
HtUrs are not open to the charge Of
Hfofiteering, nor have they made un-
0ne profits even during the war.
According to reports furnished by
me National Coal association and
which I have not seen contradicted,
rome 40 operators in 1917 made prof.
rs Of over Is per cent upon their cap
{ italization, while $500 operators made
less than this. In that year the to-
tsl output was sold for an average
price Of $2.26 per ton at the mine.
Ont Of this all operating expenses,
afxed charges and taxes had to be
S5d.
en- 1918 under government regula-
lion the average price at the mine
WAS s2.61. According to Dr.. Garfield
this price left only an average mar
gin Of As cents per ton, and Of this
scents 30 cents was paid in FEEDER
y q taxes.
as.:In the report Of the Bituminous
Z Coal commission the tax returns 10
the treasury Of some 1851 mining
toncerns are tabulated for 1918, These
companies produce about one-thid Of
the total output, and they represen;
fairly the industry as a whole. In