Evening star., 1926-02-06
BOARD TO SETTLE
COAL EMERGENCIES
ASKED BY ROBINSON

ASKED BY ROBINSON
continued from First PageJ
the continuance of the strike in the
anthracite fields. Profiteering in fuels
Is quite widespread and will increase" :"
Drive by Copeland.
Get Coal With Copeland" has late
ly become the rallying cry of a consid-
erab1e number of Democratic Sena-
tors and iusurgent Republicans.
The New York Senator. who hap
pens to be :, Democrat has been prod
ding the Republican administration and
its supporters in the Senate daily. He
has several resolutions proposing
that the President intervene in tn"
anthracite strike. He rings changes
on them from day TO day. His fo!
lowing in the Senate is growing
Whether he will be able to white
away the opposition to such an ex
tent that one of his resolutions will
be adopted remains TO be seen. There
is no doubt. however. that his de
mands, day after day, that the Senate
urge the President to take some action
in the coal strike, are becoming en-
barra ssinG to some of the Senators
who are anxious to uphold the Presi-
dent.
Playing Politics Charged.
The charge that Senator Copeland
is playing politics, seeking to make
capital for his party out of the coal
situation and the determination of the
President to keep hands off in the
.,tr hr,+,Y b. T.tt
tors and miners, is made by Republi-
cans.
But Senator Copeland counters with
stories of the sufferings of people of
the East Side in New York and other
cities along the Atlantic seaboard. 1t
is true that any embarrassment to
the administration because Of his eff
forts will not he a source of grief to
the New York Senator. He insists,
however, that he has at heart the in
tereSts of the poor who cannot obtain
the hard coal for which their heaters
and cook stoves are constructed and
who cannot afford to pay the high
prices for substitutes. Before he came
to the Senate Senator Copeland was
commissioner Of public health of New
York, and it is particularly as a health
! measure that he is demanding that
steps be taken without delay to end
the strike.
Sees Hope in Conference.
One Of the Copeland resolutions is
request by the Senate that the
President invite the coal opera tors
and miners to the White House for a
conference. Senator Copeland be-
lieves. he says, that if the President
gets the contestants before him at the
White House he can get them to ad-
just their differences.
1T provides way for them to get
together and at the same time save
their faces" said Senator Copeland.
The opposition. on the other hand,
contends that the President now has
/ just as much authority to invite the
coal operators and miners to the White
| House as he would have after the
adoption of such a resolution, and
| that it is not the part of the legisla-
! tive branch of the Government to in
Struct the Executive.
A second resolution offered by
Senator Copeland requests the PreSi-
| dent to take whatever steps are
necessary to bring about an immed-
| late resumption of anthracite mining.
and re-enactS the provisions of the
| act of 1922. declaring a national |
| emergency to exist and providing for
| the appointment of a Federal fuel
! distributor for car service priorities
/ and for the prevention of unreaSon-
| ably high prices of coal 1t would
also give additional powers to the In
! terstate Commerce Commission.
Part of Oddie Bill.
This resolution, Senator Copeland
| explained, is the emergency section of
the bill introduced by Senator Oddie
| of Nevada. chairman of the mines
| and mining committee. to deal gener-
! ally with the coal industry in line
| with the recommendations of the Pres
| ident and the United States Coal Com
| mission.
Opponents of action by the Senate
| on the coal situation at this time IN
! sist that it would he futile merely to
! request the President to call the op-
! orators and miners to Washington
| without giving him additional power
| to deal with the situation. There
! should he legislation providing way
| to deal with controversies between the
operators and miners, they say.
To this Senator Copeland and his
followers retort: Bring in your leg
! islation and let us act on It,"
Coal Economics Bureau.
J The Oddie bill, which is the result Of
| much study on the part Of the junior
Senator from Nevada, PROVIDES Tor
| the creation of a bureau OF coal eco
| nomics in the Department of Com
merce and for the fullest kind of pub
! licity regarding the coal industry.
Such publicity, it is argued, would go
| far toward preventing unfair treat
| ment of the miners. unfair demands
| by the miners and toward insuring
! just prices to the consumers.
This bill was introduced December
8 last, soon after Congress met. 1t
has been referred to the Department
| of Commerce for report, and for
weeks has been before the depart
ment without a report having been
sent to the Senate committee on
mines and mining, which must deal
with the legislation.
! Up to this time Senator Odd1e has
taken the position that he would not
aSitate coal legislation until the pres
ent controversy in the anthracite field
| had been disposed of. His attitude
has been in line with that of the ad-
miniStration, il is said. which has been
! to allow the strike to settle itself
More than five months have elapsed.
however, with the strike still unset
| tied. If there is to be coal legislation
at the present session of Congress to
! prevent other emergencies in tho fu-