Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-03-10
MEMBER OF
COAL COMMITTEE
MAKES REPORT

During the fall of 1920, when coal
was said to be Scarce" and hard
TO get at any price when people
were sacrificing shade trees in order
to keep warm, the Twin City Fedora
ton of Labor suggested to the
Chamber of Commerce, the Farm
Bureau, and the city governments of
Champaign and Urbana that steps
be to ascertain the cause of the
scarcity" and high price of this arti-
Gle, and later invited those bodies to
cooperate in an investigation.
After holding several meetings, it
was finally decided to send a commit
tee into the coal fields, empowered to
buy coal if possible, and to inquire
into the conditions surrounding the
coal situation as it existed at that
time. A committee of two, Sam
Love of Urbana, and c. F. Daugher-
ty Of Champaign, accordingly made
an extended tour of the state, reach
ing every coal producing section.
Since their return, organized la
boris delegate has never been given
an opportunity to report, although he
has repeatedly endeavored to have a
meeting of the main committee called
to order for that purpose.
His report is as follows:
As to the scarcity" of coal, there
was none. Mines everywhere were
working six days a week, and the
maximum amount of coal was being
mined. Some of this coal was ship
ped to the seaboard, for shipment to
other countries, but that was found
to be negligible amount compared
to the total output of the mines. The
real scarcity" was caused by Amer
lean manufacturers storing huge sup
plies of coal for future use lat a
time when people were freezing to
death,) and the holding of coal by
middlemen for speculative purposes.
On Sidetracks throughout. the coal
districts were found miles upon miles
OF loaded coal cars, some of which
the committee was told, had been
loaded for so days, and was being
held in the hope that "cold snap"
would soon arrive, when it could be
disposed of at a still greater profit
than the coal brokers were then ex-
acting. The idea was to freeze the
public into paying exhorbitant sums
OF money over to useless middleman
for no service at all.
At no mine visited (and the COM
mittee visited about 40 mines) could
a pound of coal be purchased direct
from the mine. The committee was
always told that it must deal with
the coal broker, located in Chicago,
who had purchased the entire output
Of the mines.
As to the high cost of coal at the
time of the investigation, the COM
mttee arrived at the following facts;
The coal miner received for his
labor sums varying from 73 cents to
Sl0 a ton, depending upon condi-
tons at the mines. The price paid
Tor coal loaded upon cars at the
mouth of the mine by coal brokers
was in most instances $3.50.
THE PRICE CHARGED RETAIL
DEALERS BY COAL BROKERS AT
THE MOUTH o FTHE MINE, with
out moving the coal an incif, WAS
So.oO-A CLEAR PROFIT OF $500
FOR EVERY TON OF COAL PASS
lNa THROUGH THEIR HANDS. II
there were any exceptions to this Gus
Vafa, the committee did not find
them.
BY a careful comparison by the
committee of the price paid by the
local coal merchants, taking into con-
slaeration freight charges, overhead
expenses, delivery, ETC., with the re-
tall price charged the consumer the
committee determined that the local
dealers did not take an unfair profit,
and that their profit was in most in
stances below what it considered a
safe margin upon which to conduct
BUSINESS. The committee believed To-
eal coal merchants were in the fall Of
Iszo doing all within their power to
cope with the situation, and to fur
msh coal at the lowest possible cost.