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The Commoner
JANUARY, 1921
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Urges Municipal Coal Yard
The whole country seems to be up in arms to
resist the continued profiteering of those en
gaged in the coal business. The coal operators,
wholesale coal dealers, coal brokers and retail
dealers all seem to be part of a gigantic scheme
to hold up the country on one of the most im
portant of the necessaries of life during the Win
ter months. r
The evidence being brought out at Washington
shows that coal men charged the federal govern
ment more than one hundred per cent above a
reasonable profit for the coal that the war de
partment purchased during and since the war
in addtion to charging the government a com
mission for buying coal from themselves while
acting as agent for the government. Evidence be
ing developed throughout the country which
has resulted in some indictments and convictions
against coal men indicates that there is a
gigantic combination including all branches of
the coal business to hold the public up regard
less of the fact that there is the largest coal crop
in the country's histoid and the coal market is
now glutted with coal to such an extent that
coal mines are shutting down because they can
not find a market for their coal or places to
store it.
The Attorney General, United States district
attorneys, federal judges, grand juries and other
instruments of law enforcement should im
mediately commence action against the coal prof
iteers and other holdup men and organizations
that are taking advantage of the people.
In the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, coal that can
be purchased from the mine and laid down in
Lincoln at $7.80 a ton is beingretailed at from
$13.00 to $14.00 a ton, or in other words, the
retail coal dealers have been charging the peo
ple one-hundred per cent above the purchase
price of the coal after it arrives in Lincoln for
selling" it and delivering it to the consumer.
Mr. Charles W. Bryan, former mayor of Lin
coln and associate editor and publisher of The
Commoner, has been leading a fight to reduce the
price of coal in Lincoln and is demanding that
the city officials establish a municipal coal yard
for the purpose of throttling the coal profiteer
and selling to the people of Lincoln coal at a rea
sonable profit.
Mr. Bryan's second public statement on the
coal situation in Lincoln is. a communication to
the mayor and city council demanding immediate
action on their part in restoring competition in
the 'coal business by putting in a municipal coal
yard His letter to the council follows:
Lincoln, Nebraska, Jan. 7, 1921.
TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF
LINCOLN.
Gentlemen:
The object of this communication is to urge
you to - immediately establish a municipal coal
yard to prevent the people of Lincoln from being
further held up by the coal combine in this city.
Since my article was published on the after
noon of Jan. 1 in which I gave the cost of coal
at the mine, freight charges, retail selling price
in Lincoln, the price that the city government
of Qmaha was selling coal for to those who de
sired it and also the city of Denver for supply
ing its people without restriction I have been
besieged by hundreds of Lincoln people who are
feeling the chill of winter on account of empty
-coal bins and from other hundreds who are un
able to pay the present coal prices and have
any money left to buy shoes, groceries, meat
and clothing, asking how they can assist in em
phasizing to you the necessity for immediate
action on your part.
I urge the establishment of a municipal coai
yard and that through this municipal coal yard
coal should be furnished to all who desire to
patronize it, the price doliverod in the people's
coal bins not to exceed $9.50 per ton at the
present time or $8.00 at the yards, and the only
condition or restriction will be limiting the
amount that any one person could purchase, at
one time to not more than two tons. .
I urge the immediate establishment of a mu
nicipal coal yard-for the following reasons:
The country is overstocked with coal. There
is the largest coal crop on -hand ever produced
in the United States, and yet it is retailing here
at the abnormal and outrageous price' of at
from $13.00 to $14.00 per ton. I stated on Janu
ary 1st that first class southern Illinois coal In
assorted sizes can bo bought at $2.75 per ton f.
o. b. at the mines. The freight rate to Lincoln
is only $4.05 per ton, making the coal cost f. o.
b. at Lincoln a total of $6.80.
You should immediately establish a munici
pal coal yard because the local coal dealers are
charging the people as much for delivering the
coal after it arrives in the city of Lincoln as all
of those interested in the production and trans
portation of coal together received up until the
time coal arrives f. o. b. in the Lincoln yards.
This includes the money received by the men
who have their money invested in the coal mines,
all those who receive money from the dividends
from coal mines; it Includes all of the expense
of overhead in operating a coal mine and in
loading the coal on the cars at the mine; it in
cludes all that the miners receive in wages for
mining the coal, and it includes all that the rail
roads receive for transporting the coal from the
mines in southern Illinois to the city of Lincoln.
The facts, staggering as they are, can be
verified from the records of. the books of the
municipal coal yard operated by the city of
Omaha through its commissioner of streets de
partment. Since my statement of Jaif. 1 that coal could
be bought at the mines in southern Illinois at
$2.75 per ton, the federal government has con
firmed the figures by an official announcement
Jan. 4, stating that the government is offered
coal in the west and on the Pacific coast at $2.70
per ton at the mine, which is five cents less than
the figures quoted by me.
Since I stated on Jan. 1 that this country was
overstocked with coal and that it was being
hauled up and down the railroads seeking pur
chasersithe cable dispatches from France on
Dec. 5 stated that the coal market in France
was glutted with American coal; that there was
enough American coal on hand in France io take
care of the industrial and economic needs of that
country for six months; that the price of Amer
ican cpal had been reduced from $32.00 a ton
to $12.50 per ton and that $100,Q00,000 in coal
contracts had been recently concelled by France
in the United States.
