The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-08-16
BY WILLIAM r. sANRoRN

BY WILLIAM r. SANBORN
The cool breath of autumn, much
too early in the air, reminded the
people who live outside Of steam heat
ed apartments, that there might soon
come a time when It will be handy
to have a little coal in the cellar.
When the temperature fell to Sc early
Monday morning 1t was 10 to IL de-
grees lower than is usually recorded
this early in the summer, and caused
thoughtful home owners to speculate
on the chances OF an unreasonable
September, with summer clothing and
low shoes early In the discard.
But that part of the weather prob
lem did not worry farmers. Their
possible trouble Is of much more
serious character. 1t is a question Of
a fully matured corn crop, or Of n
lot of frosted soft corn, with little
feeding and still less merchantable
value. The country had millions of
bushels of soft, unripened corn in that
record crop of 1917, and wants no
more Of it. There is usually scat
tering Of such corn every year, es-
pecially in the northern edge of the
| important.
To Buy or Not to Buy
"Shall we order coal at once, CT
wait a bit in the hope of prices be-
| ing shaded at the mines, also cut in
railroad rates?"
That is the question being asked by
! millions Of consumers. 1t has been
the paramount question in our homes
| for weeks and weeks Many are no
| nearer a decision than on July /
! They are still hesitating to sign on
the dotted line, or to produce a check
book and deplete their bank balances
Now advice is the cheapest kind OF
commodity, because it is in such
plentiful supply. We are not goine
to advise. We are simply going to
relate few facts anent this burning
subject, and to give you few con
illusions reached by men more CONVEX
SAINT with the true situation.
The Coming Coal Crisis.
Under the above prophetic headline
the Bloomington Paragraph says: I'll
is more than likely that within the
next so or 80 days congress will come
to very thorough realization that i
must do something effective and per
haps drastic to relieve the coal situa
4 ton. 1t has permitted months to pas:
without action of any kind and if {
coal famine develops during late fal
or early winter the country will
justification will hold congress re
sponsible.
Practically every important man il
the coal industry predicts that thu
domestic users of bituminous or soft
coal will go into November this yea
with empty coal bins. not because the.
will not attempt to fill them before tina
time at he high prices asked but TO
the reason that they will not be abb
to buy coal at any price. Coal produC
! ton has been very low during the las
several months for the reason that tn
public has not been buying and Their
, have been several valid reasons TO
this lack of demand Many who woul
have bought coal even at the prevailin
high prices have been unable to do S
. because the retail dealers have bee,
unable or unwilling to extend credit
Moreover, there has been general e1
pectation on the part of the public tina
the government would do something t
lower freight rates and to break up tn
! practices among the operators and jot
bers which were set out in detail in tn
: indictments against the West Virgini
: operators. This expectation has nc
been realized and will not be realize
y before coal again becomes one of tn
; greatest Of necessities with the comm
/ of cold weather.
!: Production Still Falling.
In a review of the situation o
Aug. II, the Geological Survey &
| Washington tells US that the produ
ton of soft coal continues to declin
1t further states that the estimate
: production for the first week i
August was 7,296.00 net tons, a 10:
of $4,000 tons from the precedin
week. and against 10,432. 900 tons
;, the same week in 1920 Consider ais
= the same week in 1918 when the so
= coal output totalled 12130,000 tor
!, under war pressure.
= The Survey then goes on to say
= is signific: ant to compare the prese1
:. daily rate of production-1,2 PIC. 900 tol
:, with that in August of the prev;
years. II is 76 per cent of the Angus
>. 1913, rate; 81 per cent of the 1914 rat
- and SO per cent of the 1915 rate.
, spite of the fact, therefore, that Il
= country's requirements normally
&c crease from 5000 600 to 10000. O.