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Show FACTS ON COIL PRICES; 10 IS EETTWE MONEY Cost ro Consumer About 3 Times Cost at Mouth of Mine BY H UQd It. Ill NT. n.i . smfi unespondenl WASHINGTON. Auu. 28. The average av-erage cost of ton of bituminous coal, on cars at the mine's mouth, is $2 7t. The average selling pries of a ton I of soft coal, by the operator, f o. b. the mine, is just D cents more, or $3.28. Yet today the retail prlc of coal, even In cities adjacent to mine districts, dis-tricts, runs from $K up principally up. Here In Washington, today, for ti. stance, it Is $9 75i if you can get it. Often, before one can get It, he must tlr the quoted price by 60 cents or $ 1 a ton. WHO GETS IT? Using tlw Washington prlc as a baids for comparison, however, it Is .seen that the price to the consumer is Just three times the average price at the mines. Transpoi tut ion and middlemen have swallowed twice as much as was re- quired to pay the mine' who iug it. buy the supplies necessary fer Its mln-ing, mln-ing, pay a bank value to the mine owner ami nnow mm a margin oi profit. The costs sjrlven ar.. not those of a siiiKie bon-representatlve district, but the average cost of representative Optra Op-tra tors in nil districts P1 u UTORS' PRO! ITS. The a - erage labor cost in producing produc-ing a ton of soft coal, the federal trade commission's figures show. Is $2.04. I The average cost or mine supplies Is ill cents per ton and the average of o'her general expenses 41 cents- The average price received by the I operator, as shown by si 2 returns, Is J.t 26 per ton. ranglnir from 12.9 In Michigan, Iowa and Kentucky, to $3.-t)X $3.-t)X In Missouri. Kansas. Texas, Oklahoma Okla-homa and ArKansas In the central competitive field. Including Illinois, Indiana. hlo and the southwest district dis-trict of Pennsylvania, the sales realization rea-lization figure is 53.02 a ton. and in Wist Virginia, Virginia and the central cen-tral Pennsylvania district, $3 oi per , ton. The explanation given by many re-l re-l 'll coal dealers is that they are hav-ilng hav-ilng to pay from $6 to $8 a ton for coal at the mines NO RECORD OP 'I'M . These mine prices arr not shown on .the return to the federal trade com-!mlfslon. com-!mlfslon. ' The returns do show that neither :the costs of produelr.g eo. l nor the average av-erage of selling prices at the mines Justifies the present prices exacted from the consumer. There Is a dark man In the coal pile; somewhere: Rut no case of drastic prosecution for coal profiteering has yet been announced by the press bureau bu-reau of the department of Justice. |