August 19, 1922





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





231





REAL   ESTATE   SECTION





Federal and Local Officials Will Distribute Coal Rations

Arrangements Being Perfected to Handle Supplies, as Shortage Will Continue
for Months Even If Mines Are Opened Immediately





WITH the strike in the bituminous coal fields settled and
the anthracite operators and miners in conference and
likely to come to terms, the various local agencies
organized to deal with the questions of supply, price and ra¬
tioning if the strikes had been prolonged, turned their eftorts
to making arrangements for the distribution of the limited
amount of coal all agree will be obtainable even if the miners
work overtime and at full speed throughout the winter.

One of the most important moves to safeguard the interests
of X^ew Yorkers was the formation of a pool of twelve banks
to finance the Governor's Coal Commission in the purchase
of coal which will be allotted by the Federal Government to
X'ew York State. The agreement was reached at a conference
with Eugenius H. Outerbridge, Chairman of the commission.
Reeve Schley, Vice President of the Chase Xational Bank, who
was Federal Fuel Adniinistrator for the city during the war,
was designated as Treasurer of the pool.

Under the program adopted by the Federal authorities, the
Federal Fuel -A.dministrator will issue sightdrafts upon the
Governor's Coal Commission for all coal allocated to New
York State as soon as each shipment crosses the State line.
The bankers have agreed to honor these drafts, and the com¬
mission will receive reimbursement later from the municipali¬
ties, public utilities and other firms and persons to whom the
coal  will  be  rationed.

The banks represented at the conference were the Chase X'a-
tional Bank, Xational Park Bank, Mechanics and Metals Xa¬
tional Bank, X'ational City Bank, First Xational Bank, Irving
National Bank, Seaboard X'ational Bank, Bank of the Man¬
hattan Company, Guaranty Trust Company, Bankers' Trust
Company, the American Exchange National Bank and the Xa¬
tional Bank of Commerce.

Restoration of the Fuel Administration, with its broad powers
to fix the prices of coal and control distribution, as established
during the war, is essential in the present situation. Secretary
Hoover, who is in charge of the coal problem, said in Wash¬
ington. He intends to ask Congress for such legislation, which
is held to be necessary because his voluntary plan to maintain
fair prices has collapsed in some quarters.

As it appears that the mining of coal will be resumed soon,
the next and most important question confronting the Federal
Government, Mr. Hoover said, was the proper distribution of
coal so as to prevent it from being transported to places where
the highest prices were ofifered. Theoperation of such regu¬
lation, in his opinion, will be necessary for the next six months.

Eugenius H. Outerbridge, Chairman of the Governor's Ad¬
visory Commission on Coal, issued a warning that the agree¬
ment between operators and bituminous miners at Cleveland
did not mean that the real situation would not be serious for
months to come. If full operations were resumed tomorrow,
he declared, normal supplies could not prevail for many months
in the bituminous field. The anthracite conditions were much
worse, he said.

Mr. Outerhn-idge also declared that the Federal Fuel -\dmin-
istration was not functioning and that without its aid the State
commissions could not function. His statement on the general
situation   follows:

"So far, the number of operators who have signed agree¬
ments  in  the  bituminous  fields  represents only a minority  of





the total normal tonnage, but if all had signed up and full op¬
erations were resumed tomorrow, normal supplies and normal
conditions could not prevail for  some time to come.

"In the anthracite fields the loss of production has been so
great that normal conditions cannot possibly come about for
months to come.

"Consumers must conserve fuel with the greatest economy
possible.

"The States which have organized Fuel Administrations have
hoped Congress would act immediately on its assembly to fur¬
nish adequate powers to the Federal Fuel .\dministrator, with¬
out which the plan which Mr. Hoover has tried to establish
cannot possibly function. If the Federal Administration for
equitable distribution at reasonable prices does not function,
it is impossible for the various State commisison to function.

"It is greatly to be hoped that Mr. Hoover will without further
delay present to Congress definite legislation which he feels
is necessary, and without which, according to his own public
statements, no system can function; and public opinion should
make itself audibly expressed to Congress for immediate
action."

The Bituminous Coal Operators' Information Bureau, 150 Nas¬
sau Street, announced that the following telegram had been sent
to President Harding by A. M. Ogle. President of the National
Coal .\ssociation, urging the appointment of a fact-finding com¬
mission for the industry:

"The strike in the bituminous coal fields emphatically has demon¬
strated the immediate need of a non-partisan tribunal that will
fairly investigate, in the interest of all parties, every phase of the
industry and make public at an early date its findings with such
recommendations as it may deem proper and advisable.

"Coal mining is an involved and intricate industry and great
confusion exists concerning it, not only in the public mind, but
within the industry itself. The immediate resumption of mining
may be most important in the minds of many, but if we are to
avoid further conflict in the mining industry beginning April 1,
1923, resulting in inconvenience to the consuming public ahd in
interference with industrial progress, all the essential facts must
be investigated promptly and given full consideration in order that
a  proper  solution  may  be  determined.

".Accordingly, we urge upon you the advisability of appointing
such a commission without delay, and I can assure you the fullest
co-operation and support in such action."

Endorsement of the proposed appointment of such a fact-find¬
ing tribunal was given yesterday by E. H. Outerbridge, Chairman
of Governor Miller's State Coal Commission. Mr. Outerbridge's
statement follows:

"In the great industries which vitally affect the lives of the
people, such as transportation and fuel, recurring periods of inter¬
ruption to production or transportation are not infrequent, which
seems to indicate that there must be something fundamentally wrong
in the economic conditions existing in those fields of endeavor.

"If an adjustment of a permanent character is to be arrived at,
it would seem necessary to have a diagnosis, from an unassailable
source, of what the economic facts are, and remedies then applied
that will be generally recognized by public opinion as entirely
equitable to both  employer  and  employee.

"A commission to study and determine the economic facts, if
appointed by the President, would have more authoritative in-
(Continued on page 244)