The Washington herald., 1922-08-30
Coal.

CNHEKE are no coal miners IN the District OF
i Columbia. A great many Washington
people never have coal miner a coal
mine Coal has kept them warm every winter
since. they into the world Coal has pro-
vided them with light and transportation. They
have known abstractly that it came from holes in
the ground. They have known abstracty that it
was dug out by, men who sometimes quarreled
over wages and working conditions. Sometimes
they have sympathzed with these men, sometimes
they have damned them. But both the sympathy
and the damnation have been impersonal The
mines far removed from Pennsylvania
avenue.
One month ago the front pages of Washing
ton newspapers contained accounts of the German
reparations conferences, of tottering European
cabinets. of starvation in China of wars, of rumors
OF wars, OF cabbages and of kings and Of the coal
strike. District people were interested to read of
all these subjects But they far away If
France should seize the Ruhr the event would
be important from the point of view of world
news. II would not, to all direct appearances at
least cost the sverage resident of the District Of
Columbia moments sleep, the loss of cent
from the weekly pay envelope. a single morsel of
food second less of living. The same held
true. to large extent, of the coal strike The
people OF Washington were interested in the
troubles of the coal miners and the coal mine oper-
gentleman is interested in the troubles of weep
ing little girl whom he meets in the park.
All this was true one month ago. The situa-
ton is different today The coal strike has
become, suddenly the most important thing in the
horizon of District people Once it could be
placed in almost the category the German
reparations discussions the civil in the Chi
nese republic Now it is in the same category as
the weekly pay envelope, the monthly rent bill, or
measles in the family. There is as great a con-
trast as between the North Pole and the Equator,
as between the average member of Congress and
Abraham Lincoln.
The coal strike has come to a point where it
is physically evident to District people 1t threat
ems to turn comfort this winter into discomfort an
adequate salary into inadequate salary, health
into sickness, happiness into misery 1t does not
threaten to do this in Germany or Russia or
China. II such only the case District people
would pay little attention it. They would read
the front page headlines and turn to the sporting
section But it threatens to do this in the District
OF Columbia, in the apartment houses and cottages
where Washington people make their homes
Hence its developments almost as important
as death or birth wedding in the family
Because somebody made mistake somewhere
the coal strike has this Where the mis-
take was made we not say. Perhaps the first
man WIN Jug CodI tHc ground mdQe the
error which has been accumulative ever since.
How it can be rectihed we can not say But it
is the lesson OF history that when events of that
kind reach the importance of family affairs a rem
edy is found. Twenty million men or thereabouts
were engaged in the recent world war Out of
that twenty million hardly thousand we venture
to say cared snap of the finger intimately or
personally because the Archduke of Austria was
murdered by crazy fanatic in an obscure border
town. His relatives and immediate acquantances
cared probably. They cared as the average Dis
trlct family would if a loved one lay in his
coffin But doubt whether the murder was
anything but interesting reading to a single ndi-
vidual in Washington. The world cared still
less, intimately personally, for the rows be-
tween royal families that followed the murder
But the time came soon when those quarrels
became of family importance to nearly everyone
in the civilized world because members of every
family were dying in danger of death because
of them. Then and not until then was remedy
found
Thus, on lesser scale, seems the history of
the coal strike. The time already has come when
1t is taking hard cash from the pocketbooks of Dis
trict OF Columbia people. The time is not far
distant when it will force District of Columbia
people to pass uncomfortable days and shivering
nights. 1t has become family affair, neighbor-
hood affair. 1t has become more important than
band concert the program of vaudeville
performance.