The Connecticut labor news., 1921-02-25
COAL OPERATORS WITH PAPERS AID,
 BUNCOED PUBLIC
Senate Probers Finally Get In side Facts of Greatest Steal
 Ever Made.

Washington, Feb. 25.-Congressional quently futile undertakings, but occas- ionally they develop information of real value. For many months Senate com mittees have been probing into the methG71s of coal operators and have re- vea1cd mass of material that stamps these business pirates as the greed1est, most merCiless of all our crop of proh- tcers. It has been proven, quite beyond reasonable question: that they took more than a billion dollars to which they had no legal or moral claim. They footed consumers right and left, through manipulation of prices and supplies. When they were placed i'll positions of public trust and confidence they em- ployed them to their personal proht.
 But even more important than the knowledge of what has been done to the peOple-there is no real news i'll these revelations, for every consumer of fuel knows to his sorrow what has been done-is the scheme employed by coal men to make exploitation simple as well as profitable According to their own testimony, they buncoed the public into believing, at a time when there were few orders for fuel, that a serious fam inc impended and started competition in buying that sent prices higher than ever before.
 Congressman Huddleston, of Ala bama, presented to the Senate commit tee on Manufacturers, considering the fuel control bill, a confidential report of a meeting of the board of directors of the National Wholesale Coal AssO- ciation, held in Cincinnati early last wear, at which a national "eduCat1OnaI' campaign was mapped out. At that time the industry faced one of two alterna tives-a reduction of price or the clos ing down of many mines that were without orders. To adopt either of these plans would have been embarraSs- ing, the directors declared, for once prices went down they could not easily be increased, and to slow down produc ton would call attention to the fact that something was wrong with the ln- dustry. So it was decided to stimulate demand by playing upon the fears of the people. A million dollars was said to be available to "educate' the press and banboozle consumers.
 Secretary Peabody, of the publicity committee, offered a program that got immediate and hearty approval He said that he had persuaded number of edl- tors to print alarmist stories of an inn minent fuel famine, and that Melville E. Stone, my dear friend" manager of the Associated Press, had already tried out the plan with gratifying success. The publication of four articles by the Associated Press caused a rush of buy ing orders that paid the expenses of the campaign i'll one day. Industries that had been holding back for lower prices fell over themselves i'll getting under cover" The public responded and prices went tip until some operators were ashamed to accept them.
 The Cleveland manager of the Asso- ciated Press, the manager of the pub lcity department, later reported to the directors, sent out a thousand-wOrd article written by the publicity experts of the coal association, without chang ing a word and assuming full respQnsl- blity for it's statements. This gave 1t a very good effect" the publicity man stated, 'because the public could not see in it any propaganda"
 That is the story of the famine" that was held menacingH before the nation last summer and fall. There was abso- lutely no warrant for it. There never was any danger of famine. The public was jobbed by the coal men, with the assistance of the Associated Press and thousands of gullible newspapers that were also taken i'll by the publicity SharDS