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FEBRUARY, 1&2
The Commoner
tw
M
unicipal Coal
Yard
Below will bo found a report made by City
Commissioner Charles- W. Bryan to the city
council of Lincoln, Nebraska, covering the ac
thtles of the municipal coal yard that was es
tablished in Lincoln, October 1, 1921.
When the contest commenced in Lincoln one
year ago to establish a municipal -coal yard for
the purpose of curb.ng tho profiteers, the price
of the high grade bituminous coal from south
ern Illinois, known as the Franklin County Dis
trict, was selling in Lincoln for about $14.50
per ton delivered. The effect of the municipal
coal yard has been to cause a reduction of $2.00
a ton on all grades of coal sold by the retail coal
dealers m the city of Lincoln and a saving
to those who buy coal, direct from the mu
nicipal coal yard of about $4.50 per Ion. Tho
municipal coal yard is selling the Franklin
County, Ill.nois, District coal delivered to the
consumer's bin at $9.90 per ton.
Mr. Bryan's report to the council follows:
February 4, 1922. To the City 'Council:
"Sumbitted herewith are figures and informa
tion showing the activities of the municipal coal
yard for -the four months of its operation,
which include the months of October, Novem
ber, December and January., Tho general re
port is followed by the purchases, sales, etc.,
for the month of January.
Total number of Cars of coal bought and sold
during the four months up to Jan. 31,. 12 5.
Number of tons bought, 5,8 46,
Total tonnage-on hand Feb; 1,147. -
Number of tons sold 5G29.
Total shrink between the Lincoln railroad
track Weights and scale weights, ,70 tons.
Per cent of shrink, 1 2-10 per cent.
Loss by shrinkage per ton, 10 q. .
Total receipts from sales, $57,149.52. , ,
Total cost f. o. b. Lincoln, $47,951.29.
Amount paid to haulers, for delivery, $5,
635.62. Overhead, $1,784.3&.
Number cars egg coal handled, 8.
Egg coal costs at the mine 25 to 35 cents less
per ton than lump' coal. However, owing to
limited demand for egg coal,' cars of egg coal
must be unloaded at a cost of about 20 cents per
ton and re-screened when sold' from the bin.
The cost of unloading and the loss in screen
ings necessitates egg coal being sold to tho con
sumers at the same price as lump coal.
"Out of 125 cars of coal handled, adjustments
were made on four cars on account of re-screening
and adjustments made on one car on ac
count of re-screening and grading. In each in
stance tho amount of screenings separated from
lump coal was sold as screenings, and the dif
ference between the screening price and the
ump price charged to tho shipper; also the .la
bor expense of grading and screening one car
was at shipper's, expense; and coal sold to Lin
coln customers was the same high grade Frank
lin county district coal and all sold at the uni
form price in effect at tho time.
"Total number orders of coal sold during
four months, 4,283. " -
"Number of complaints out of 4,283 orders
on account of negligence in screening and load
ing at the coal yard which were satisfactorily
adjusted approximately, 6. r.
"Number of complaints out of 4,283 orden
wbere coal was taken out and money refunded,
"In these two cases. coal was returned to the
municipal yard, inspected, and finding it to be
ine same grade Franklin county district coal
as all other handlod by tho yard, this coal was
re-sold to other customers and no dissatisfaction
oi any kind expressed by the purchaser.
the uniform quality of the coal received
nr, , !10 mines and toe very small number of
complaints in view of the" large tonnage 5,
840 handled and distributed- in 4,283 orders
a remarkable showing for quality, service
ana satisfaction with the output of tho mu
nicipal coal yard.
nnrUpplementlnS tho above statement as to
Si, Reparation, adjustments, tc, of coal
N?Mn i o herewith is an "affidavit from the
saim.;, upply company, operators and wbole
Wn ' tur,oush whom the municipal coal lias
een supplied.
