The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1920-06-05

made a. total profit Of $101,074,00O. or
more than two and one-half times as
great as during the pre-war years.
Figured in tons of coal produced, the
net income per ton before the war
averaged 81 cents. For the war period
the profit was 48.3 cents q ton,- repre-
senting an excess profit Of 27.3 cents
d ton. There is every reason to be-
lieve that the net income per ton, as
shown here, is approximat ately that for
the entire volume Of production.
People Paid All War Taxes.
Y THE people of this country paid all
the war taxes of the coal operators,
paid their contributions to the Red
Gross and other wartime welfare or
Plantations, paid huge sums for de-
fpletion, and on top of this paid half
"a billion or more in net profits than
they were capable Of earning in a
similar period during normal times
The usual contention that increas-
ed profits were justified by greatly
increased production does not obtain
with respect to this industry, since
during the three war years the total
output Of coal increased only 21 per
cent over the three pre-war years,
while profits rose we'll over 100 per
cent" {
Mr.. Lauck flatly denied that in
creased labor costs are in any serious
degree responsible for the greatly in
creased price of coal.
Labor Given 81 Cents Ton.
THE increase paid the labor re-
quired to produce a ton of COAL"
Mr.. Lauck continued, 'amounted to
only 81 cents. while the operators
price was advanced $1.13, and the
retail price by $2.19, or more than
four times the increase in the cost
coal.
LESS than one-fourth of the in
crease in the price Of coal paid the
consumer was taken by labor. In
1917, the operators in the central
field could have sold their coal for
20 per cent less than they did and
still have retained twice as much Of
each dollar as they retained in 1916.
And, in 1913. they could have reduced
ithe price 13 per cent and still have
| mad a share twice as large as that
(Which they received in 1916. Author
atative federal Investigations reveal
as utterly false the claim of the big
coal Interests that labor is responsible
Tor the unprecedented price increases.
Although the wages increases allowed
the bituminous coal miners as COM
pensatlon for the increased cost of
living were accompanied by an ad-
vance In coal prices. the added cost to
the consumer was greatly in excess of
the additional production costs caused
by the wage increases.
Labor Not to Blanc.
The causes for the abnormally
hlsn coal prices are not to be found
IN wage increases, but rather in the
pro11teerlng of the coal operators and
the wholesale and retail dealers. The
increase In retail price of bituminous
coal since 1916 has been from three
20 TOUR times as great as the wage in
creases during the same period. The
1d1strloutlve share Of the operator in
}the proceeds of the coal industry has
Increased from Is to 400 ner cent.
wnue the dlstributive share of labor
mas not advanced in anything ike the
same degree"
turning to the profits of specific
companies, Mr.. Lauck selected the
elttsourgh Coal company, which was
described by the operators at the
hearings last fall before the Presi-
lents coal commission as thoroughly
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