Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-13
CLEVELAND
COAL
BY Frederic J. Haskin

cleveland Is again preparing
" to go into the coal business.
| A new fuel official has been
appointed by the mayor at the sug-
gestion of the city council, and ar
rangements are being made for the
establishment of municipal coal
pile, to be. opened for the benefit
of the public on September /. When
the cold weather comes and the price
| Of coal scars above SIS per ton, as
| everybody predicts it will, Cleveland
| is going to furnish coal to house
holders at cost, plus the expense of
delivery
Cleveland is within, eighty miles
Of one of the largest coal mining
districts in the country, and yet it
is now suffering from an acute goal
| shortage. The reason advanced by
| coal dealers is that the railroads will
not provide enough cars to transport
| the coal from the mines. They also
claim that strikes among the miners
have prevented normal production
of coal which will result in an actual
! shortage during the coming winter.
This seems to be considered suf-
ficient excuse for Immediately treb-
ling the price of coal-at least by
! the United States attorney general,
Mr.. Palmer, agrees with them.
Indeed, the latter disagrees so
! forcibly with the coal dealers that
he has ordered statewide iAvesti-
cation of coal prices, and the prose
cution of operators who are charging
more than $2.79 d ton for the BIZ
luminous product. According to him,
the wholesale, and retail dealers in
coal are guilty of circulating del1b-
crate propaganda concerning coal
shortage in order to- boost fuel
prices.
Says Dealers Exaggerate
"The production of coal has been
hampered," he admits, "but there is
no Serious shortage. Dealers are
publishing exaggerations in the hope
| of creating false prices. More coal
| was mined during the first four
months of 1920 than during any sim
liar period in the history or the
| country"
In ordering prosecutions under the
Lever act, Mr.. Palmer explained that
| during the month of April, with the
nroduction cost of coal at $2.79 a
| ton, operators sold their product al
So and 81 a ton. Since. then, the ne
price has been forced as h1gh as -
and S11 a ton. Indeed, II Mr.: Pal,
mer only knew it, the price of Goa
in Cleveland and Cincinnati is much
higher than that.
Cleveland, moreover, is not cheereo
| nv Mr.. Palmer's Sangulne peIieI tndl
| fine investigation of coal prices py
the agents of the department OF Jus,
tice. however ruthless they may pe
bringing coal prices down. The coal
dealers are for the most part Amer,
| loan citizens, in absolute accoro
With the American system of gov
eminent, which Fundamentally JUGS
! not object to free prof1teerlng.
Anyway, Cleveland is not takt IN
any chances It is gong ZAP, abou ii IFS it's
| own way, with apologies to the local
coal dealers, 1t is preparing 10 naee
/ a coal ward. to fill it with ABOUT q, j
| GOO tons of coal, and dispose OF ~
| frugally in small sacks or IN ons-toil
j loads at the most to Individual ram
! lilies, In taking this Important see I5
that they have no unfrlenoly Lei
| ines toward the local coal dealers,
| that is. the local and legitimate coal
| dealers. 1--WE are not in business,
! declares one of the city fuel experts,
ito disorganize any industry. ,t our
| object is not to run In eompetllion
| with legitimate dealers, SO long az
| thew run their business honestly, But
| when the situation becomes SO Sc
rious that it affects public health we
are going to be right there with our
nile of coal. We will not see any
| suffering in Cleveland.
: The Three-Cent City
This municipal antipathy to pup
! lie suffering, it may be ADDED paoen-
ago during the administration OF
| Mayor Davis, according to the fuei
| official who explained the CLEVELAND
| coal naln to us. 1t was this mayor
who started the historic movement
| for three-cent sandwiches, three,cene
| carfare, and three-cent telepnone
| calls in Observation-Disclosures 1t and mn
ished It. He actually made the three
cent standard so popular here that 9
special appeal by, the people OF
| cleveland was made to the United
States treasury for the mint1ng OF
| three-cent piece of the same conVeh-
! lent size as the nickel.
Although this was long ago, the
effect of this municipal interference
| in the cause of low prices Is SUN
| felt. When prices begin to rise, ana
rise too precipitately, the people oI
{ Cleveland have way of turning 70
| the CITY hall and saying, "Wen, why
don't you do something"
| Hence, this is not the hfst Time
| that a mayor of Cleveland has or
| dered the establishment Of a mun1c-
inal coal pile. The first one was
created three years ago when the big
| war shortage of coal occurred and
! the municipality decided to buy coal
| direct from the mines for ITS own
| USE Utnil then, each separate de-
| partment of the city government had
arranged for it's own supply or coal,
| hut at this time a coal commission
was created to buy coal for all OF
| the departments, thereby saving, as
| it later tran spired, hundreds OF thou-
sands of dollars. Some of this saw
| ing was due to the fact that the un-
| loading of the coal from the cars
was done with prison labor, ana the
city used it's ash trucks for delivery
| purposes.
Sold Coal During War
AS the householders of Cleveland
| at this time were suffering from the
| double calamity of a coal shortage
| and influenza, the city authorities de-
cided that they would simply in
! crease their purchase of coal ana
| sell it to everyone who needed IT.
They sold it at cost and had the ASH
| trucks deliver it whenever possible,
while the poor people, who hocked
| to the coal pile by the hundreds, car
ried it away in small sacks slung
! over their backs, or on sleds or IN
children's wagons -,
Whether or not the situation will
| be sufficiently desperate by Septem-
| Der to warrant such proceedings
| is a matter which cannot be FORE
| told. Cleveland does not particularly
want to So into the coal business,
| and 1t hopes it won't have to. But
| it is prepared for the worst,