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Show SCALE MEET Bituminous Miners and j Operators to Form Wage Contract. GARFIELD TALKS Urges Necessity for Pro- during Coal Country i Needs. WASHINGTON, Nov 19. Scale committees of bituminous coal miners and operators In the central competi live field went into executive session loday to negotiate a wage contract, i after Federal Fuel Administrator Gar-1 Gar-1 field had urged upon them ihe neces- for adjusiing their differences and producing the coal the country needs. Dr. Garfield expressed regret that! the operators ami miners had not es-tahllshed es-tahllshed a permanent body lo adjudi rate their disputes. Lacking that, he I h i the question revolved around the cost of production. During 19ls. lie said $ 1 n.0"".''H"i was paid for bituminous coal, the .i r.ige price being JUKI per ton. Tbet i production cost was $2.15 per ton, the! miners receding $750,000,000, or an i average of $1.5 per ton. A total of $230,000,000 went to the 'mine owners, but Dr. Garfield said this1 I was not all profit as federal income and excess profits tax had lo be deducted. In 1017." Dr. Garfield said, "the taxes amounted to 30 cents a ton average av-erage over the whole country, but it is, difficult to estimate for 1918." "Lo you think the mine workers, should give consideration to the opei aiors because they have to pay taxes'" asked John L Lewis, president of the i'tiitod Mine Workers of America. The question is whether the consumer con-sumer should pay enough to cover the cess profits lax and at the same 'iiii- gie the operators their normal; profit too." replied Dr. Garfield- Contrasting mining with commercial commer-cial enterprises, Dr. Garfield Bald It .vas necessary not to lose sight of the fact that coal mining was the basic industry necessary to the winning of the war. and that reasonable profits had to be maintained It was because a fair return was guaranteed under the Lever act that congress could not tax away all ihe mine owners' profits, he, ..aid Immediately after convening the j operators and miners decided 10 con-1 tinue their negotiations through a BUB committee of eight from each side. Replying to William Green, secretary or the United Mine Workers. Dr. Gar-i field explained that the fuel administration admin-istration in increasing the price of, foal during the war had made an allowance al-lowance of 15 cents for overhead be-! cause ther.- was noi time lo take a: minute examination Into every case,' and for the same reason LO r ents was j allowed as royalty, Refi .'ing to the 45 cents allowed for1 wages. Dr. Garfield said that was "a crude 1 h in t; to do," but that it was later found that the amount w.is In' the average absorbed for wages. Thomab T. Erewstcr, chairman of the operators' scale committee, told In Min is that "a fabulous margin in tne coai inaus-ry uocp nor exist. .Mr.' Garfield's "impartial figures " he said, j I id refuted the charges of enoinious profits In the coal business, which he' said, had be.-n "run on a slender margin" mar-gin" l'resident Lewis said the workers never had alleged thai the operators made undue profits in 1918 under gov eminent control "But we have made some remarks about profits in 1919." he said. "We are prepared to pro e that some concerns con-cerns have sold coal at th" mines at $3 a ton, $4 a ton. yes. and even $-1.50 a ton. We are prepared to demon strale that in 1919 the operators have gotten 120 to 125 per ceni more for coal thun they did In 1914 and ihat wage increases to the workers has 'been only 37 8 10 per cent above 1914 figures while the cost of lhing has increased 110 per cent. That's our .situation in a nutshell." I Dr Garfield said he had no complete fieures on the 1919 onerations and was suspicious of parilal figures, but that he did have some data which showed that In certain fields operators were making less In 1919 than in 1918 "But if that is true why Is it that the selling price of coal to the con jsumers has increased $1 a ton this 'year." asked Percy Tetlow, of the j mlneR. "I do noi know as to that," Dr. Garfield Gar-field replied. But even if that is so, does it enter into our problem here ex rent n It uflsto th.. i . . , i jr . "iii-v.in km v-usii. hi living DR. GARFIELD'S SOLE FUNCTION "I represent the people of the I nil ed States in a different sense from the secretary of labor," Dr. Garfield said. "It is part of Mr. Wilson's func tlon to effect conciliation. It is mv sole function to exercise those powers conferred on the fuel administration, to ee that an adequate supply uf coal is furnished the people of the T nltei States and to see that In times o. stress, such as we are still unhappil in the mldet of, the prices asked a;ii received for coal are not excessive "We all realize now that in the grea roal Industry the public is an impm tant partner At one time the opoi ators and mine workers, like farmer consldered themselves peculiarly in-j dependent. But the public has a para i mount interest. "The people of the I'nlted States, will not consent to pay an excessive! p; i( e for coal We are all agreed to that, but the question now is. 'what is an excessive price?' Nor will the public apree to go without this com modity. "The people of the ('nited states need, must have, and will have, coal and they will not be prevented b any-ihlnp; any-ihlnp; the operators and miners may do unless ihe government is dissolved into a chaotic condition "The people of the I'nited States are willing to pay sufficient lo maintain main-tain American standards, but the Question Ques-tion is what are American standards" The people want the operators to have a just return, but wnat Is a Just r turn"" Dr. Garfield said he was not yet prepared pre-pared to say what changes could rea sonably be made in the price of clal as all the necessary data was not in j hand. |