The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-10-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. DirecHer.
Washington, D. Q.
OPERATION FOR KING COAL

Coal, whose condition has been a
source of worry to himself and to
everybody else for SIX months or more,
is about to undergo a rigid diagnosis
to determine what kind of an opera
ton, if any. is necessary to restore
| him to normal health and efficiency
In the course of this diagnosis the
merry monarch may be subjected to
what surgeons call an exploratory
operation. Indeed, under the author
! ization of Congress, the experts who
are to be assembled by President
Harding may do almost anything to
| the patient.
Congress and the general public
seem to be in much the same frame
of mind with respect to the coal in
dustry that was manifested by the
harassed wife of a chronic invalid.
Sometimes" she said, ST almost wish
! he'd get well or-something!"
When anything gets wrong with
/ coal the whole economic and industrial
establishment is upset, and coal has
been "ailing'' for a long time. The
condition became acute as result of
the strike that began last April and
eventually Congress decided that
something had to be done about it
| Hence the commission of experts with
a fund of 100000 to expend and a
| years time in which to make a thoro
study to determine what should be
| done with coal.
It is somewhat of an anomaly that
in this case the patient itself is no
| longer suffering, for the time being
| at least, and whatever heroic RENE
dies are to be applied are for the bene-
eft of others. AS soon as the strikes
were settled it was certain that all
! the miners in both bituminous and
anthracite fields would have steady
/ employment at good wages for at least
a year, and that all the operators
would have a ready market for all the
] coal they can produce, with prices
| higher than they have ever been be-
! fore. This means prosperity and con-
I tentment for both miners and oper-
| ators until the coal shortage has been
| provided for.
Under normal conditions, as the
public has been informed repeatedly
| within recent months, the coal indus
try is over-manned and over-mined.
| Thefe are too many mines to supply
| the tonnage required, and too many
miners to produce that tonnage. The
| result of this so far as the operators
are concerned has been that low-cost
| mines have had everything their~own
way, while coal prices have been de-
! termined largely on the basis of pro-
| duction costs in mines that really
| should not be open and these high
| cost mines have shown little if any
profits.
Miners Work Only Part Time.
T So far as the miners are affected,
| the chief trouble has been irregular
and intermittent employment. Thus
the miner has had to fight for and get
a wage scale unduly high in order that
J he may live, when he is working only
one-haf to two-thirds of the time, and
this in turn has resulted in increased
prices to the consumer and in multi
| piled disadvantages to the owners Of
| high-cost mines.
Under the strike settlements the
miners have gone back to work at the
! old wage scales, and in addition to this
| they have every reason to expect more
days of employment and more over
time during the next ten or twelve
| months than they have ever had in a
like period. Accordingly the indt-
vidual miner is eIated and feels that
the strike was well worth all that
it cost him. Officials of the mine
workers organization, however, are
inclined to look farther ahead. They
know that the wholly satisfactory
conditions in prospect will prevail only
for limited time, and that next year,
or the year after, the industry will be
back on a normal basis of too many
workers and too many mines unless.
in the meanwhile something has been
done to stabilize it.
For this reason these officials wrote
into the agreements settling the strike
the provision for a governmental in
vestigation which resulted in the bill
passed by Congress creating the COM
mission of seven experts to be ap-
pointed by the President. Leaders of
the miners realize that permanent
good can come to their people only
thru a thoro rehabilitation of the
coal industry, and they nave prom
ised to cooperate with the COM
mission in every way. They say that
the investigation will vindicate all the
contentious they have made as to the
NJ ~ - rs,,rr
ments on a national basis.
The operators were not so keen for
the investigation, but they have
agreed to it and there is no reason to
doubt their good faith. A large ele-
ment among them is alive to the fact
be worked out in the coal industry.
Public's Interest Is Vital.
The public's interest in the work
about to be undertaken by the COM
! mission is vital, altho many people
may be prone to jump to the conclu-
sion that everything is an right now
that the strike is over. The total
| cost of the dislocation in the great
fuel industry will not be known for
months, but as the weeks go by and
winter conditions are confronted it
will become more and more clear that
| the bill is an outrageous one and that
steps must be taken to guard against
repetition of the crisis that devel-
oped this summer.
Every line of industry and business
and almost every household in the
country wifN feel the effects of the
coal controversy and if the general
public comes to the conclusion that
| the same unfortunate state of affairs
| is constantly imminent unless some
thing is done it is a foregone conclu-
sion that something will be done.
Much will depend upon the dag
nosis of the experts and that in turn
depends upon the experts. They are
called upon for report on the indus
try as a whole with special reference
to means of stabilizipg production,
and under this head comes the advis-
ability of legislation having to do with
| Government or private ownership,
regulation or control"
This is where the major operation
on Old King Coal may come in.
| Natinna liza tim Csnverrraert c1ur,ar-