The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1920-10-08
CAN STATE
FORCE COAL
OPERAIIUN?
Coal Commission Has a Mo-
mentOuS Question to Settle
For Commissioners.
lTlsEs suRsAu AT STATS CAPITAL

INDIANAPOLIS Ind. Oct S-Does
the state of Indiana have the power to
1 fofce the operators to supply coal to
Indiana homes after the price is set b.
the coal and food commission
I That is the question that is being
considered by Jesse Z. Eschbach. chair
man of the commission. and >.s ad-
/ visors. The coal and food commits
sion law passed by the special session
/ q the legislature gives the state COM
/ mission the power to determine how
much coal is needed for the consumers
of the state and authority to direct the
operators to deliver this coal
As yet there is no evidence thar the
operators will on the whole disregard
! the needs Of the consumers Of Indiana
and ship their coal to other markets
! outside the state. Nevertheless the
commission is preparing for this
emergency and is getting the legal side
! of the case together so that they can
prosecute offenders
Details Of the plans the commission
Is preparing to thwart any efforts or
the coal men to increase the fuel IA
mine in the state have not been made
public but it is understood that the
commission is replying largely on an
opinion Of the United States supreme
court. which held that state has the
authority TO retain within is boundries
any OF its mineral resources until the
needs OF that state are filed.
Many of the operators have sold
their coal on contracts to consumers
outside the state. Although it is pos
sible that the operators have made
greater effort along this line in view
of the uncertainties of price fixing. yet
it said in bafr sal
past years there was large market
for Indiana coal outside the boundries
Of the state.
This condition naturally brings up
the question OF whether the coal and
food commission has the power to or
der these mines to revoke. or disregard
their contracts. until Indiana needs are
filled. The commission has this ques
tion under consideration. 1t now seems !
that the commission has absolute au-
thority to direct the movement and
sale of free COAL. that is the coal
that is mined and not contracted for
by the operator.
The fear that the Indiana operators
viii send their free coal" to neigh
boring states is not well founded Fig
ures have recently been obtained by a I
national organization with headquar-
is being sold at retail in Ohio and Hi [
nois for not to exceed $3.50 a ton In
one Illinois city the coal is being de
livered TO the homes of consumers for
less than s. a ton. II is not likely /
that the Hoosier operator viii care
to compete with these prices, consid- |
ering the liberal price set on coal in /
Indiana.
Coal experts in Indianapolis declare /
that the public viii be benefited by a I
change in conditions before the coal !
and food commission is beginning to 4
function in all its power. They point /
out that order No. 10 Of the interstate
commerce commission viii shortly be
revoked. This order provided that fiat
cars carrying coal from the eastern !
fields should move toward the Great /
Lakes ports. The reason for this was
TO send much coal as possible by
water to the northwest before the
navigation of those lakes was stopped !
by winter weather
II was this order that prevented
eastern coal from coming into the In
diana market. This shortage of eastern
coal caused the coal famine 1t is pre-
dicted that before this time next
month the eastern coal will begin to
come in larger quantities TO Indiana
These coal men of experience declare
that by January l there will be an
overabundance OF coal in the state and
that dealers viii be soliciting orders
While the picture OF the situation as
drawn by the coal men may be some
what too rosy il is nevertheless true
that there will undoubtedly be an cas-
ing up Of the fuel situation. Many Of
the larger industries. such as the
manufacturers of automobiles, are now
running on short time. They were
consumers Of immense amount OF
coal either directly or indirectly All
of this coal that they would have OBJ
tanned viii be thrown on the market