The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-03
PRICE OF SOFT COAL TO GO UP

the price of coal at the mines will ad- l vance 65 cents to $1.25 g ton, bitum- inous coal operators announced here recently.
 | While asserting they desired to l keep the price of coal as low as pos | sibIe and to avoid speculation in the product of their mines" mine own | CTS cited Illinois as the only state 1 where the minimum increase would 1 apply. This was said to be due to | local conditions, which lessen the cost l of production.
 Since the removal of bftuminous 1 coal price restrictions by the Presi- l dent, some operators, it was stated, l already had sold large quantities of
 coal for April delivery at from $3.5o
 to $4 a ton. The Government price
 of $2-95 is effective, however, to l April 1. The operators in some dis tricts, it was said, have received as
 much as $4.z5 a ton in instances | where big purchasers went into the l fields and engaged in competitive bidding.
 The mine workers. representatives refused to make any comment on the l proposed increase in coal prices, ex- | cept to state that the new wage
 agreement would involve 25 per cent 1 a ton average increased expense'' | 1 ing the award of President. Wilson's 1 Bituminous Coal Commission proba- 1 ply will be ratified today by the oper- l atorS and mine workers of the cen 1 tral competitive field, according to l statements made here last night by | members of the subcommittee in
 making the negotiations.
 The committee at its meeting yes terday appointed a special contract | committee, consisting of Wn. Green, | international secretary and treasurer
 of the United Mine Workers, and P. H. Penna, secretary of the Indiana Coal Operators Association to draw | up a tentative contract. They will 1 report back to the subcommittee | this morning. When approved by l the subcommittee the new agreement l will be presented to a joint confer l ence of the scale committees of the
 miners and operators for final rati- l fcation.
 Before going into conference with 1 the mine workers here to consider l new wage agreement, it was learned l yesterday, mine owners sought the
 advice of Attorney General Palmer
 as to whether such a, meeting would 1 be a violation of the law, fearing a
 repetition of the Indianapolis indict- ments for conspiracy to boost the 1 price of coal
 Assistant Attorney General c. B. l Ames, who is in charge of the In l dianapolis prosecutions, answered the operators inquiry in letter address | ed to their attorney received here to-
 day. He assured them that the meet 1 ings of the subcommittee would not | be a violation of the law | While the Department of Justice,'' | said the letter, lis not authorized by | law to give advice to private citi-
 zens, under all the circumstances I l think it proper for me to authorize ! you to say to the representatives of
 the miners and operators that the de-
 partment does not think it would be
 a violation of law for the miners and l operators to make thee ontract recon-
 mended by the United States Bfhm- inous Coal Commission John L. Lewis, international pres | ident of the mine workers would l make no comment last night on the work of the contract committee. He 1 explained that none of the terms to ] be embodied in the new agreement
 had been definitely decided upon, and that any announcement would be l premature.
 The miners representatives on the subcommittee, it was learned, asked
  of $1 per day increase to be advanc- ed to $1.35. They contended that this | increase was necessary to bring the wages of the day men up to an equal level with those paid the contract workers.
 The operators, it is understood, op-
 pose making any change in the award of the coal commission, on the ground that they might be violating the law
 and place themselves open to prose l cution for conspiracy.
 The retroactive wage agreement ac- cepted by operators and mine work | CTS in the anthracite fields will also include the 10000 employees of strip 1 ping contractors. This arrangement was agreed upon yesterday by the
 subcommittee of miners and opera i tors appointed to negotiate a new ! wage agreement for the soft coal
 workers.
 Through this agreement the coal | shippers will remain at work after | April 1 and any wage increase grant | ed in the final contract will be made 1 retroactive to that date.
 The question of whether the strip pers had been included in the retro active agreement was raised by the | miners representatives of the sub 1 committee. They declared that unless
 a resolution was adopted to include these men they would suspend work on April 1. After adopting the res o1ution the committee adjourned un- til today.
 Philip Murray, international vice president of the mine workers, said
 last night that the completion of the ! bituninous agreement would greatly speed the work of the anthracite conferees. He said, however, that it would probably be two or three weeks before the new agreement for the hard coal men would be completed. The anthracite mine workers will
 hold out for more than the 27 per cent increase given the soft coal miners MT. Murray declared. He said that the feast that could be given them would be an additional increase of IS 7-10 per cent.