"Fireproof" Fuel

The muckraking campaign being waged against the anthracite coal operators by the Hearst Press is every day becoming more bitter. Photographs, affidavits from miners and dealers and special reports by staff correspondents are being used as propaganda artillery in every edition of the New York American and the papers using its syndicate service.

The percentage of impurities in virtually all new mined coal going to market, charges the American, runs from 25 to 40%. The normal rate of impurities allowed by decent trade custom and considered unavoidable when coal is honestly prepared for market is from 2 to 4% in the large domestic sizes up to 10% in the steam sizes.

Therefore, according to the Hearst argument, where domestic coal has been sold at an average retail rate of $16 a ton, the purchaser has been swindled out of from $4 to $6.40 a ton.

It appears that there is more to the " fireproof coal" scandal than a mere Hearst tour de force. Senator Pepper of Pennsylvania has been enlisted in an aggressive war against a group of coal swindlers in his state. The names of 28 Pennsylvania producers and sellers of adulterated coal have been published under state authority.