The Ordway new era., 1922-05-26
BY EDWARD PERCY HOWARD
Editor-in-Chief, Autocaster Service
Co., of which The New Era is
Franchise Holder

SHlClr <hoNoNaoteh
Co., of which The New Era is
Franchise Holder
Now that robber prices for coal
have been established, they will never
get back to normal unless there is -
public outcry that will shake the halls
of Congress, and there never will be
a public cry until the people under
stand the facts.
The owners of our coal lands have
the people by the throat, and the rail-
roads tapping the coal territory, have
them hamstrung at the knees. Both
combinations must be broken before
real relief can be felt.
AS soon as a coal strike is threat
ened or begun, the press is Hooded
with explanations, figures. and other
camouflaged propaganda that is per-
mitted to percolate into the public
mind to the everlasting discredit of
unthinking editors. An examination
of the facts would soon disclose the
trouble. Profits-profits so extort-
ionate on the necessities of life that
they stagger imagination-that is the
answer.
Consider the fortune of the Thaws,
of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. based on
the purchase some thirty years ago of
the coal lands in Fayette and West
moreland counties, in the Keystone
State. Most of this land was bought
for SIS an acre by William Thaw,
now dead. Today the Thaws get 40
cents per ton royalty on the coal min
ed and as result they are raking in
about $4,000 per acre.
Another gentleman, j. V. Thomp-
son, possibly never heard of outside
the charmed circle. bought coal land
in 1889 for S170 an acre and in 1907
he bought adjoining land for $1,750
and acre and got bargain. Still
another outfit bought coal land few
years ago for $50 an acre and made
| quick turnover, selling it for twelve
times the purchase price. Talk about
interest on investment! Why, when
the coal barons are wailing that they
are getting only the tithe of one per
cent, the fact is they are getting per
centages on the actual investment
that an adding machine has not
enough characters to figure. and the
suffering public pays the freight. 1t
pays the freight chiefly because it
does not think and remains indifer-
ent to robbery.
Atkinson on the Job
AT this point, OF course, one can
hear the army in interest: anyone
can point out a wrong condition, but
is it going to be set right?"
Ask Bill Atkinson. Billy is max
ing q hard fight to have the govern
ment take real hand in protecting
the public For example, he disclos-
es that coal lands are not of value in
themselves. Unless they are tapped
by railroads they are so much waste
and they remain invaluable until the
people gather around and make the
coal of the country the neighbor of
the stove in the city.
Within year or two. thousands of
coal mines have been opened-mines
without either rail or water trans
portation, and what has happened?
The pioneers who put the first picks
into the ground made little money.
They carted by team to the nearest
market. Then they grew and they
bought automobile trucks, but in one
instance, more than three hundred
of these team mine owners were put
out of business on the Connellville
Branch of the B. & o. r. r., alone.
These men could have opened up
nearer to a railroad? Not at all. The
original owners of the coal lands
would not permit it. They were
holding on to the lands, and despite
the shortage, refused to open up the
mines. The law of supply and de-
mand, plus the legalized use of the
blackjack and jimmy, held the small
fellows, as well as the public, in COM
plete subjection.
! Suggests the Remedy
.'If a man catches fish or gathers
fruit, he owns that fish and fruit and
can transfer his ownership by sale or
gift" says Atkinson. But he ac-