Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-03
WHO'LL WRITE A COMIC OPERA
ABOUT THE SUBJECT OF COAL?
Only the carieature Of the stage Could
Reflect the orotesque Folly That
Rules In the Mine Fields

i NlNo.>ES, hlllsS, tnV pTlNS
- Of a great many nations and the cost
of important commodities IN the United
States have been falling together. They
are still going down. The one fixed and
seemingly immovable thing in this changing
world is the price of hard coal mined in our
own fields.
The cost Of coal went to an unprecedented
altitude during the war, and there It has
remained us IL 1t were n thing nailed to the
sky. For almost two years 1t has defcd all
the laws of political, social and economic
gravity. No power Of the Government or
public opinion or business necessity seems
adequate to disturb It.
Tho significance of this phenomenon is
best appreciated after a reading of the re.
port Of general business and financial condi.
tions just issued through the Federal Re.
serve Bank Of Philadelphia.
Iron and steel show n decline of from 20
to 40 per cent from the maximum rates Of
the imitation period. The mo.orcar industry
reports reductions which ranged from Is to
25 per cent during the last year. Prcpara.
tions for a spring building boom have fol-
lowed an carthward slide Of the prices Of
building materials. Cement is down to
81 go n barrel. 1t was up not long ago to
500. Lumber and millwork prices have
fallen heavily.
The retail price Of anthracite remains,
solitary and mysterious, in the blue heavens.
There, apparently. it will stay. The
operators organizations and the mine
unions are dead!ocked in n conflict of pur-
poses which may lead to vast general
strike on April 1.
Such strike would make coal scarce.
1t would add 10 the value of coal already
mined and in storage. The public is dis
interested or discouraged in the presence of
the disorder and the thinly vcied con-
spiracics by which small groups of profit
takers in control Of a commodity that Is
almost as necessary to the general public
ns water and transportation manage to
frustratc the laws of supply and demand
and evade the forces that arc making for
constructive rcadjustmcnt in all other in
dustrics.
Who are these Olymrans: What sort
of magic Is theirs? How are they to be
identified?
They arc the sort OF persons about whom
Gilbert and Sullivan would have written
light operas. They arc picturesque enough
for the burlcsque stage.
Until they are made visible in the carica-
ture of musical comedy Mr.. Hoover, Senator
Edge and Senator Calder will talk and agi-
tate in vain for the reform of the coal
business.
Railway corporations. street car COM
nanieS poy1pppiac o1o ,,til
poratione, have come to admit sense of
obligation to the complex social system in
which they are indispensable parts.
The coal men. on the other hand, con-
tnue in an attitude of austere isolation.
They resent inquiries from Congress or
from the public. They run their business
to suit themselves--and they run 1t rather
badly. How badly they run it You will see
If ever Il genius arises to write n lively
comic opera on the subject Of coal.
The chorus Of principals would be aston
!shing to see. First, there would be the
barons who own the coal land. Then there
would be the barons who lease the land.
There would be the barons who lease coal
lands from lessees and lease it again TO
operators who run the mines. Then there
would be vast supplementary chorus OF
Jobbcrs and Stockholders and Interlocking
Directors. All Of these peoplc-jolly devils
in white vests-get something from the SlJ
which you pay for ton Of anthracite.
In the background Of the gruesome scene
are the forward minded leaders Of the
United Mine Workers of America, who. un.
able to beat the barons into submission. are
intent upon going into partnership with
them or sczing the power they WELD as
monopolists. All these men are making
their own laws in defiance OF congressional
opinion and the public need.
High prices have brought a collapse in
the coal market. Neither the industries nor
the private consumers have been buying.
Unemployment ts widespread in the anthra-
cite ana bituminous fields. Storage yards
are filled, waiting FOR buyers who do not
appear.
The miners. intent upon taking the mat
Ter into their own hand. arc preparing 70
strike in April 10 force universal union!za.
tion Of all mines. That is, they want to
dictate 10 the owners of mines and coal
lands and. IN the end, to the public They
believe that they could dic,n,e more intelli.
gently than the unregulated owners do.
They couldn't. of course and they wouldn't
II they could.
So. while the country cndUrcs rho cold
and enforced idcncss in factories, many Of
them closed 10 await lower coal prices. the
coal business IS moving toward chaos Per.
haps chaos would be good thing for every
one concerned. II would force Congress
out of its lcthargy. H. would compel Coy
crnment action toward the scientific and
impartial control which Hoover has recon-
mended again and again.