The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-06-26
PUBLIC PAYS THE DUES
FOR THE MINERS UNION
ESTIMATED SUCH ORGANIZA-
TIONS COST FUEL BUYERS
S5O,eOo,OOO EVERY YEAR.
DEALERS IN COAL ARE HELPED
Ultimate Consumer Foots Bills for
Assessment Fees of Wholesalers and
Jobbers. How the Money Is Spent.
Other Interesting Facts.


Jobbers. How the Money Is Spent.
Other Interesting Facts.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Propos-
ais that the government take over the
anthracite mines and operate them in
the interest of the entire nation are
being considered by the United States
coal commission.
This commission was created by
congress last fall. Its duty is to find
out what's wrong with the entire coal
industry. 1t will make its preliminary
report, covering anthracite problems
only, to the president on July 1st.
Those who are sponsoring the move
ment that the government operate the
mines contend that they are now run
in the interest of New York and Phil
ade1phia capitalists and the United
Mine Workers of America.
To Consider Bituminous.
After July 1st the commission will
devote its attention to the bituminous
end of the industry. It's entire report,
embracing the bituminous situation,
will be made September END. 1t will
then be up to which will
not meet until December 3rd, to decide
whether the commissions proposals
shall be written into law, modified or
rejected
One phase of the industry into
which the commission is inquiring is
the tax laid upon the public by the
warning groups within the industry.
Information on this subject is meager,
as neither miners nor operators, for
self-protection, have called attention
to it. From what little information has
been submitted, however, an unoftl-
cial observer estimates that the coal
industry is levying tax on the pub
lie of not less than $50,00O,O00 a year
and it may reach ,000,0OO-to
support its various trade associations
and labor unions. Most of this levy,
all of which, of course, comes out OF
the buyers purse, appears to have
been made by the mine workers.
Public Makes Mare" Go.
Figures compiled by Harry N. Tay-
1or, of Kansas City, Mo, one time
president of the National Coal Asso-
citation, show that in the states of
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and
Missouri the United Mine Workers of
America collected in union dues dur
ing 1921 the sum of $817, 404, or an
average of little more than nine cents
a ton on all coal mined in that sec
ton. Should that proportion apply to
union coal mined elsewhere the total
amount collected in 1921 to maintain
the United Mine Workers of Ameri-
ca approximated $26000,000 These
figures cover the local and district di-
visions OF the organization as well as
the national union.
Within fourteen years, Mr. Taylor
figures, the miners in those compare
lively unimportant coal-producing
states have spent $6,388,464 to main
tain their organization. The cost of
being a union miner, measured in
dues, Mr.. Taylor says, has risen 1000
per cent within that period.
People Pay Both Ways.
With this estimated $26,000,000 an
nual levy by the miners as a start, the
aggregate is sweiled by the cost of
conducting manifold organizations of
operators and others selling coal The
soft coal operators alone are divided
into upward of SO trade associations.
Their expenses are estimated at not
less than $l0,000,000 annually They
give employment to hundreds, if not
thousands, of officials and employees.
The money to support them obviously
is paid by the man who buys coal.
The jobbers and wholesalers have
their associations and the retail coal
merchants are organized in hundreds
of local associations where dues range
from $40 a year up. That situation
also applies, the commission is advis-
ed, to the anthracite industry, where
retailers and jobbers are strongly or
ganized and where the operators are
split into two big associations which
embrace nearly al of them.
The S50,000,000 or more required to
maintain these various and multifold
organizations every year comes out
of money received for coal mined.
Among operators the payment of
dues is based on tonnage they mine;
among the other branches of the in
dustry the method of computing dues
varies, but the result is the same as
to the final payee.
How Money Is Spent.
The entire sum, whatever the num-
Der of its millions may be, is tax-ex-
empt under our present income tax
law. Every dollar SO raised goes di-
rectly for the purposes of the asso-
Citations spending it-lawyers' fees,
advertising, propaganda and other
things, including in many instances
the financing of strikes.