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Show HOOVER OBTAINS MAXIMUM PRICE PRODUCERS OF EIGHTY PER CENT OP BJTUMINOU8 COAL CON. SENT TO NEW RATE Price Mario By Coal Companies ts 'Prevail During Remainder of Present Strike; Price Is Set At Three and a Half Washlngtoa. With conferences look lng to a price agreement for their district still to bo held with the operators op-erators of producing fields ia Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, Secretary Hoover has secured secur-ed the agreement of operators producing produc-ing 80 per cent ef tho bituminous coal now being mined te a maximum price of $3.60 a ton at the mine for the duration of the strike. Ia making this announcement Friday Fri-day night Secretary Hoover said he regretted that a small minority of the operators representing western Ken. tucky had refused, to cooperate and were demanding $4.25 n ton, a .price which he said he did not feel Justified la advising the public to accept, although al-though production costs were higher there than in other fields. The can. ferences with Pennsylvania operators h'dve been arranged for aext week, ho said. Tho $3.80 maximum has been accepted by the operators of Virginia, West Vlrgnla, Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, Mr. Hoover said he bad been advsed, while the rate of 25 cents a ton below the Garfield scale has been accepted by the Alabama operators. Ia purchasing spot coal tlio prices not nffectlnng coal under contract-consumers contract-consumers can Insure themselves n squaro deal, Mr. noover said, by check, lng freight rates together with tho maximum price established and making mak-ing proper nlowanco for retail dlstrl button cost. Consumers not receiving fair treatment as to prices may appeal to the department of commerce, he snld, with assurance that an Inquiry Into In-to their cases will bo instituted. Chicago Increases of 25 to CO cents h ton for coal on the retail W fket Thursday vcro forerunners of futther advances nftor existing supplies are exhausted, according to lending Jesters. Jest-ers. Retailers declared life rise was one of the results of the Washlngtoa conference of coal operators Wednesday, Wednes-day, when Secretary Hoover approved n maximum price of $3.60 n ton for spot coal at tho West Virglnln mines. Those retailers predicted thnt West Virginia coal would ga to $0 a ton within a few day, an ndvanco of $1.75. Washington. Federal investigation of the nationwide coal strlko was nuthorlzod by tho senate Friday. The senate passed a resolution by Senator Walsh of Massachusetts directing the socretary of commerce to investigate and report to the sennte as soon as posslblo all available information concerning con-cerning tho strlko and its effect oa the consumors of the United States. |