The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-05-27

cost in the production Of anthracite
min ng represents more than 20 per
cent of the total Every business
man knows that the costs Of al sup
plies such as timber, mine rails, grain
etc, have more than doubled where
as the February Monthly Labor Re-
view states that the wholesale pr.ce of
anthracite coal has Increased 9S.5 per
cent This figure means the mine
pr ce and not Jne percentage Of in
crease IN cost to the consumer. 1t Is
o matter of common knowledge that
freight rates have been advanced ap.
proNimately 100 per cent, and there Is
every reason to believe that the reta |.
erss expenses have increased in the
same proportion.
There has been before the Pennsyl.
yania legislature two bills relat ne to
taxes on anthracite coal One of these
has been signed and becomes a law
July |. IT the second is acted upon
favorably, it means a tax on the out
put OF the anthracite m mes of 3 per
cent In total, and as 30 per cent of the
tonnage consists of steam sizes, which
are sold n competition with bitumin-
Gus coal at less than cost of produc-
ton. the entire tax VII have to be
carried by the 20 per cent of domestic
coal which viii be an increase of 5
per cent on the cost of coal at the
mines,
One writer in saying that the price
of coal must come down states that I
the rea,lers do not provide cheaper
coal, the federal, state and local gov.
ernments will get on the job for them.
When the government took control Of
the sugar market did the price go
down? Was that the case in the wool
market? What about the coal market
beginning with the fall of 1917? The
greatest advances in prices have come
under government regulations.
People do not recognize the differ
ence between anthracite and b.tumi
nous coal. The situation in the an.
thracite industry is that the mines are
working full time, with the exception
OF few whose owners claim that
present prices do not permit of their
operation at profit and these mines
must be kept in operation steadily
twelve months in the year, if an ade-
quate supply of domestic coal is to be
produced The retailer stores all he
can at this time of the year, but if the
consumer does not buy and take tn IS
coal, the retailer has to stop ordering
from the mines He has to send out
coal in order to take. more in, If the
private householders as a class do not
buy, take and pay for their share each
and every month, there VII come a
month when they cannot get it, and it
is for this reason that they tell the
consumer to buy early"
The seasonabe FIRE ght rate which
is often referred to, proposes TO re-
duce the rate of freight during the
summer months 25c, but to raise it
20 cents during the winter, when coal
S not so easily transported That
will be soc a ton difference between
maximum and minimum rates, and it
is too late this year to expect such a
radical move to become effective.
Another quotation from the press
states that what the coal business
needs to do to sell its coal is to offer
its product to the public at a right
pr'c e." 1t is the belief that il all the
retailers dropped their prices soc per
ton today or a dollar ton, that same
public would wait for another DROP
and t that was possible they would
stil wait, thinking it m ght go lower.
The time to buy is now. There are
some companies who have already
raised the price at wholesale from
l0c to Use per ton at mines How can
the reta Ter drop the pr'ce of coal un-
der present conditions?