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September 2, 1922 RECORD .A. N D G U I-D E 295 REAL ESTATE SECTION Legislature Passes Bill For State Coal Administrator Official to Be Appointed by Gov. Miller Will Regulate Distribution, Use, Price and Rationing of Fuel During the Existing Emergency [Special to The Record and Guide] Albany, August 30. BY an unanimous vote in both branches the Legislature, called in special session by Gov. Miller, has enacted into law his recommendations to safeguard the interests of the people of the state in the emergency caused by the strikes in the anthracite and bituminous coal fields and of shopmen on the railroads. The Legislature met Monday night and adjourned Tuesday afternoon, after passing the bill, to which Gov. Miller affixed his signature Tuesday evening. In his message explaining the necessity for the enactment of emergency legislation the Governor outlined the situation as follows. "Happily the resumption of mining in the bituminous fields has averted the threatened national calamity from the suspen¬ sion of industry. The shortage of bituminous coal promises to be speedily relieved if the railroads are able to transport it. The menace at the moment arises from the shortage of anthracite coal. There are no stocks of anthracite anywhere and surveys so far made indicate that there is less than the usual amount in the hands of consumers. Five months of production have already been lost and cannot be made up, as, unlike the bituminous situation, the capacity of the anthra¬ cite mines is but little above the consumption of the country mostly during the winter month's. The summer is the time for the accumulation of supplies for the winter. The summer pro¬ duction has been lost and the resumption of mining is not yet in sight. "If production were resumed tomorrow the situation would probably be aggravated by the impairment of railroad equip¬ ment which will soon be taxed to move the crops. Whatever happens, there is bound to be a shortage of domestic fuel and every day's delay in the resumption of mining now adds in increasing ratio to the menace. There is bound to be such a shortage as to require rationing to insure everyone a fair share of what there may be. Hoarding and gouging always attendant upon a shortage must be prevented. In any case unless the State intervenes those who can pay most will be served first, whereas the least able must be our first concern for they are totally unprepared to cope with a fuel shortage. We must practice rigid economy. That may have to be en¬ forced. "Those who have anthracite coal should save it all for severe weather. It will be easier to use substitutes now and during the cold snaps of fall and early winter than after cold weather sets in. Oil, gas and electricity should be substituted for anthracite whenever possible and people should equip themselves with the facilities to use them. Wood will have to be used by those who can procure it and it is well to lay in a stock now. There promises to be enough bituminous coal if it can be transported to care for the needs of industry and the public utilities and we must learn how to use it "for domestic fuel. Hydro-electric energy may have to be diverted from industrial to household uses. Light, heat and power, however produced, may have to be regulated and their use possibly curtailed for some purposes. "In a word, the State must intervene or leave the public to shift for themselves in a situation which has got beyond the operation of economic law or the power of individual action. The State must intervene in an emergency or confess that, except under normal conditions, it has not the power, the capacity or the energy to serve the high purpose of its crea¬ tion, i. e.. the promotion of the general welfare." Gov. Miller added that he did not contemplate putting the State into the coal business but to create an agency with power enough to make it unnecessary for the State to go into the coal business. The Governor was interested in the criticism of the measure as made by Senator Lockwood and others to the effect that the Fuel Administrator could nullify those sections of the hous¬ ing laws, also passed as an emergency measure, compelling landlords to furnish hot wa.ter, heat and elevator service. "The decisions of the Court of Appeals and of the United States Supreme Court in the so-called rent or housing cases appear to remove any doubt of the constitutional validity of the legislation proposed," declared the Governor. "The present emergency directly involves the public health and the general welfare. The temporary interruption of transportation due to terminal conditions in New York harbor has on two occa¬ sions within recent years created conditions from la;k of fuel in the tenement districts of Xew York, which no one can calmly contemplate having repeated on a larger scale. The courts have held that government is not impotent in such an emergency and it is for us who are charged with responsibility to demonstrate its capacity to protect its citizens." The outstanding provisions of the law enacted at the sugges¬ tion of Gov. Miller are as follows: 1. Appointment of a State- Fuel .Administrator with plenary- powers of regulation, investigation, control and distribution of fuel. The governor -will make the appointment promptly. 2. The administrator is authorized to buy and sell fuel for public and private consumption. 3. He is empowered to flx the price at which fuel may be bought and sold and in hi.s discretion rests the licensing of fuel dispensers. 4. A revolving fund of $10,000,000 for the purchase of fuel by the State administrator for public and private distribution is created by appropriation. 5. AU conflicting laws and ordinances, the effect of which would be to hamper tjie activities of the fuel administrator, are negatived by implication during the e.xistence of the emergency upon which this law is predicated. 6. The administrator may seize fuel supplies, privately owned or otherwise, and may require dealers in fuel to report to him concerning supplies, prices and other particulars. If the com¬ pensation fixed by the administrator for seized supplies is ques¬ tioned, the owner of sucli fuel may resort to an action for recovery in the State Court of Claims. 7. The administrator may issue subpoenas, compel the pro¬ duction of books and the attendance of witnesses at hearings held in connection with inquiries designed to disclose coal or fuel reserves. 8. Every governmental agencj'. State or local, is reiiuired to assist the administrator in his work. '.I. Violation of any orders, rules or regulations promulgated by the administrator shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not in excess of $1,000 or a jail sentence of a year or both. 10. Municipalities are freed from all statutory provisions with regard to bidding and contract for fuel, and may issue certifi¬ cates of indebtedness to cover purchases of fuel for municipal use. 11. The administrator may order tlie closing of schools, the¬ atres and other places of congregation. (Concluded on page 298)