The Government should sample and certify coal. We do this as to wheat
and meat; it is just as necessary to avoid injustice in the case of
coal, and it is thoroughly practicable. The public should know the kind
of coal it is buying, because it should buy the coal it needs. There
need be no prohibition against the mining or selling of any coal,[4] but
coal should sell in terms of its capacity to deliver heat. Some coal
that is only a pint bottle is selling as a quart bottle. And the quart
is hurt by the competition of the pint. A bill to effect such fuel
inspection has been drafted and will be presented to Congress. It is not
a bill commanding anything, but rather gives to those who are willing an
opportunity to have their product inspected and attested and thus
acquire merit in the eye of the world as against those who are not
willing to subject their coal to the official test tube. Coal is coal in
the sense of the classic traffic classification. Coal is, however, not
always coal, nor is it altogether coal when put to the pragmatic test of
the furnace. If such a bill were passed it would promote the interests
of those who schedule their price upon the merit of their goods and make
against the hauling of slate and dirt, its storage and handling under an
assumed name. The plan is not to punish the malefactor who attempts to
impose upon the public a slender number of thermal units as a ton of
coal, but rather to give to ever man an opportunity to advertise the
number of such units which his particular article contains, thus
enabling the injured public to strike against an unfair mine.
Furthermore we are to become great exporters of coal, unless all signs
fail, and such certification should be required as to every ton sent
abroad.