Evening star., 1923-09-26
Politics at Large
by n. o. MESSENGER

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first Monday in December next,
liquor and the Volstead act. coal
prices and passing the buck" on the
responsibility for increases in the
latter will become topics for discus
sion, AS In their physical qualities
bothy coal and liquor. engender heat,
so will the talk become red hot, with
the probability that nothing but
ashes will remain after all is said
and nothing done. For no practical
results are expected in any direction.
Gays. commenting upon the advance
of anthracite in Philadelphia of 81 a
ton and at Harrisburg. the very gate
iof the anthracite field, of $3.50, in
IVestigators may investigate, commits
Istoners may report, negotiators me-
gottate and governors write letters
lone to the other, but the coal buyer
ldoes the paying.
! y Il
I Gov. Pinchot's settlement" of the
coal strike is not panning out en-
itTely satisfactorily to the consum-
ers Not only have the operators re-
Iused to. assume. as he thought they
would, 10 cents a ton on the in
icFeased wages. but they have in
creased the price at the mine. Many
tof the dealers have been holding
meetings and have decided that they
cannot reduce the cost of handling.
lThe coal-carrying railroads have re-
solved that the Interstate Commerce
commission should not reduce the
iretght rates on coal Thus, with
Everybody "sidestepping' the burden
ioI the Increase in wages given the
miner, the consumer can see IL grad
uai.y but remorselessly falling upon
his poor shoulders.
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GOV. Pinehot. however, NAV saw
'hat there is another way of looking
at the case. and in such view might
ask III he is not entitled TO a nodicur
OF credit. The essential point. come
| the rigors of winter. is that the con.
suiner may have coal. 1t ranks above
'he question of what he NAV. be
called upon to pay for II. Goal "a
Durn is the thing. When Gov. Pin
ehot TOOK up the controversy there
was no prospect of any anthracite AT
All. The government. realizing this
feature was already laying plans to
provide substitutes for anthracite and
getting ready to move vast quantities
OF oituminous coal from the western
ana southern fields and to educate the
people in its use in their furnaces.
Anyhow, you are going to have
coal Gov Pinchot is entitled to say.
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| The pessimlstic observation that
the talk in Congress is likely to re-
! suit in nothing but ashes is believed
10 De wen taken. In point of fact.
what can the statesmen do but de-
claim? Can't you picture them now,
taking the floor in House and Senate
In nigh dudgeon of indignation in
behalf of their constituents and
against the prohteers, making the
welkin ring with their protests? We
may expect to hear again about the
atrocities of our friends the .coal
barons" and the "soulless corpora
tions," the railroads
4
should ask. What are you going 70
do about it?">the only answer would
be "Investigate": and thereupon the
statesman would draw from his bosom
a carefully prepared resolution, with
a lot of ''whereases" and therefore
be it resolved" etc, and soiemnIy
present II.
The democrats in Congress may be
4 expected r. IN e.,
blame on the republican administra-
tion and tell how they would have
prevented this grinding of the faces
of the poor had they been in power
which, of course, they could not have
There is tremendous lot of "bun-
| combe- in the whole thing. One hard
and incontrovertible fact stands out
however. and that is. you might as
! well make up your mind TO dig
and pay,
An important political development
has occurred in New Jersey on the
liquor question. A dispatch from
Trenton recites that after several
Iyears of unsuccessful effort to go
through their campaigns without
positive declaration of their attitude
on the question OF prohibition, re-
publican leaders of New Jersey at
a conference held in Trenton sought
definitely to place the party organi-
cation on record as favoring a more
liberal attitude on the question. The
conference declaration took the form
of a resolution reported by a sub
committee and advocating a modifi-
cation of the national prohibition
law to permit the manufacture of
beer and light wines The resolu-
tion Is to be acted upon either favor
ably or unfavorably at q state con-
vention in October. Whatever the
outcome, the action thus far taken
is worthy of note as indicating the
Hines along which an effort will be
made in the new Congress to obtain
a modification of the Volstead act
so as to permit the use of light wines
and beer.
Perhaps you have observed recent
lily that in all the suggestions put
forward in behalf of the light wine
and beer proposition the basis for
a change in the law has been the