Arizona republican., 1922-04-17

explanation. The effect of the sea-
Sonal demand for coal on the devel-
opment of the industry is apparent
when attention is called to the fact
that the demand ranges from 16 per
cent below normal to Is per cent
above, a spread Of 81 per cent, and
that the mines must be prepared
always to take care of the maximum
demand. That something might be
done to stabilize and regulate the
demand for coal is indicated by what
has already been accomplished In
that direction in England, where the
spread is only per cent as compared
with the 81 per cent in the United
States.
The Car Problem
No industry is so dependent upon
transportation as is the soft coal in
dustry Coal, when It comes out of
the mine, must be loaded directly
from the mine car into the railroad
car and moved away from the mine,
for storage at the mine is inn
practical and uneconomical. Hence
| the operator is absolutely dependent
upon the number OF cars he can
secure from the railroad for the reg
ularity and extent of his production.
| In the ALLEGATION of cars by the rail-
roads the mines are rated according
! to their maximum productive capac-
| ity. and cars are assigned on that
| basis.
Thus if railroad on a given divi-
| sion has mines aggregating 100 cars
daily capacity. and on given day
| has only so cars. each mine on that
| day will get only so per cent OF its
rating in cars. Naturally it Is to the
| interest of the operator to have as
| hight a rating as possible in order
| that he may be assigned the greatest
possible number of cars at the times
when the demand for coal is at the
maximum Therefore he wants on
call at his mine always force OF
miners sufficient to operate his mine
| at the maximum capacity, although
! he NAV actually need such a large
/ force rarely or never and although III
order to have the miners constantly
| available the basic wage rate must be
| sufficiently high to enable the miner
| to live If he is employed only three
1 or four days a week at the most
Here again is another big item added
| to the cost of coal that might be
saved if the industry were developed
| along sound lines.
Chief among the organic Ills OF thf
| diseased industry is the variation II
| mining conditions. In one mine tins
! coal may be easy of access, thick oi
| vein, free of slate. etc. while in an
/ other-even in one comparatively
! close at hand-these advantageous
conditions are reversed. Accordingly
in the same field, and in contiguous
properties in the same field, one mine
| may be able to produce coal mucf
more cheaply than another. although
the wage rates and other such items
of production costs are Identical. OBJ
viously. if there is no regulation o.
the industry aside from the free play
of economic forces, the one mine
shortly will put the other out o.
business, or if its advantage Is no
so decided. it will be garnering th'
big end of the profits and holdint
the more desirable and more etficien
miners because it can pay a mghei
rate or offer more favorable mining
conditions.
Thus it is that there is something
wrong with the coal industry besidei
and beyond wage QuarTels betweeI
| the operators and miners. Agree
ment on a new wage scale, or arbi
tration in event of failure to agree
will not cure ills which are in NJ
sense attributable to the relations o
employer and employed. for the pub
lie at last is learning that something
must be done to establish condition
under which the nations fuel re
duirements are met without some
body's paying for idle mines and idl
miners one-third Of the time.