Citv nl0ln' ,Ne.b- Jan- 26 122. "C. W. Bryan,
braska m er' CIty of Lincolu' Lincoln, Ne-
chn?i th Writer understands it, you have pur
yar,i L a11 t your coal for tUe. municipal coal
""" uom our company during, tho season of
ipix ays :-a
To the best of tho writer's knowledKe thoro
has been between our company and the mu
n) iiPal cal yd, no question of quality on any
shipments and the allowances made by us havo
thToorV1, cars where !t appeared thlt
mfal hadfnt been Properly screened at the
mines, and in these few instances, the writer
thnpdnn tan?SHthat the muleIPal yard re-screened
the coal at their yard and we allowed them for
the slack they took out of tho coal and sold
to steam plants for steam coal.
"Wealways stand ready to protect the qual
ity of the products we soil and are making this
statement to you as we would to any of our
customers. .We assure you that your experience
in the coal business is no different than that of
any retail coal dealer."
JANUARY REPORT
"The following is the report on the activities
of the coal yard for tho month of January,
1922, as provided for in the ordinance:
"Tonnage bought in January, 1,446.
"Tonnage on hand January 1, 581.
"Tonnage sold in January, 1,826. ' '
, "Tonnage on hand, 147.
"Balance cash on hand January 1, including
revolving- fund of $15,000, $15,081.99.
"Cash received on sales, $17,509.88.
"Paid for coal, $9,062.90.
"Paid for delivery, $1,412.93.
."Paid for overhead, $297.15.
"Cash on hand, including revolving fund
$22,598.8.9.
"Balance in improvement fund, $202.69.
. "Increase in tonnage sold in January over
tonnage sold in December, 800 tons.
"Out of 1,826 tons Franklin county district
coal sold in January, no complaint received as
to quality, and only one received as to the pre-'
paration of the coal, and this complaint has been
satisfactorily adjusted."
MR. BRYAN'S NEW BOOK "IN HIS IMAGE"
The lectures delivered by Mr. Bryan, during
tho past year, on Darwinism and other challeng
ing issues, have stirred public opinion in an ex
traordinary way. They have caused, and are
still causing a perfect furore all over tho coun
try. Mr. Bryan is, and has, a most magnetic
personality. A man may read, or listen to thp
pronouncements, or opinions of twenty men' of
prominence, and go his way, uninfluenced, un
impressed. But Mr. Bryan will compel him to
listen, to declare himself, to take s'des, to agree
or disagree. He has a way of being able to force
one's heart to one's sleeve.
Never has Mr. Bryan displayed his power of
forcing an issue in larger measure than in the
present series. Every chapter is a challenffinc
provocative, uncomprising c.onfession of faith.
One is4never in the slightest doubt as to where
Mr. Bryan stands, and is either for him, or
against him. Not for a moment has he (Mr.
Tffryan) tarried in Half-Way House.
Lecture I. In the Beginning God. With
great eloquence, Mr. Bryan pleads for a deep
seated, whole-hearted belief in God. This he
holds to be an imperative condition for the real-
ization of man's highest destiny, for the attain
ment of a life lived on the levels of truth and
righteousness. Not to a First Cause or to an
Eternal'Energy does Mr. -Bryan direct his read
ers, but to God as revealed in Christ; to a God
that is 'gracious; to a God that is Love.
Lecture II. The Bible. Mr. Bryan stands
four-square 'on Scripture as the inspired Word
of God. He holds tenaciously to the position
that that no school of Christian thinkers worthy
of the name, would dream of abandoning the
inspirational theory of Holy Writ of beating
such a foolhardy retreat. He has a faith in the
Written Word no criticism, higher or lower, can
kill and defends it with characteristic force and
elZctoofinrVhat think To o Christ? Time
and atrain, the bitter and barren agitation which
questions the deity of Jesus has had a way of
coming around again, masquerading in some
modern guise, as thouch it were something new.
S rea ty, it s very old, and always the same
iSst as it was in the days of Marcion and Celsus.
