The Alaska daily empire., 1923-01-29
SOLUTION TO FUEL PROBLEMS UNFOUND

The possibility of another coal miners strike next Anril seems to have been pretty well obyiated by the wage agreement reached this week at the miners and operators conference in New York Relieved ot the bugaboo of partial industrial shutdown, disorganiza- ton os transportation serious unemployment and wde- spread suferings fuel shortage the nation will make better headway in the next few weeks than would have been possible had the agreement been delayed until the last minute. It is significant that there is agency in existence which can prevent such situation; that the miners and operators alone can determine whether not coal shall be produced It this phase of the coal mining industry which led the appointment of United States Coal Com mission sometime ago by President Harding. It has begun it's abors but far has evolved no plan for handling the situation
 preliminary report laid before Congress sev eral days ago by the Commission in which attention called to of the outstanding problems that must be solved before satisfactory settlement of the entire question is reached. The Commission said it must have time to study the industry before gestng any remedy It pointed out that instability in the bituminous coal mining industry is the funda- mental of high prices and the fuel shortage which has menaced the American public repeatedly in recent years Labor troubles, transportation diff fculties and over-development of the industry in mines and manpower to point where il is much larger than necessary supply the public demand its produet--if operations contnuous-were all three assigned among primary causes for the
  existing situation will be made the subject study by the Commission. It expressed it's con fdence that an agreement would be reached soon that will avert any widespread cessation of mine op- wations in union fields April 1.
 Six members of the Commission, John Hays Ham mond, Chairman, Dr. George Otis Smith, Clark Howell former Vice-President Marshall Charles P Neill and Dr. Edward T. Devine, signed the report while Fed eral Judge Aschuer, whose judicial tenure proven him qualifying for service the investigating body attached a memorandum approving the views of his colleagues
 In concluding the report said
 There have been many and such com
 plex factors operating in the coal industry
 to prevent the free play of economic forces
 that very detailed and comprehensive in vestigation is required before valid con
 elusion can be reached. The inquiry involves
 the whole question 10 what is best for the
 people, free competition, government or pri-
 vate ownership, regulation control in the
 coal industry The problem is of so
 great moment with reference not only to
 the theories of government but also to the
 economic life of the republic that the view
 or the commission must be left to its final
 report
 There be satisfactory agreement
 as to wage rates, and lasting peace be-
 tween operators and men, unless steadier em-
 ployment can be provided. There be no
 satisfactory solution of transportation
 problem SO long as the railroads sub
 Jected to sudden peak loads of coal traffic
 at the season when the demands of agricul-
 ture and industry their heighth
 The Commission believes that the public
 interest in coal raises fundamental questions
 or the relation of this industry the nation.
 and CT the degree to which private rights
 must yield to public welfare. It may be that
 both private property in exhaustible re-
 source and labor in public service indus
 try must submit to certain notifications of
 their private rights, receiving in return
 tan guarantees and privileges accorded
 10 purely private business persons in pri-
 vate employ
 With anthracite coal problems the preliminary report dealt only briefly Search would continue iii was said, into the which left the UnitedI States, though rich beyond all other nations in it's wealth of coal resources" with "a national coal bin too often depleed with prices higher than seem war ranted by the wealth of coal available" and with general public concern and dissatisfaction as to fuel supply It continued:
 There has been pro1teering in the n-
 duftry in the same sense that grossly exorbi-
 tant profits have been taken at times by
 many operators. brokers and retailers:
 prohts that have been disproporonate to the
 cost of the coal. But this Commission has net yet obtained the figures specifically re- qured by the act in order settle this question thorough examination of profits is already under way.
 Runaway markets for coal in 1920 and 1922 followed prolonged cessation of mining operations due to the disagreement between 1. employers and employees, but high prices