The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 9, 1917, Page 4

In the interest of a square deal for the farmers Tonpartisan Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan Leaguz VOL. 5, NO. 6. FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1917. A magazine . that dares ty print the truth WHOLE NUMBER 99 “King Coal” and the Price Graft Something About the High Cost of Fuel and the Reasons Therefor--- a Case of Too Much War “Profiteering” by the Coal Barons Freight steamer discharging coal at Duluth. back to Duluth. is why coal prices are especially high in the Northwest. HAT'S the matter with coal?- Why is it, with production of the country’s coal mines greater than last year, prices are far higher than ever be- These are questions that farm- fore? ers and other consumers all over the United Statés are asking. Mine op- erators, in some instances, have been replying “that increased wages have caused the raise in price. But investigations have shown that the average labor cost at the mines has increased only 20 cents per ton. Con- sumers might be glad to pay 20 cents extra if they knew this 20 cents went to help the miners pay increased prices demanded by speculators for food, clothing, and the miners’s own fuel, But coal prices have increased more than 20 cents per ton. They have gone up from $3 to $8 per ton in different parts of the United States, and many a family, this coming winter, will suf- fer from cold simply because they have not the money to buy fuel at'its present exorbitant prices. 5 COAL OPERATORS ; ADMIT EXTORTION / ‘What is the reason for coal prices? A half dozen agencies have been in- vestigating and they give a number of reasons. One reason, undoubtedly, is the rapacity of the coal operators. Bituminous coal prices at the mines in the past have ranged from {1 to $2 per ton. This year they were put up to an average of $5.50, The coal operators themselves ad- mitted that these prices were too high. When they were called into conference by the coal -production commission of the council of national defense at Washington, D. C., and were told that the government couldn’t stand for such & raw steal as this, they “voluntarily” reduced their prices to $3.50 per ton. fThis amounted: to a reduction of $200,- 000,000 in the nation’s coal bill, But there was a “joker” in this arrangement. It provided that ex- isting contracts should be fulfilled at the old rates. And when North- western consumers began to in- quire they found ‘that coal com- panies’ here claimed to have con- tracted for their entire season’s supply so that consumers would have no chance to get any share in the promised reduction, However, Secretary of War Newton - D. Baker, one.of the real liberals at Washington and chairman of tne council of defense, repudiated the whole proposed arrangment. He said, in effect, that the plan of the coal operators, -in raising the price form $1 to $5.50, and then ‘“reducing” it to $3.50, was like the tactics of some get- rich-quick merchants in conducting “bargain” sales, These merchants take a suit of clothes worth $10, boost the price up to $25 and then advertise a great “bargain sale,” with prices, cut “in half,” marking the suit down to $12.50 and trying to make the purchas- er think he is getting a real bargain. The coal operators were trying the same game. TRADE COMMISSION HAS ANOTHER PLAN Another government agency, which has been going deeper than any other appears to come nearer the real solu- tion of the problem. This is the fed- eral trade commission, In a report to congress it says that private operation of railroads and coal mines, which works only passably well in times of peace, has broken down altogether in war times. It re- commends pooling, undér government control, of all the coal mines in the country and all the railroad systems, a.long step toward actual government ownership, In its report the commission says: “The commission believes that there are enough coal cars in the country but that there are not enough coal cars delivered to the mines and that an in- adequate supply having been delivered to the mines and loaded, these cars are not moved to the point of con- sumption either with the greatest of expedition nor are they promptly dis- charged upon their arrival at their destination. = “The commission has much testi- . mony of widespread abuse in the use of coal ‘cars by speculators for the storage of coal for speculative purposes. “The coal problem cannot be worked out so long as the railroads are per- mitted to divide and allot traffic; to lay embargoes without regard to their immediate effect upon industry or up- on the systematic distribution of coal; to give priority to the movement. of high-freight-rate commodities and ' to use the device of the ‘long haul.'” In other words, the commission finds direct evidence that epeculators are holding up coal cars to boost the mar- ket, and that the railroads are helping them in the game. : DENOUNCE METHODS USED ON LAKES The commission tells Northwestern consumers what their specific trouble is, why coal has advanced in price in this section more than in any other part of the :ountry, except New England. - The railroads and their newspapers are all at- tacking the federal trade commission since that body proposed that Uncle Sam control fuel and railroads during the war, just as the newspapers .and United States senators con- trolled by the grain ring have been attacking Herbert Hoover since he exposed the $250 OOO 000 steal in flour - PAGE THREE " port, In the past all Great Lakes steamers carried iron ore and grain from Duluth east, and carried coal from the east During the last 18 months most of the steamers have been rushing back empty, to get back quicker for the high- pl'lced grain_and iron ore. This " “On the Great Lakes,” says the re- “it was the custom for ships which carried grain and ore down the lakes to carry cargoes of coal up to the Northwest. During the summer of 1916 many ships which brought down ore and wheat went up the lakes in water ballast, taking no coal., Thus they made three round trips earning high rates on freight one way during the same time that would have been consumed in making two round trips carrying cargoes-both ways. “This practice ‘was pronounced in the late summer and autumn of 1916 and the result was so serious that when navigation opened this spring the Northwest was facing an actual coal famine. This evil condition has already begun this year and if jersisted in the coal famine which threatened that part of the country in the winter of 1916-1917 will be an actual coal famine in the winter of 1917-1918.” The action of the ship owners, in forcing the Northwest to gc cold next winter, so that they can make more war profits on increased freight rates on wheat and iron ore, is only one more example of what necessarily hap- pens in times of stress when private capital is in full, unchallenged control. The commission points out that either pooling of the coal mines and railroads under control of the govern- ment, or absolute government owner- ship will be necessary. The commis- sion adds: “Our allies and Germany all require the railroads not already government- owned to be operated as a unit and on government account and the allies have officially stated that one reason for being certain of victory wag that transportation had bheen reorganized and perfected.” “With every other civilized coun- " try' having taken over control of railroads and fuel, how long is it going to take the United States to adopt the same tactics? Is this nation to jeapordize its own chances in the war and condemn mil- lions of its citizens to cold and hunger just to continue rapacious railroad and coal magnates in the possession of enormous profits? i 4 i e