Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1917 — U. S. REDUCES COAL 51.50 A TON [ARTICLE]

U. S. REDUCES COAL 51.50 A TON

Form Operators to Agree to Tentative Price at Mines. • BIGGER CONCESSION IS DUE lew Medale Will Be Effective July • Md Will Save Consumers MillUa «d Dollars This Year. WaaAtagtou, June 29.—An uate general reduction of $1 to $1,501 a tor* flb the price of eval at the tnlnaj was aga_***d upon here by live* «fi the coal operators. The re* duetto* setotes to bituminous coal. Ttdty reduction is expected to be foH lowe< By still further .decreases Ini price dlr Investigation into the costs! ( mtaftw coal, and it Is probable that! the ijsa-rnment will be given a stilb lowea yrfact- than tliat to the general! puPilto Hundreds of millions of dop Lira «■ b* saved to the American jK-vpto dkaaigti this decision. Tha operators agreed to the lmmo* diate adm Clou at a meeting hereJ after adppting a resolution by whiCM ctMl prtcvs would be fixed with the at® and apDV**l of th, ‘ secretary of th« intertar, the federal trade commission and tto» committee on coal of the national defense coUnciL Lane Thanks Peabody. ( About tons of coal wera mined to thia country last year, anol Secretary lame, who has earnestly! urged a reduction, believes that, saving to the American fH*ople will bej eoennaus After hearing of the opernj tors’ action Mr. Lane wrote a letter <>C thanks to F. S. PealMsly. chairman of, the real production committee, who ha* been to constant conference witty the operators. The resolution giving “assent ’ to| nviog the maximum prices was re-' ported by former liovernor Fort of a. special committee. He said he believed, ■ the resolution was entirely safe son the conference to adopt and that anyi responsibility as to the legality of the firing of the prices was put on th*> government. and not on the on«ier the terms of the resolution. The resolution declared that a great! national emergency existed In the na-| tloo’w fuel supply, and that the coall operators and miners desire to closely l cooperate with the government. The resolution was adopted unanl- 1 nously. ; As soon as this resolution was agreed to another one was presented, under which it was proposed that tha -•■vermnent authorize the government! representatives narntd in the resol U- 1 tioo to Issue a statement forthwith fixing a tentative price which, in their judgment. shall be a fair and reasonable one for the various districts, and to tse effective July 1 until the committee shall Ax a permanent price. Secretary Lane sent the a letter asking immediate action tn reducing the prices. Price Plan Agreed Upon.

The Mvoml retwlutlon, directing the nxiferwuv committee to proceed Immediately to fix a tentative price without waiting for ascertainment of costs, was adopted practically unanimously. It authorised the secretary of the interior. the federal ntde commission and the defense council committee on real production “to forthwith issue a stateutent fixing a tentative maximum price which, in their judgment, is fair and reasonable as applied to the several coal districts at which coal shall be sold from and after the first day of July and until the accurate costs* have been ascertained and a fair and reasonable price based thereon fixed* by said government agencies.” The conference then adjourned, and the state delegations went into separate meetings to frame suggestions as to prices to be submitted tp Chairman Peabody.