Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-11-16
New England and Coal
Commissions Problem


Boston, Nov. 15-"New Englands
share in the coal issue" was the
topic on which George Otis Smith Of
Washington spoke before the Wom-
ems City Club of Boston this even
ing. Mr.. Smith had made this en-
sagement before he was appointed by
President Harding a member of the
U. S. Coal Commission, and only
brief mention was made of the fact
finding work now under way.
1t may have become trite, said
Commissioner Smith, to compare our
| coal industry with a sick man who is
painfully trying to keep on his feet
and carry his part of the white mans
burden, but l know no better COM
parison. The coal business is sick,
| and though for years it had bravely
concealed it's sickness, the rigors of
the war demand for increased activ-
ity made the bad condition all too
apparent, and the public generally
began to talk about it. Many doctors
Of many schools werc called in, heroic
treatment was applied, stimulants
were administered, and everything
possible was done not only to keep
the patient alive but to put him in
shape to do more work. All this was
temporary makeshift, and soon
after the war ended the coal business
was found to be in worse shape than
ever. Relapse after relapse fol-
lowed, and we are now witnessing
is slow recovery from the most seri-
Gus five months attack it has ever
had.
Lately the sick industry has been
placed under observation by some
new doctors-somewhat inexperi-
enced, it is true, but extremely we'll
meaning if the press of the country
can be believed. The seven men
called into the case by President
Harding are apparently paying less
attention to outward symptoms and
more attention to underlying causes,
for they believe the real need is to
diagnose the hidden trouble and to
suggest cure for that rather than
simply to mix up sweet smelling
salves to ease the local irritation.
| Whatever ability these new doctors
may prove to have. their plan of pro-
cedure seems logical.
/ The law of last September provides
for fact finding Coal Commission
to aid, assist. and advise Congress on
this national problem what shall
we do about our coal business? For
years it has been the coal barons and
mine workers and coal dealers who
have been held wholly responsible
whenever anything has gone wrong
with the coal business Now, it
would appear both equitable and
profitable for the general public to
try some denomination; the facts
when found may show that some Of
the reform must begin at home, not
all at the distant mine-the consumer
must start it.
The editor of the Survey Graphic
III commenting this month on the
opportunity of the Coal Commission
and of the nation it represents, inti-
mates that it will not be enough ito
weep over the wrongs of the miners
or to be outraged in soul by the loss
es of the operators and their stock
Folders; rather, the Commissions
task is to settle down to the hard
grind of finding out what the facts
about mining, distributing, market
ing and consuming coal are" And it
is also the duty of the public, he
most pertinently adds, to use "the
thinking part of our minds, not the
weeping part" This editors proposal
is that to try "to understand our way
through this coal problem might be
the beginning Of the new age"
My own conception of the task set
this Coal Commission, continued Mr..
Smith, is that large as is the scope
of that task it does not include
prosecution of the guilty. The law
may grant to this body almost in
quisitorial powers. but the purpose of
learning where mistakes have been
made in the past Is primarily to help
in charting safe course for the fu-
ture
In two respects. the people of New
England are specially interested in
the coal issue-as household con-
sumers of anthracite and as indus
trial consumers of bituminous coal.
New England's industrial demand
for coal cannot be overestimated.
This busy section of Americas fin
ishing shop operates it's mills and
factories on the modern scale large
ly with energy brought in by coal
barge and coal car. The water pow
ers that fixed the sites of industry
are now far outgrown, and steam
now carries two-thirds the load.
The conclusion is that in !
1880. New England may ned about |
one million more horsepower than is !
being now used within its borders. !
and plainly coal will be a much |
larger factor in New Englands |
prosperity in the next decade than !
even in this. That one fact is one
measure of New England's share in |
the coal issue now before the Ameri. !
can peopJe