The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-09

WA9A1n&e0n, ". u, Ock. d.-Osu
Ming Coal. whose condition has
been . source Of worry to himself
and to everybody else for six
months or more. is about to under
60 a rigid diagnosis to determine
what kind Of an operation. II any,
is necessary to restore him to nor
NAL health and efficiency In the
course of this diagnois the merry
monarch may be subjected to what
surgeons call an exploratory oper-
alton. Indeed, under the authori-
zation 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
industry that was manifested by
the harrassed wife Of chronic in
valid. Sometimes" she said, Il
almost wish he'd get well Or
something!"
When anything gets wrong with
coal the whole economic and indus
trial establishment Is upset, and
coal has been "aning" for a long
time. The condition became acute
as a result of the strike that began
last April and eventually congress
decided that something had to be
done about it. Hence the commits
sion OF experts with a fund CT $780,
900 to expend and years time in
which to make a thorough study to
determine what should be done
! with coal.
1t 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
remedies are to be applied are for
the benefit Of others. AS soon as
the strikes were settled it was Ger
tain that all the miners in both the
bituminous and anthracite fields
would have steady employment at
good wages for at least q year, and
that all the operators would have
ready market for all the coal they
can produce, with prices higher
than they have ever been before.
This means prosperity and content
mept for both miners and operators
until the coal shortage has been
provided for.
Under normal conditions, - the
public has been informed repeated
ly within recent months, the coal
industry is over-manned and over
mined. There 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 determined
largely on the basis Of production
costs in mines that really should
not be open and these high-cost
mines have shown little if any pro-
! fits.
Miners Work Only Part Time.
So far as the miners are affected,
the chief trouble has been irregu-
lar and intermittent employment.
Thus the miner has had to fight for
and get a wage scale unduly high
in order that he may live, when he
is working only one-half to two
thirds of the time, and this in turn
has resulted in increased prices to
the consumer and in multiplied dis
advantages to the owners Of high
cost mines.
Under the strike settlement 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 overtime during the next
10 or II months than they have
ever had in a like period. Accord
ingly the individual miner is elated
and feels that the strike was we'll
/ worth all that it cost him. Officials
of the mine workers organization.
however, are inclined to look farth-
err ahead. They know that the
wholly satisfactory conditions In
prospect will prevail only for a
! limit>l time, aid 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 gov
eminent investigation which re-
suited in the bill passed by cor