JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2408
PRESIDENT CUTS COAL PRICES BY EXECUTIVE ORDERWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago tonight, August 21, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order fixing a tentative scale of prices for bituminous coal in practically all coal producing districts in the United States.
The President's scale would change when a method of administering the fuel supplies of the nation were determined and put into operation.
Mr. Wilson's plan included the appointment of a coal administrator. The Chicago Daily Tribune reported the most likely candidate for the position was the chairman of the Wheat Price Fixing Committee, Harry A. Garfield*.
The news of the executive order "came as a great surprise to coal operators, the coal production committee and nearly everybody in Washington..."
*Harry Augustus Garfield (1863-1942) son of President James A. Garfield who at age 17 saw his father shot by Charles Guiteau. HAG graduated from Williams College in 1885 & practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio 1888-1903. He was a professor of politics and later president at Williams College before being appointed head of the Federal Fuel Administration by President Wilson.
SOURCE
"WILSON SLASHES COAL PRICES", The Chicago Daily Tribune, August 22, 1917.
Harry Augustus Garfield
1863-1942
