The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-16
COAL INTERESTS
bat Tie FOR
TRADE
U. S. Fuel Commission and
|. c. c. to Pass Upon
Northwest Fight.
By WILLIAM HARD.

| OF Pennsylvania. West Virginia and
Ohio on the one hand and the soft
coal operators of Illinois on tho
other The prize Of battle is tho
| trade Of consumers in the territory
stretching westward and southwest
ward from Duluth and Superior al
the head of the Great Lakes.
The arena in which the. battle Ii
being fought and won or lost by
the picked heroes of both sides Ii
furnished by the United States Goa
Commission and the Interstate Com
the fighters and handing them nour
ishment and encouragement are
representatives Of public utility cor
pora tons, representatives Of munici
palities, representatives of retail
coal dealers associations and angry
individuals representing themselves
What Started Battle.
The gentlemen who dropped the
hat which started all this verbal
bloodshed are the members Of the
Northwestern Coal Dock Operators
Association, writing from Minneap
oils. Minnesota. They take coal
from the docks at the head Of the
Great Lakes, and distribute 1t to
customers in Wisconsin, Minnesota.
North Dakota. South Dakota, Ne
braska.
This coal comes from ports down
In Ohio. 1t gets to those ports
from mines in Ohio, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania. It travels by rail to
Ohio ports and then by water to
the head of the Great Lakes and
then by rail again to points in the
northwestern region.
If this were Europe, the secre.
tary Of state of West Virginia
would write a severe note to the
secretary of state Of Minnesota de.
manding a bigger "open door" for
West Virginia coal in the North.
west and threatening to send an
army to get it.
Remedy Suggested. :
Here the proceedings are different
and the first overt act was q note
from the Northwestern Coal Dock
| Operators Association to the Inter.
state Commerce Commission sug'
| costing and requesting as follows:
/. Let the railroad rates on coal
from the head of the Great Lakes
to points in the northwestern region
! be reduced This would give the
coal from Ohio and West Virginia
and Pennsylvania a bigger "open
| door" in that region
2. If these rates are not reduced,
then let the rates on coal on rail-
roads from Illinois and from the
Illinois coal mines tup into the
Northwest be raised This would
check the invading coal from Illi-
nois in it's progress toward the bins
of Northwestern consumers.
Such was the idea. Hearing Of
It. the Illinois coal operators and
Illinois interests generally were
filled with a sense of outrage and
began at once to- repair to Wash
ington to say so. Hearing of 1t,
also, the retail coal dealers and con-
sumers began to stop buying coal
in the northwest until they could
know what was going to happen
and what the railroad coal rates
and the final coal prices Of the
future would be.
May Revise Rates.
Observing this stoppage in the
flow Of coal, the United States
Coal Commission acquired a sensa.
ton of great anxiety for the coal
situation in the northwest aext
winter 1t communicated this
anxiety to the Interstate Com
merce Commission by appropriate
representations and urged the In:sr-
state Commerce Commission to ave
the northwest.
The Interstate Commerce Corn
mission had already nainfullv and
thoughtfully fixed all these rates
at their present levels just two
years ago. However, II now de-
cided to resume its labors at them
and to expedite it's new thoughts
about them and to hold a great day
Of arguments by both sides and all
sides and the whole interested pub
lie and population.
This great day has now been
| fixed for the fourteenth of next
month. On that day an issue which
would be an international trade
fighting issue in Europe will plunge
| into peaceful chaos of statistics
before eleven bored and irritated
commissioners in the Interstate
/ Commerce building.
Another Complication.
Meanwhile. not to be left out of
this fight, the Federal Trade Com
mission has accused the Northwest
ern Coal Dock Operators of being
some sort Of conspiracy and has told
them to show up at the offices Of
the Federal Trade Commission be-
fore the end of this month and say
why they are not in case they
think they are not.
They therefore will be rushing
from being defendants in the Fed
eral Trade Commission building to
being compliments in the Inter
state Commerce Commission build
ing.
1T would save more than one
hundred and forty million dollars
year in railroad fares for bust
| ness men" said an official today,
III we would move Washington into
the middle OF the country and have
all these battles in really central,
accessible spot"
Meanwhile. and finally, in this
present coal battle, the consumers
on farms in the Northwest are wait
| ing with scuttles in hand for the
United States Coal Commission to
| see that they get coal when the In.
terstate Commerce Commission gets
| through deciding how much they
Will get IT at in the matter OF rail-
| road transportation cost.
IT is believed that this war will
| accordingly run along in some form
or other well into the next winter.
(COpYFiRht, 1929 waahIrRtam Praaa