You should immediately establish a munici
pal coal yard and break the coal combine in the
interest of the public as American coal is now
selling in France for a dollar less than it is be
ing sold in Lincoln.
The city of Omaha by establishing,, a munici
pal, coal yard and selling coal to everyone who
desires to purchase from the city at the reason
able price fixed of $9.50 a ton delivered, has
saved the people of Omaha since the first of
October, 1920, more than $50,000 in excess
profits that otherwise would have "gone to the
coal combine.
The delay of the city government of Lincoln
in supplying coal to the people of Lincoln
through a municipal coal yard has caused the
people qf Lincoln more than $25,000 in excess
profits since the 1st of October. Each day's
delay in establishing a municipal coal yard is
costing the people of Lincoln hundreds of dollars
a day in excess profits on soft coal alone.
You should immediately establish a municipal
coal yard because By doing so you can save to
the people of Lincoln more than $25,000 between
now and spring in excess profits on soft coal
alone. A saving of $25,000 to the people of
Lincoln on their coal bills will enable them to
spend their money on shoes, clothing, grocer
ies and meat, and hundreds of them will be un
able to buy these necessaries of life in the
quantities needed, for their sustenance and com
fort unless you save to them the $25,000 or more
that they will have to pay in excess profits for
coal during the remainder of the winter.
There is no provision in the city charter and
there is no city ordinance that prevents the city
government from immediately establishing a
. municipal coal yard. The higher courts have
held that the distribution of water, light, power
and' heat is a public function and that the dis
tribution of -coal for producing heat is also a
public function that governments have the power
td do.
I am not advocating the city going into business
generally but only urging that you break the coal
combine by restoring competition through fix
ing a reasonable, price for coal at tho municipal
coal yard. This is what tho people demanded
and secured when the city went Into the com
mercial light business. When tho clty com
menced to soil eloctrlc light. It broke tho light
combine and reduced tho price of electric cur
rent from fifteen cents per kilowat to flvo cents
per kilowat. In other words, the city restored
competition in tho light business and as a re
sult is saving tho people of Lincoln at least
$100,000 per year which was formerly paid in
oxcess profits to the light monopoly that existed
in tho city of Lincoln.
It will not require any investment of capital
on tho part of the city to establish a municipal
coal yard; it will not add to tho burden of
any taxpayer. Thoysuggostion for tho establish
ment of a coal yard Is for tho purpose of protect
ing the taxpayers from tho profiteers In the coal
business.
If tho coal dealers of Lincoln cannot buy first
class Illinois coal for $2.75 at the mines, they
should engage someone to buy the coal for them
as it Is being sold at the mines at that price or
loss as stated by the federal government.
I urge you to establish a municipal coal yard
becauso at least 98 per cent of the people of this
city desire it done. If you doubt that tho peo
ple in the overwhelming majority indicated
above are in favor of the municipality establish
ing a municipal coal yard and selling coal to' the
people at $9.50 per ton, I would bo glad to sug
gest a number of ways by which the sentiment
of tho people could be ascertained quickly and
emphatically.
I urge the immediate establishment of a mu
nicipal coal yard because each day's delay is add
ing to the unrest in tho city and creating a lack
of confidence in the municipal government's
ability to function.
In closing may I not again urge that your hon
orable body take immediate action to relieve an
intolerable condition. Most respectfully yours,
CHARLES W. BRYAN.
IVmiLIAM J. BRYAN DECLARES HE IS
LATENT' DEMOCRAT
A Marlon, O., dispatch, dated Doc. 21 says:
William Jennings Bryan is not nearly so dead,
politically, as some Democrats think.
President-elect Harding doesn't consider him
dead. Of all the "best minds" who come t
Marlon, none, apparently, left a better impres
sion than tho Commoner.
Harding got a great deal of inspiration from
the Bryan visit, and will consult him frequent
ly on nonpartisan questions during the next four
years.
The subject nearest Bryan's heart is the en
trance of the United States into the League and
this he discussed at length with tho next presi
dent. Linked with this is his plan to prevent wars
through international agreements that nations
shall take a referendum of their citizens before
going to war.
This plan Harding has characterized as a
"big idea."
Bryan will exert his influence in the next
United States Senate to secure ratification of tho
League covenant.
Bryan, also will seek ratification of the pro
posed constitutional amendment to permit a
bare majority of the Senate, rather than the two
thirds now needed to ratify a peace treaty.
"A bare majority of congress can declare
war," he points out.
"I now refer to myself as a 'latent Demo
crat,' " says Bryan. "That's a Democrat who's
more active sometimes than other times."
- FROM A COMMONER READER
E. B. Howard, Iowa. I am proud that I voted
for you three times for president. Seven voters
of. my family will stand by you and your prin
ciples. I am proud that I have so many times
raised subscription ctubs for The Commoner.
Before election The Commoner stated "that
the eastern states and Wall streeet clamored for
a wet candidate; they got him, but he was not
a Wall street favorite see if they don't treat
him asthey did Judge Parker in 1904."
American progressives cannot depend upon
rich men to represent them in conventions. I
have written you many times that even in Iowa
many of our ocnventlon Democrats were Parker
and Governor Harmon sympathizers, which
analyzed means Republican sympathizers; so
progressive Democrats must re-organize by ref
erendum ballots. You and your principles for
ever and a day.
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