Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-11
Washington, D. c., Oct. s.-old

Washington, D. c., Oct. 8.-Old
King Coal whose condition has been
a source of worry to himself and to
everybody else for six months or
agnosis to determine what kind of an
operation, II any, Is necessary to re-
store him to normal health and eff
cheney In the course Of this diagno-|
sis the merry monarch may be sub
jected to what surgeons call an X
ploratory operation. Indeed, under
the AUTHORIZATION of congress-, the az
perts who r 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
harrassed wife Of a chronic invalid.
Sometimes" she said, II almost wish
he'd get we'll or-something""
When anything gets wrong with
coal the whole economic and indus
trial establishment is upset, n coal
has been falling for a long time. The
i condition became acute as a result of
the strike that began last April and
eventually congress decided that
Hence the commission Of experts with
q fund Of 5000, 900 to expend and a
years time in which to make a thor
ough study to determine what should
be done with o :
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 m
dies are to be applied are for the
benefit of others. As soon as the
strikes were settled 1t was certain
that ali the miners in both tho btu
minous 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 Goa they can pro-
duce, with prices higher than they
have ever been before. This means
prosperity and contentment for both
miners and operators until the coal
shortage has been provided for.
Under normal conditions, al the
public has been informed repeatedly
within recent months, the coal indus
try is over-manned and Qver-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
profits.
Miners Work Only Part Thine.
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 he may live, when he is working
only one-half ITO two-thirds of the
time, and. this in turn has resulted
in increased prices to the consumer
and in multiplied 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 ex-
|pect more days OF employment and
more overtime during the next 10 or
IL months than they have ever had
in a. like period. Accordingly the in
divtdual miner is elated and feels that
the strike wal we'll worth all that II
cost him. Officials Of the mine work
clined to look farther ahead. They
know that the wholly satisfactory
conditions IN prospect will prevail
only for limited time, and that next
year. r the year after. the industry
will Be back on q normal basis Of toe
many workers and too. many mines
unless in3ithe meanwhile, something
haa been done to stabilize 1t.
FOR this reason these officials wrote
Into the agreements. settling the
strike the provision for q govern.
mental investigation which, resulted
In the bill passed by congress Great.
Hing the commission OF seven expert,
To be appointed by the president
I.eaders Of the miners realize tina,
permanent good can come to theil
lpeople only through a thorough re.
habilltation Of the coal industry, and
lthey hpve promised to cooperate
with the commission in every way
They say that the Investigation viii
indicate all the cottentions they
have made % to the necessity OF wage
land workinglasreements&o national
ba1s. s
The operators were not % keen 70.
the INVESTIGATION. but they HAYS