Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-31
COAL IN THE GROUND,
BUT CELLARS ARE EMPTY
to Get II Out When Needed at Price
That Is Not Extortlonate?


Wilson has not been influenced in his course
by the threat of a strike by the anthracite
coal miners.
Representatives of the miners adopted
resolution in Wilkes Barre last Sunday de-
manding that the President approve the
minority report of the Anthracite Commits
sion and announcing that unless he approved
it on or before Wednesday of this week they
would stop work.
The minority report was made by the
labor representative on the commission. 1t
recommended an increase Of 27 per cent or
more in the pay of the miners.
The majority report recommended an in
crease of 20 per cent for contract miners
and II per cent for company miners, with
minimum of 5212 cents an hour.
The majority report which the President
approved. in addition to recommending an
increase in wages, rejected the demands of
the miners for the closed shop and the check
off system and approved a two year con-
tract. 1t was made in pursuance of an
agreement between the miners and the oper-
ators to submit their disagreement to arbi-
tration. The miners cannot refuse to abide
by the findings of the commission without
discrediting themselves in the minds of every
believer in the principle Of keeping faith.
If the threatened strike should take place
it will not have the sympathy of the public
There ought to be good sense enough among
the miners to induce them to reconsider
their rash threat of Sunday and stay on
their jobs, especially as the wage award is
retroactive to April l, the date when the last
wage agreement expired.
The award will add $50 900 900 a year
to the wages received by the miners. The
commission anticipated that this would be
used as a pretext for increasing the price of
coal to the consumers, because the report
definitely declared that the award "offers no
justification for any advance. but on the
other hand is consistent with decline In
prices.'' This is because the award, in ad-
dtion to granting an increase in wages.
makes such notifications in the conditions
of work as ought to increase the productivity
of the labor.
An increase in the price Of anthracite to.
day would be intOerable. The householders
who have been buying their winters supply
are discovering that they must pay nearly
SIS a ton for it. This is more than the
war time price and double the price that
prevailed five or six years ago. The differ
enCe between it and the price paid at the
mines is excessive. The mine price has in
creased ONLY about 60 per cent, according
to the figures prepared by the Anthracite
Bureau of Information. But the consumer is
paying an increase of 100 per cent over che
old retail price.
1t is difficult to escape the conclusion that
some one somewhere along the line is prof
iteering at the expense Of the public. An
official inquiry into the subject might dis
close the guilty and hold them up to public
condemnation if not to civil or criminal
prosecution under the Lever act
What the public would like to know is
where the money goes.
How much of it does the miner get? That
is, what is the labor cost of producing ton
Of anthracite under average conditions?
How much goes to the operator to cover
his overhead charges and what part of the
sum he gets is clear profit? Does he earn
10 per cent or 100 per cent on his invest
mpnt?
What does it cost the railroads to move
a ton of coal and how much do they get for
il? How big is the surplus left after paying
all fixed charges?
How much of a rake off do the commits
sion men get for the business Of acting as
intermediary between the operators and the
retailers? They do not mine coal and they
do not sell It 20 the consumers. Their chief
| business consists IN keeping a set Of books.
And lastly, what is the margin OF profit
between what the retailer pays and the price
at which he sells? What does It cost him
to handle n ton Of coal from the time II is
delivered to him in freight car until he
| dumps it into the cellar OF the consumer?
II these facts could be discovered with
any degree Of accuracy then the public
would know where the responsibility for
SIS coal is to be placed.
No one objects to living wage for the
miners and no one is opposed to a fair re .
! turn on the capital invested in the mining
| industry.
But the impression is widespread now,
just as it has been for years, that some one
is getting too much profit out of the necessity
for artificial heat in the winter.
The issue has been confused with so rpanv
figures and percentages that no one outside
Of the coal industry knows the truth. Public
sympathy has seldom been with the operators
and never with the coal carrying railroads.
And there have been times when the miners
have forfeited their right to popular support
1t is possible that large part of the
trouble lies in the wasteful organization o,
the coal industry. Mr.. Hoover remarked .
few months ago that no other great industry
in the country was managed with less eff .