The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1920-07-09

nlSAed apparent JuSIlIcaLI0n Tor nlgD
prices and low wages. 1t has amount
ed to a process Of writing the losses
Of coal companies into Tie cost of
transportation, thus iustifying high
traffic rates; and then the writing of
these high transportation costs into
the price of anthracite charged to the
local dealer thus justifying high
prices to the consumer In this con-
nection it should be pointed out that
the enormous initiation Of capital and
bonds through the assumption Of coal
company losses by the railroads and
through payment of inflated prices for
coal lands has resulted ia enormous
fixed charges which enter into the cost
of anthracite transportation because
interest ON bonds is treated as cost
and not as profit;
The resulting high rates have en-
abed the anthracite railroads to pay
dividends far above those of the other
railroads in the country;
The process just described from
which these high profits have resulted
is such that it is well concealed from
the public and difficult to reach; for
these methods have enabled the an
thracite corporations to show margins
between the cost of producing anthra-
cite and the price at which it is sold
at the mine, between the cost of trans
porting anthracite and the rate charg-
ed by the railroad, and between the
total cost of the anthracite before il
is delivered to the dealer and the
price at which it is delivered to him
which are to all outward appearances
no more than average;
ct is, therefore, unjustifiable K
claim on the basis of such margins as
are exhibited particularly in the pro.
duction end of the business) that The
anthracite industry cannot pay higher
wages without increasing the cost;
"The anthracite industry made W
of these seven distinct railway sys
TENS is closely knitted into single
great monopoly by inter-stock owner
ship, by interlocking directorates, b.
informal conferences, and in genera
by the engrossing control Of the grea
New York Banking combine which
| centers about J. P Morgan & Com
pany and the National City bank
This group dominates companies ship
ping over rs per cent Of the total an
thracite tonnage. These bankers ap
parently control the situation an,
reap the benefit through dividends o.
watered stock as well as through mil
lions of dollars Of interest ON bonde,
Indebtedness;
'eThe conclusions drawn from thi
study seem to be that as the result 0
the combination which has bee,
achieved, we must look for anthraeit
profits not in the Golfers of the Goa
companies, but in (a) the profits o
anthracite railroads; (b), the profit
of sales companies; (c), the profits 0
those who control the banking com
bine which has engineered the anthra
cite combination
The miners buttressed their de
mands for a wage increase and recog
milton of the United Mine Workers G
!, America with formidable array 9
data and exhibits covering one thor
sand printed pages These exhibit
! embraced every phase of the anthrs
cite coal industry, special emphas
being laid on monopolistic control an
! profiteering in the industry, and il
I cluded also a survey Of the increase
2 in the cost of living in the anthracit
t region, comparisons of the earning
: of anthracite mine workers with Il
1 earnings of workers in other indu
/ tries and a resume of the sanctions
the living wage, the eight-hour de-
and collective bargaining throug
S unions.
: Profteering to the extent Of a SO
\ percent increase in profits for q
|. period 1916-18 as compared with Il
: pre-war period of 1924 was char
S ed by Mr. Lauck, the offender in th
instance being the Philadelphia al
e Reading Company. "Th's compan
: which had no selling device for co
: cealing it's profits" said Mr.. Lauc