of the profits of the packers—has been taken.
As a result of the work of the Food Administration the skyward movement of prices has been checked, and for some of the most essential commodities such as wheat, the product of wheat flour, and bread, there have been actual reductions in price. Also prices have been stabilized. Dealing in futures for the most essential products has been prohibited and hoarding and speculation prevented.
The Fuel Administration Law
One section of the Food Administration act authorized the control of fuel. Under this section the President appointed H. A. Garfield Fuel Administrator. The maximum price of each kind of coal and coke at its source has been fixed. Moreover, the margins which are allowed to the jobbers and to the retailers have been limited, and thus the price of coal to the consumer has been controlled. Therefore for coal, the price control occupies the full field rather than the zone between the producer and the retailer as in the case of wheat.
The Fuel Administration has also controlled wage contracts with the miners. When a considerable advance of wages was approved, it was made a part of the contract that the miners should be penalized $1 a day if they declined to work or ceased to work during the time the contracts into which they had entered remained in force.
The distribution of coal and coke has been controlled as completely as the price. The coal has gone for the purposes and to the various districts in accordance with the decisions of the Fuel Administration. The amount of coal which goes abroad is also controlled. Thus the amount assigned to Canada is the quantity received last year plus the same percentage of increase as that obtained by the United States.
The prices have not been fixed exclusively upon the basis of the heating power and the location of the coal, but in part upon the basis of the cost of production. In many instances this gives the poorer mine which is unfavorably located a higher price per thermal unit than the rich mine favorably located. This practise is in complete contravention to economic theories accepted before the war. The owner of a better property gained all the advantages of cheapness of operation and convenience of transportation.
Had the Fuel Administration so decided, it would have been possible under the law for the government to become the exclusive buyer and seller of the coal for the country. Had this method been used, the coal mined would have been sold to the Fuel Administrator by the operator at a fair profit. The coal then his property would have been pooled and sold at prices dependent upon its value, taking into account its thermal power and other qualities and its position in the country in regard to freight. The prices fixed would have been sufficient to cover its cost, including that of administration.
The Shipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corporation Boards
The United States Shipping Board has requisitioned all cargo ships and tankers registered under the laws of the United States of not less than 2,500 tons total dead weight capacity, and all passenger steamers of not less than 2,500 tons gross register. These vessels, thus requisitioned, have in general been leased to the companies which before have been operating them, the companies receiving a definite compensation based, for freight boats, upon dead weight ton capacity, and for passenger vessels upon the number of passengers which they can carry. The vessels are to sail on routes and
