Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-11
|CLA|MS u. s. COAL
NEEDED AT HOME
IS BOUGHT ABROAD
Report to New England Gov
errors Declares Crisis
Is Near.

| BOSTON. July 10 (by the Associated
! Press).-The most serious steam Goa
| crisis in it's history c0nfronts New
| England. Unless there is quick and
| effective relief. according to a report
| to the governors of the New England
states today by their representatives
at recent conference with the Inter
state Commerce Commission. The
representatives included the lieuten-
ant governors. public utility com
| missioners or fuel administrators OF
all six states.
New England consumers have been
| crowded off the Hampton roads piers
! since the LIST of April py "a dis.
| orderly and unrestricted flow of ex-
ators are making enormous profits
the report said. 81
| Not only New England. but much
of the country is suffering from the
| 'inordinate and extraordinary" ex-
/ port demands. and the present plight
| of the northwestern states is quite
| as bad, and perhaps today even
added
! Continuing, it said that although
the operators have been sending the
larger part Of their coal to the four
corners of the earth instead of to
their regular customers in New Eng
| land and elsewhere" the problem was
eventually one of transportation.
| Foreign interests, many of them
backed by their national governments
and determined to get the coal with
out regard to price" by their success
| full bids for export coal at Hampton
roads, are, in fact, buying a portion
of the limited railroad facilities,
which, at the utmost. can only dump
into saltwater bottoms 100000 tons
| a MONTH" the report said.
Asks for Proportion.
New England does not seek to draw
fuel away from any other state or
extra cars of coal over the pier lines,
according to commissioners. 1t only
asks that "a sufficient number of cars
now actually in this pier service and
a sufficient proportion of the limited
pier facilities be reserved for New
=
usual proportion of fuel from Hamp-
ton roads.
I'VE asked that this route should be
kept open to New England and that
instead of the present movement to
New England, which is running at
should be permitted to fmpinge on the
present export movement to the ex-
tent of an additional AGO. 900 or $780,
900 tons a month for the balance OF
the coal year. so as to bring her move
ment of this southern coal up to
normal" says the report. This is
obviously no injury to any other state
coal and. indeed, 1t is directly and
very much in the interest of all the
states drawing coal from the Penn
sylvania field. The New England COM
Isumers who have been crowded of
the Hampton roads piers since. the
go for their coal except to the Penn
sylvania field" aTrs :
25.OOO,OOO Tons Annually.
New England must have 100000
tons of bituminous coal during the
year from April 1. 1920. to April,
1921, assuming a winter without alb
normal cold. the report said. Up to
July 1 only 4.s5o,000 tons had been
received, indicating a shortage for
Such shortage the governors were
informed. would force New England
factories to run on half time. prob
ably beginning with the early fall
and through the winter. :.
The report criticised alleged propa-
ganda activities of the National Coal
Association. and referreing to an or
der of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission of June 10. intended to re-
lieve the situation in New England,
but which was subsequently modified,
said:
I'VE believe that the Interstate
Commerce Commission granted TO
which looked as though 1t might in
terfere with the present excessive and
highly profitable exports. the false
and misleading impression was sown
broadcast in other parts of the coun-
try that the New England states were
trying to injure them by taking coal
away from these other sections,
whereas, as we have pointed out, we
were not seeking car of coal from
these other sections Of the country,
but asking for an order the working
of which would have been a benefit to
them as well as to New England"
Against Government Control.
THE president of the National Coal
Association in his annual address at
Atlantic City on May IS, 1920, stated
that Uncle Sam must be pried out
of the coal business" We favor a
minimum of government control con-
sistent with the protection of our
citizens. and If the coal operators
association had been playing fair with
the American people they might be
entitled to succeed in their effort, but
make 1t necessary for Uncle Sam, who
has been trying to get out of the coal
business. to go back into 1t at least
to the extent necessary to protect the
people of this country"
ut was charged that the National
Coal Association has been endeavor-
ing to aid it's members to hide from
Uncle Sam the tremendous profits
which they have been making in the
sale of coal for both domestic and for
eign purposes. The report termed
present prices exorbitant, and de-
clared that public utilities within the
past week had been obliged to buy
coal at from SIS to S23 a ton. while
contracts made earlier in the year at
lower prices are not being carried
out
Comparison Of Prices. r
A cargo of coal afioat in Boston
harbor sold last week for $23 a ton,
lit was stated. whereas before the war
fair price for such a cargo was
$3.50 a ton.
The report declared that "the word
has been passed around among the
coal operators that If the Attorney
General should show an interest in
| their abnormal profits they will be
in a stronger or safer legal position
| IL they let American citizens 60 with
out their coal and profteer on the
foreigner. 1t has been reported to
us more than once that mine opera
tors offering coal for export, after
asking price, have refused to let IL
go when told it was taken for an
American coastwise port"