Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-08
COAL PRoFlTEERlNo MUST BE
CHECKED By OFFICIAL ACTION
And This. Too, In Spite Of Senator
Reeds Astounding Protest Against
Government REGULATION

A N INCREASE in the price of coal above
such a protest that the Government would
have to find some way to interfere and
check the profteers.
There is no moral justification for an
increase in price. II will cost no more to
produce coal than II cost before the strike
was settled. The men are to receive the
old wages and the cost of supplies has not
been increased. Yet, IL there were not
some regulatory action by the Government,
greedy operators and dealers would take
advantage Of the panicky feeling of the
people and charge whatever they could get.
Coal might 60 to $50 or $50 a ton. Under
the operation Of the immoral law of supply
and demand this is exactly what would
happen.
But the country is confronted by an emer-
gency so grave that II is imperative that
agreement be made to suspend the opera
ton Of this law for the time being. It's
operation cannot be permanently checked
but it can be held up for few months
through some sort of compulsion on the men
who control the distribution Of coal, a COM
pulson which will force them to respect
their obligations to the community at large.
The operators who met with Secretary
Hoover, of the Department of the Interior.
and William D. B. Ainey. chairman of the
Pennsylvania Fuel Board. and others yes
terday afternoon, were inclined to agree
to keep the current price of anthracite un-
changed. If the truth were known it would
probably appear that they are afraid to
demand a higher price.
They know that the public holds them
jointly responsible with the miners for the
shutdown in the mines and the shortage of
coal. And thsy know that any course
entered upon by them which would give any
one an opportunity to charge them with
taking advantage of the necessities Of the
people--necessities which they have created
would lay them open to reprisals of n
kind which they hesitate to face
If the operators in the anthracite regions
are to retain control of their property they
must exert themselves to the utmost to
make profteering in anthracite impossible,
And what is true in the anthracite field
is equally true in the bituminous field
The price must be kept as low as 1t was
last year and adequate means for distrib-
uting, possibly for rationing, coal must be
found
The bill before the Senate to prevent the
exaction of unreasonable prices may not be
the best that can be drafted, but its pur-
pose is right. The coal consumers of Penn
sylvania, however, will regret that Senator
David A. Reed has seen fit to oppose 1t
without suggesting something better.
Senator Reeds home is in Pittsburgh, the
city of the men who control the soft coal
industry. His professional affiliations are
with the corporations with which these
men are connected. In spite Of his dis.
Chalmers, he will be suspected of speaking
in defense Of the coal barons.
He speaks in depreciation of the evils
that can arise because Of a momentary
stringency in COAL" and insists that they
are less than the evils that would follow
the attempt of the Government to fix prices.
And he declares that the Government has
no more power to regulate the distribution
of coal than to deprive the coal operators
of "a part Of the market value Of their
property without making the shadow of
compensation for it.
This is by implication a defense of the
right of the operators to charge for their
coal whatever they can get for it, right
which under ordinary conditions no one
will deny. It is likewise an assertion that
the Government Is without power in grave
emergency to protect the public in access to
one of the necessities of life
Academ!cally Senator Reed may be right,
but practically he Is SO wrong that only
his lack of experience in the consideration
of the responsibilities Of government can
explain his attitude.
Unless government has broken down in
Washington a way will be found to check
the greed of operators and dealers. The
Interstate Commerce Commission has power
to give priority to coal shipments on the
railroads and It can give priority to the
coal from one mine over the coal from
another. 1t can shut the profteering mines
out of the market and compel them to 60 to
court to seek relief.
1t may appear that this power Of the
commission will be sufficient to prevent
profiteering. But If 1t is not sufficient there
certainly Is wisdom enough IN either the
executive or the legislative branch of the
Federal Government to find another and
more effective way.