Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-06
Questions From. the Coal Strike
. observer. Of tn:
strike is the manifest need of stabil-

WV THAT most impresses thoughtful and
w disinterested observers of the coal
strike is the manifest need of stabil-
izing the coal industry. Not until that is
done, they cogently argue, will even-handed
economic justice be possible either for min
ers or for operators or for the consuming
public whose interests are perhaps the most
vital of all involved.
Predictions vary as to the probable dura-
tion and outcome of the present strike, and
indeed as to the issues themselves. The
unioniZed bituminous miners, of whom there
are some four hundred thousand, demand
continuance of the present basic wage scale
of seven dollars and half day for ordi-
nary labor, and establishment of a basic six
hour day and five-day week in place of the
existing eight-hour day. The anthracite min
ers, numbering about one hundred and fifty
thousand, demand an increase of twenty per
cent in the contract rate and one dollar a
day in the day-labor rate. These and sundry
other requests for changes in working rules
and conditions the operators refuse, con-
tending that wartime wages should come
down and that the working schedules which
the miners ask are economically unsound
Both sides are at pains to justify their posi-
tons before the public, SO much so that col
umns il not volumes would be required to
state their cases as they would wish. Both,
moreover, avow determination to stand I'M
while the controversy wages? There were in
reserve on April 1, according to COAL AGE,
some sixty-three million tons of bituminous,
being either in the hands of consumers or
in transit to them. These stocks, together
with the output of non-union mines, amount
ing to approximately six million tons
week, are considered sufficient to supply the
country's needs for several months to come
Fundamentally more important than these
questions of immediate concern, however, is
the need for stabiizing the bituminous coal
industry in the matter both of prices and of
employment. One means to this end, it has
been suggested, is to change the wage and
sale contract date, which is now March 81,
to-, say June 80. Not only does the present
date compel the buyer to build up his stocks
Of coal in the period of heaviest consump-
tion," but also: "The belligerent attitude of
organized labor in the soft-coal mines is
chiefly due to intermittent employment In
the hard-coal mines, where work is more
regular, there has not been serious strike
in twenty years. In the bituminous mines
during this same period there have been two
big national strikes and two violations of
national agreement under threat of strike,
all of which has added to the fluctuation of
prices and the irregularity Of employment.
The same officers of the union dictate the
policy Of the miners in both fields. This
leads to the conclusion that if employment
can be stabilized, the labor question can be
handled by fair dealing" Other factors of
instability, in the opinion of able students of
the problem, are: competition between union
and non-union mines, wide differences in the
quality of coal, and, above ALL "over-capac-
ity and over-development', of bituminoUs
mines.
Looking to practical remedies which are
much more difficult than diagnosis, Mr.
Floyd w. Parsons, whose ideas regarding
the causes of instability we have quoted
writes in the current REVIEW OF RE-
VIEWS:
Taking all things into consideration,
1t is difficult to comprehend any real
basis for such fears as are entertained
by those members of the coal industry
who are opposed to some sort of bureau
or coal economics. Such an organization
would be able to do more than anything
else in the sterilization of the bitumin-
Gus industry. 1t could compile and ana
lyze data on the cost of production and
distribution, and could publish facts and
figures each month on coal consumption,
coal traffic and coal storage. 1t could
also inform the public on the cost TO
living and on miners wages and earn
1ngs in each and every coal district
After pointing out that the bureau of
economics would be required, as a matter of
course, to destroy all individual reports from
operators as soon as the general statistics
desired had been compiled therefrom, Mr..
Parsons continues: "Only by education it is
possible to establish coal mining on basis
Oh 1aCtS TdLHer imam on IOunQdLlOn or
rumors and guesses. The miner cannot be
misled by professional agitators if reliable
disinterested and unprejudiced bureau gives
him facts. The individual consumer of coal
will not refuse to pay fair price for his
fuel If he knows about what it costs to pro-
duce it. The publics mistrust of operators
and miners would be largely eliminated if il
knew approximately the true earnings of the
business and the difficulties peculiar to
mining. With facts made public, operators
would not dare profiteer, and on the other
hand they would not ruin themselves by en-.
gaging in orgies of price-cutting based on
erroneous rumors concerning reductions in
prices made by their competitors
Wherever the remedy may lie, these un.
questionably are constructive suggestions
toward stabilzing an industry which, because
of its basic and manifold Importance to com
merce and production, ought not to be left
liable to upsetting or disruption. While it is
not expected that the present strike will
prove detrimental to business at large or will
slacken the processes of recovery, neverthe
less the country should be insured as far as
just and democratic principles will allow
against Industrial war.