Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-22
HIGH COAL, HARD TIMES.

Coal operators and dealers defend
the present high prices OF coal IN
two principal grounds, one being the
high wages paid 10 miners. which by
contract run until March 81, 1872.
and the other being high freight rates
which run indefinitely. We would not
they say, advocate reputation Of The
wage agreements with the miners 5nd
we could not consistently, advocate
reduction Of coal freight rates, which
would necessitate support of the rail-
roads from some other source. Very
good.
Yet prices admittedly are high
Whereas the total increase in prodrc.
ton costs at the mine In Franklin
county, Illinois. is not more than si.7E
ton and the increase I'm freight r ties
from that point To Chicago liz only g6
cents ton. the retail price of such
coal selected and delivered for 'ur-
mace use In Chicago is now quoted nj
SS.65 ton, Perhaps the operator
doesn't get the s2.4s difference be-
tween the total production cost plus
freight costs and the 1856 retail price.
Perhaps the retailer doesn't get Il
- f-Nio tail fftN Ofll1 " nOfilOn nf
Ia But somebody gets IL. The con-
sumner pays It.
The general policies committee Of
the anthracite operators asserts that
whatever price we pay for coal--"say
81 to $i4"--the mine owner, on the
| average never retains more thn AZ
cents per ton. That may be all riiit.
but even the maximum price so m. n
toned is at least $3.50 a ton below the
retail price in Chicago for domestic
sizes OF anthracite, $3.50 n ton below
the retail price on the north shore. and
even farther below the retail pric NJ
more remote points. Some one gets
that $3.50 or $3.50. The consumer pavs
It.
a letter sent by THE Retail Ccal-
nan" in reply to inquiries concernif
the coal situation says that I'm My.
1921, the consumption of railroad fuel
was probably only 81 per cent Of +he
1920 average; for electric utilities, only
rs per cent; for coke. only 3S per cent;
for export, only 81 per cent. The to-
tai production OF bituminous for the
first 100 days of this year was 241 ,54S,-
GOO tons, against 500, ,s0T 900 tons for
the same period last year. As most
OF the bituminous is used for manu-
featuring or transport. these figures
give an idea of the slump in industry.
Is the slump in coal production due
entirely TO the slump i'm industry or is
the slump in industry due in part to
the high price Of coal? Probably the
latter. Coal production Ia basic
industry. IL cannot keep up prices
on a declining demand without fur
ther reducing that demand
II is indeed difficult To get at the
root OF the evil of high coal prices.
Whenever anything is said against
these prices the complainant is struck
down by a mass of figures to show
that he is a liar. The prices are
blamed on the high wages. high
freights, high cost OF machinery and
everything possible except high profits.
II we believe everything the coal men
tell us we will find ourselves bursting
Into tears ut their sad plight and
honortng them as philanthropists
They can even weep little themselves
at our injustice and hardness OF heart.
But who does not know or know Of
some man or group of men in the
coal trade grow, wealthy in the past
few years? Their tears would be
ore impressive II they did not wipe
them away with new bank notes.
II is not the duty of the layrnan to
solve the problem or 70 refute statis-
tics. All he can do is to emphasize
the point that nigh coal prices are
depressing industry and tending to
prevent an adjustment of wages in all
Cther lines by helping to make 1t diff
hcult for the workman TO meet high
bills from lower income. Il is up to
the trade to solve the problem, even
if it takes a temporary loss with some
ether lines of industry. If they fail to
do so the spector of national control
as suggested in the Frelinghuysen
bills Is not so completely laid that it
may never rise again TO haunt them.
Chicago Tribune.