Tt reou res however, to be smitten -repeatedly,
bin and tlHgh In his third lecture, Mr. Bryan
S& about llh1m will lusty vigor For him .Chris
is the Everlasting Son of the Father, fun or
Le'ctTre IV.The Origin of Man. Here Mr.
rvnn discovered as the uncompromising op
Bryaf of the theory of Evolution in general,
IZ Darwinism in particular. He does not hesi
tate S ?cot . their acceptance as defined by
scientific formulas. Tho evolutionists may know
something of phonomona, but nothing of real
ity. Thoy occupy themselves wholly with the
visible effects ot their theory in all its phases,
never dreaming, apparently, that in doing so,
thoy havo got hold of tho last word thoy arc
able to say. Mr. Bryan points triumphantly "to
tho fact that evolutionists nro compelled to
leave to tho theologians tho task of defining
creation. It is ovidently none of tholr affair.
This lecture is bound to raise a storm of con
troversy throughout tho entire country. It is a
wonderfully virile effort.
Lectures V., VI., VII., VIII. and IX. Tho sub
jects are as follows: Tho Higher Life, The
Value of tho SouL Throe Priceless Gifts, His
Government and Peace, Tho Spoken Word. These
are all ably conceived, finely-phrased addresses,
exhibiting tho manifold gifts of tho Groat Com
moner and reflecting on ovory page tho play of
a mind passionately and supromoly convinced
of the traditional, primary facts of Christian
belief, and able to vJndicato them under tho full
glare of modern destructive criticism.
To sum up: Hero is where, in these lectures,
Mr. Bryan stands unflinchingly: When every
form of modern criticism (scientific or pseudo
scientific) has done its work, it exhibits no
coherence, no commanding or convincing author
ity. ' It has no foundation but tho subjective
mind of the critic, and fails utterly to account
for either the physical or spiritual phenomena
that has resulted. And this in addition: The
utterances of sceptical scientists and Iconoclastic
critics are inevitably and permanently con
demned by the plain fact of their being noth
ing more than finite attempts to describe tho In
. finite. Not all tho modern theories, restatements,
postulates and formulas, put together, express
a hundredth part ot what tho humblest and
simplest believer feels and verily believes, about
God and Christ, about Salvation and Eternal
Life. From announcement in "Revellings," by
Fleming H. Revell Company.
BANKERS APPROVE BANK GUARANTY LAW
An Omaha, Neb., dispatch, dated Jan. 19,
says: Four hundred state bankers of Nebraska
adopted a resolution Wednesday at tho. Fon
tenelle hotel approving tho presont depositors'
guaranty law and opposing any amendments or
changes in it by tho coming special session of
the legislature.
Governor McKelvio, who had Included con
sideration of the guaranty law in his call for a
special session, oponed the meeting by stating ho
would be guided in his attitude toward tho law
by tho decision of tho bankers' mooting.
The outcome was received with gratification
by those who attended, and the result vas ta'k"
on definitely to dispose of any likelihood that
the law would bo altered in any way. Though
the subjoct still is in the special session call, it
can be disregarded.
Tho resolution, introduced by George W.
Woods of the Lincoln State bank, as adopted
is as follows:
"The present depositors' guaranty law has
been in oporation for eleven years, during which'
time not a single dollar ha3 been lost to a
single depositor in a state bank in Nebraska.
"The law has established and maintained-the
confidence of the people of our state.
"It has successfully met and been tested by
the severest price declines and business disturb
ances ever experienced in this state.
"It has enabled tho depositors in failed bapks
to receive in cash over $3,000,000, which other
wise would havo been lost to them.
"It has provided by means of assessments on
solvent banks with $80,000,000 capitaf stock,
for the constant recouping of the guaranty
fund.
"As a result of this process and after the
payment of $3,000,000 out of this fund, it now
contains $2,250,000 in cash on deposit in sol
vent banks; it owns approximately $5,000,000
in notes and mortgages taken over from failed
banks and now possesses the largest resources
the fund has ever contained at any period in its
history.
"It has stabilized banking and business condi
tions throughout our state. It commands the
confidence and hearty support of the bankers
themselves "who havo organized a great corpora
tion to help make the law function more ef
ficiently and to promote higher standards ol
banking in this state; therefore be it
"Resolved by tho State Bankers of Nebraska,
in convention assembled that
"We favor and approve the present guaranty
law of this state and that we are opposed to the
enactment of any amendments or changes in the
law by tho coming special session of the Nebras
ka legislature."'
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