Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-05-05
BY HAL O'FI.AHERTY.

BY HAL O'FI.AHERTY.
Royalties!
There in one word. royalties-the
land owners rake Offs the under
lying cause of the appalling situation
that exists today in Great Britain.
Why are the mine operators ada
! mant In their stand against higher
wages? Because so much Of the profit
OF mining coal goes to the great estate
owners that there Is not a sufficient
margin OF profit in the industry.
Why are miners underpaid and
housed in misery? Because too great
margin Of the profits of their labors
have been going to people who cared
nothing about them: who took no in
terest whatever in the source OF their
income.
Custom Is Centuries Old.
For centuries the men who mined
the seams OF coal thousands of feet
under ground have been enriching the
owner of the peaceful meadows above
them. Generation after generation Of
wealthy English families have lived
comfortably in the belief that their
income was their inherited birthright.
Such a thing as questioning the ethics
of levying toll upon an industry that
couldn't pay a living wage to over a
million laborers never entered their
minds.
Even today there Is a tendency to
shy away from any discussion Of the
right and wrong Of coal royalties, but
the keenest thinkers in Britain and
the most astute economists have gone
straight to the heart Of the matter.
They say without hesitation that the
state must own the mineral rights;
that the process OF nationalizing these
rights must be put through at once If
there is to be anything like peace
| in the coal-mining industry. The ter
rible overhead Of the royalties system
must be abolished.
| The recent report Of the coal COM
| mission, appointed last August to
| investigate the whole industry. and
! report it's findings, was featured by
! its one socialistic recommendation
| the naturalization OF royalties. In
| country that Is the gibraltar Of con.
| servatism, the staunchest adherent Of
! the idea Of constitutional monarchy,
| such a recommendation was startling.
Yet it was made by commission
| dominated by capitalists.
Hold to Private Enterprise.
They held steadfastly to the idea
| Of private enterprise In the operation
| Of Industry, but when they reviewed
the many phases Of the royalty ques-
| ton they were forced to conclude that
| the state must intervene.
In other countries, such as the
| United States, mine owners are
| usually land owners, and the capital
lists who operate the mines can be
| reached directly by the laborers. In
England the land owners are obscure
persons, drawing their income through
| musty solicitors offices.
! Only rarely is it found that the
| owners Of the coal land are actually
| engaged in industry. There are per-
| haps one or two such pictures in
all Britain. In a dozen different min.
| ing areas the actual operators are
| forced into the most elaborate legal
battles to secure the right to take out
| the coal.
Waste I'm Some Areas.
In some instances where the landed
proprietors refused to sell the mining
rights under their land the operators
were forced to run entries several
miles around to get at coal beyond the
area under dispute. 1t involved an
extreme waste Of money and labor.
There Is no doubt about the feeling
of the miners. When they placed be-
fore the mine operators their demands
for a wage based upon the cost OF
living they were told that the industry
would not stand the drain Of such an
increase. Why? Because the industry
was not on an economical or efficient
basis. Time and again they We're
brought face to face with the fact
that outside interests were at fault.
and they could not reach those In
terests. In the end the miners became
desperate and are so today.