The Connecticut labor news., 1922-12-08

How the cost of can can be reduced
 is shown in an official communication
 to the United States Coal Commits
 sion, signed by a committee composed of Ellis Searles, John Moore and Thomas Kennedy, representing the United Mine Workers of America.
 "If the proper kind of competition among operators of coal mines can be established" says the communication, "and maintained through the efforts of this ConltmiSsion no standardization will be necessary. Competition would itself eliminate the high cost mines, because they would be unable to com pete in price of their product with those mines in which the cost of pro ducing coal Is lower We believe this idea, properly applied and fairly car ried out would not only reduce the number of mines and the number of miners in this country but 1t would, also, give the American public assur- ance of cheaper coal, because the coal would then be produced by those mines whose output is produced at a low cost per ton In addition to keep ing down the price of coal to the con sumner, because 1t comes from low cost mines, such competition would close many high cost mines and thus conserve their resources for the~fu- ture We believe conservation of our coal resources Is one of the most i'm portant propositions to which the American people should give their at
 tention There will come a time when coal will be less plentiful than 1t is now and the population of the United States will be much greaterCthus call ing for a heavier supply of fuel. Any
 thing this commission can do toward conservation of coal for future gen erations should be done.
 "It would manifestly be unconsti- tutional for this Government to, at tempt to eliminate any number of coal mines from operation by any sort of selectivef process. It could not as sumo to say to any mine owner, You shall not be permitted to operate your property and at the same time per init some other owner to continue op
 eration of his mine Nor could the Government legally or constitution
 ally say to any miner, You must quit mining coal and get another job, and then allow another miner to con-
 tinue at mining coal Therefore, we, have no suggestions to offer in regard to the possibility of closing down any number of mines, unless this end can be brought about through the means of encouragement of open cOmpeti- tion among coal producers.
 Tn order that such competition might be encouraged and aided, we suggest that every possible effort should be made to improve transpor- tation facilities and the most efficient utilization of the transportation sys tems of the country. A way should be found to enable the railroads to equip themselves with a sufficient number of coal cars and locomotives l with which to move the coal from i; mine to consumer. This commission l will, in our opinion, accomplish great 1 good If 1t can find basis upon which 1 to predicate a recommendation of | method by which this, feature of the ; nations transportation problem can be solved with equitable freight rates. !
 We do not believe, however, and ] we recommend to this commission, ! that some means or method should be 1 found to prevent the opening up of | any new mines in the United States, ! at least for a considerable period of time. There are too many mines Tn this country now. If the mines now : in operation or that are ready for operation were run to their capacity they would produce at least 40 per ] cent more coal than is required to 1 meet all requirements of domestic l and export trade. There is no need for any more new mines. Because a ! set of men own a railroad is no good |, reason why, under such conditions as exist today in the industry, they l should be permitted to open up lot of new mines merely to supply busi- ness and revenue to their railroad.