Evening star., 1926-04-11
BY WALTER II. McCALLUM.

Presidents Harding and Coolidge that
something must be done by the legis-
lative body to guard the public
against interrupted delivery of fuel
;.hI attendant high prices is bearing
fruit in hearings now in progress be-
fnre the House committee on inter-
Rate and foreign commerce. King
coal is getting a thorough and com
plete ''panning.'' His days of mastery
and lordship of industry and home
are getting a full airing in the first
genuine effort by Congress to legislate
and hit at the root OF strikes and in
terrupted delivery for many years.
Many hearings have been held on as
many phases of the coal industry.
but the present hearing is the first
attempt for years to go to the root of
the evil.
The hearings now in progress are
held as a result of the request of
President Coolidge in his annual mes
sage last December. Mr.. Coolidge
asked the incoming Congress to legis-
late on coal on the basis of the
findings of the United States Coal
Commission, which made it's final re-
port in 1923. The inquiry of the com
mission, which was headed by John
Hays Hammond, extended over more
than a year and cost the taxpayers of
the Nation about 100000
Just what will come out of the
hearings even the committee chair
man, Representative James S.
Parker Of New York, cannot yet tell.
All sorts of legislation. ranging from
d hard-boiled policy Of mine seizure
in emergency and downright national
ration of coal mines to a compare
lively inocuouS measure establishing
a publicity bureau in the Government
10 disseminate facts regarding the in.
dustry have been laid before Con-
gress. Some so bills. many of them
from the New York delegation, We're
introduced during the hysteria of last
January and February when Con
cress suddenly found it had a coal
strike on its hands and its people
back home were suffering.
Seen as Delicate Subject.
Coal is regarded a DELICATE subject
for the legislative body to handle.
congress and the interstate and
foreign commerce committee knows
it is up against real problem in
enacting legislation to deal with coal
to protect the people from suffering
and high prices in time of strike and
yet attain a measure that will be
constitutional Some of the more
vigorous witnesses who have appear
ed before the committee have advo-
Gated a roughshOd policy of mine
seizure, under the right OF eminent
domain. operation of the mines by
force if necesSary-in fact, anything
to get coal to the people.
Others. and these are in the ma
iority advocate formation of another
Government bureau to deal with coal.
while still another proposal would
designate three existing Federal
agencies to act as coal counselors TO
the President, and empower him TO
take over the mines in time of strike
and operate them on the advice or
this coal council
So far in the committee consldera-
tion only members of Congress have
been heard. When hearings resume
on April 19 the men engaged in the
actual mining of coal and the men
who operate the mines will present
their side of the case. Some 10 or 10
operators. chiefly in the highly organ
tZed anthracite fields of Pennsylvania,
will be represented, while two union
representatives from the United Mine
Workers of America have been deS-
ignated by President John l.. Lewis
to present the union argument.
Early Conclusion Sought.
Mr.. Parker hopes the hearings will
he concluded within three weeks and
declares the committee will at once
report out a bill with the recon-
mendation that it he passed at the
present session of Congress. The
House plans to adjourn for the sum
mer about May Is.
While much of the discussion has
been along lines Of personal opinion,
some of the men on the witness stand
have shown a comprehensive knOWl-
edge of the coal industry. The first
witness before the committee was
Representative Allan T. Treadway of
Massachusetts,, one of the first mem
bers of the House to suggest action
in the recent anthracite strike. The
second was Representative Meyer
Jacobstein of New York. who went
into the entire subject so eXhaustively
and in such detail that he was before
the committee for four sessions.
Others who have testified have been
Representatives Hamilton Fish. John
!. Boylan, I. NIayhew Wainwright
and James NJ. Mead of New York
and Robert Luce of Ma ssachusetts.
The report of the United States Coal
commission which the President urged
Congress to consider in any legislation
dealing with coal made several specific
and outstanding recommendations for
the Congress to consider when it is
JfddS W tohS dCliOii LON Jl OlNCllIlS
the public. Declaring coal mining an
indispensable public service. with food
and water alone outranking coal
among the necesSarieS of life, the
commission urged the very thing Mr..
Fish told the committee was the basis
and foundation on which any legisla-
tive action on coal must be promised
formation of a coal division in the
Interstate Commerce Commission. The
commission went further than Mr.
Fish, pointing out that in an emer
gency the proposed division would be
ready to act as a Federal fuel dis
tributor and. subject to the direction
Of the President, would serve as the
agency to deal with transportation
and distribution in such a way as the
emergency may require.
Seeks Organized Activity.
"The commission is equally averse
on the one hand to the unnecessary es-
tablishment of any new and unat-
tached governmental agency and on
the other to leaving this necessary
governmental responsibility to a hap
hazard collaboration of existing bu-
reaus. whether in any one department
or in several departments" the report
said 1--WE believe that the logical
and appropriate agency to exercise the
necessary administrative and quasi
judicial functions required for the coal
Industry already exists in the Inter
state Commerce Commission. We
recommend the creation for this pur'
pose of special division in that COM
mission"
All of which comedies with the
views of several of the witnesses VINO
have been heard.
On the other side of the picture we
have Representatives Mead and Lor-
ing NJ. Black, jr., of New York, VINO