Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-07
DISTRICT COAL DEALERS BRAND
EXCESS PROFIT REPORT UNFAIR
Charges Made by Senate Committee Out
raeeous, Retail Merchants Say, as
They Lay Plans for Defense.

Admitting resentment that the Sen
ate District committee should have
issued a condemnatory statement re-
fiectins on their business honesty
without even permitting them to Sc"
the report," members of the Retail
Mercha nts' Board Of Trade, compriS-
Ing most of the coal dealers Of Wash.
ington and nearby suburbs In Mary
land and Virginia. prepared to take
steps to defend themselves today.
Jesse G. Snter. general manager Of
the board, was in touch with Roger
l.. Whiteford who was appointed spe-
cial counsel to represent the coal men
when the Senate committee first
sought to open their books for inves-
tigat early this morning. Mr..
Whiteford waa authorized formally to
demand of Senator Arthur l.. Capper,
chairman Of the committee, full copy
of the report
Report Called Unfair.
Until we either have that copy or
Senator Capper's refusal to surrender
it, we can scarcely say anything" Mr..
Suter said, in the presence of other
members Of the boa I'd. THE only In
formation we have IL what we have
seen In the newspa pers. II those re-
ports are true excerpts from the entire
report then we can only condemn the
whole thing as grossly unfair and
pointedly outrageous.
I'VE have appealed to the auditors
from MIR. McCarl's office, who made
the investiga ton. for copies Of the re
port. The only message we have had
in return was that Senator Capper
n n n
given transcripts. and that the de-
mand elsewhere had been ~ heavy
that they had distributed all extra
copies, anyhow. Apparently we, the
most interested people In the affair
have no standing"
IA soon az Mr.. Whiteford has oh
tanned a reply from Senator Capper
on the request for copy OF the
pa pers. full meeting OF the board IL
Expected to he called. Definite action
will he deferred until that time.
Probe Started Year Ago.
The committees report. submitted
yesterday by Senator Capper. was the
result OF an investiga ton undertaken
year ago. II charged. in substa nee
that Washington coal dealers advanced
prices more than their costs increas ed
during the anthracite strike.
Members OF the committee ex
pressed the opinion individually that
| the report indicated there were undue
price increases here, but when the
reading of the document had beer
| completed the committee Games to the
| conclusion that there in no way ir
| which Congress could regulate Goa
prices. 1t was then decided to author
ize Senator Capper 10 submit the re
+! port to the Senate with the request
i that it be printed either in the Rec
ord or az separate document.
Senator Capper's report was based
! on the figures obtained by II. A. A
Smith. accountant in Controller Gen
eral McCarl's Office. from a representa-
| tive group Of local dealers. who agreed
to open their books with the under
standing names would not be used If
the report.
Table Shows Variations.
Referring to the several companies
furnishing information as A, r, G.
etc, the report set forth the net profit
per ton of each dealer on each kind
of fuel This tabulstion showed the
following variations:
On run OF mine soft coal-A ma XII
mum net profit of SO cents per ton
by one dealer and a loss Of 80 cents
per ton by another dealer.
Briquettes-From a maximum net
profit Of s3.07 per ton by one dealer
to IS cents net by another.
High volatile soft cOals-From a
ma ximum Of t1.ss net to 90 cents
net in another case.
Low VIOLA tile soft coala-FrOm a
ma ximum Of $3.50 net for one dealer
to a loss of cents by another dealer.
Coke-From 42.91 per ton net to AZ
cents net; with none showing a net
loss.
Anthracite-From 10 cents to II
cents net.
These figures were followed by this
comment In the report:
"It will be noted that all losses.
with one exception involving
cents loss per ton. were on mine run
coal. which included the degradation
mr. slsck from the high priced pre-
pared domestic sizes. Even on this
degraded coal, it will be noticed that
the LOSSES per ton were comparatively