Executive Order 2686-A

The following scale of prices is prescribed for bituminous coal at the mine in the several coal-producing districts. It is provisional only. It is subject to reconsideration when the whole method of administering the fuel supplies of the country shall have been satisfactorily organized and put into operation. Subsequent measures will have as their object a fair and equitable control of the distribution of the supply and of the prices not only at the mines but also in the hands of the middlemen and the retailers.

The prices provisionally fixed here are fixed by my authority under the provisions of the recent act of Congress regarding administration of the food supply of the country, which also conferred upon the Executive control of the fuel supply. They are based upon the actual cost of production and are deemed to be not only fair and just but liberal as well. Under them the industry should nowhere lack stimulation.

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 * 21 August, 1918.

—Prices are on f. o. b. mine basis for ton of 2,000 pounds.