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Show oo Prices Charged by' Coal Operators Are Being Watched WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 Prices, charged by coal operators since government gov-ernment control was restored because of the strike are bemg scrutinized Qloaely by officials of the railroad administration ad-ministration and probably will be submitted sub-mitted to ihe department of justice. Bills being rendered by the operators oper-ators are said by officials to specify prices higher in many instances than set by the government and investiga tion will be made to determine whether the increased prices are Justified by existing contracts in all cases. It was specified in the order restoring war-time prices that coal . shipped subbpquent to November 13 on contracts made prior to October 30, should, bo paid for at the contract rate, but po much coal baa been priced at the higher rates that an investigation investiga-tion has been deemed advisable Discrepancies in prices have been one CKuse, according to officials, of the .financial embarrassment of which the j operators have been complaining. Re-i Re-i consignment of coal, especially when I shipped from the east to tho west, pausing a delay In payment, also has ibeen a factor. Director General Hines ' baa changed the method of payment for railroad conl from a monthly to a weekly basla to aesiat the operators in this respect, and they have been giv- . en to understand that wherever necessary nec-essary to avoid stopping production, the railroad administration will pro-vido pro-vido them with funds by taking over all the coal being mined. So far, how ever, no mines has suspended work for lack of money. A delegation of operators conferred today with officials of the war finance corporation rocardin? possible fin-fncial fin-fncial advances by the government. After the meeting, it was said there probably would be no necessity for any such action, as other ways of meeting the bitualion h.id been pointed out. Most of the bills submitted by the oporators for cial are said to have averaged around 2 05 to $3.65, com-i .pared with uvc-rnmmr prices of ?- 5 1 31 'o ?J 95. In or,. , , however, nn '"pa Ig9 j era tor put in a hill for coal at S I ton. 1 By |