The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-20

Government intervention in the
coal strike, or some official action
to relieve the situation, was pr.'ni-
ised when the situation becomes
acute" or when the public begins
! to feel the pinch of the coal short
age. There are experts who con-
tend that the public was pincled
/ from the moment the strike was
| threatened, and such Of these eX-
perts as are not engaged on one
side or the other of the wage con-
/ troversy are now busy computing
t the costs of the strike. Their fig
ures are at once interesting and
startling
The average citizen probably
goes his serene way without a
! thought that the coal strike is hurt
ing him until suddenly he finds
that he cannot get coal when he
wants it, or must pay a higher
price than he was charged for his
.! last order, and it is at this average
citizen that the experts are aim
ing their broadsides of statistics.
Thus David L. Wing. who has
studied the coal problem for years,
says:
"Sinee every cost or waste in
coal production, whether 1t be OF
natural resources, or man power,
or of capital, must eventually be
borne by the coal consumer, it is
not enough for the man in the
street merely to read the news Of
threatened strikes, grumble over
i high prices and talk of prof1teering
nd summary legislation. He must
realize that this is a problem which
| he, too, must cooperate in solving,
BY bringing about an intelligent
public opinion without which no
sound and equitable settlement of
the coal problems of this country
is possible"
From 1910 to 1918 strikes caused
| 1875 per cent of the idle days in the
bituminous coal industry. The fg-
ure for the year 1919 was still
! larger, and for the current year it
may be one to challenge public at
tention. At any rate, the prospect
warrants consideration of the cost
of the strike that began April l.
Exact compilations of strike costs
are impossible. The bureau of Ia
Dor statistics long since abandoned
efforts in that line, for even this
government agency could never Sc
cure complete reports on such con-
crete items as loss in wages and
| loss in products. and at the same
| time there are so many items en-
tering into the cost of a strike that
are indefinite and susceptible only
| OF estimate or approximation.
Giving the Public a JOLT
However, in the case of a basic
| industry such as coal the statisti-
clans have more informing data
with which to give the public a
| Jolt. First of all, they point out
| that total cessation of coal pro-
duction and exhaustion of coal sup
plies on hand would result in the
complete industrial and CONNER
cial paralysis of the nation; fam
inc and death would speedily stalk
the land and chaos ensue. Govern
ment itself would break down and
civilization totter and fall. That is
the possible ultimate cost of coal
strike, and is beyond reckoning in
money. Nothing like that would
ever be permitted to happen, of
course. but the picture is one to be
borne in mind.
Getting down to dollars and
cents, the first item is the wage
loss of the mine workers. If there
are 100000 miners idle as a result
of the strike, their loss each day
totals at least $4,200.000 on the
basis of their average earnings per
day worked in 1920. Next comes
the loss in wages to workers out
side the coal industry upon whom
idleness is forced by reason of the
strike. Thousands of railroad work
ers were laid of the first week of
the strike-one system alone lay
ing off 16,000-and their number
will be added to as the strike CON
tinues or becomes more effective.
Other thousands of workers who
handle coal somewhere along the
line between the railroad terminals
and the consumers bin likewise
will have idleness thrust upon
them. and passing from them to
the workers in manufacturing es-
adjustments that cannot operate
without coal, yet another wage loss
item is to be chalked up.
In the carly days of a strike such
as the one now under considera-
ton only the hasiest estimates can
be made as toits direct effect upon