New-York tribune., 1902-12-10
CITY MONEY FOR POOR.
aldermen Appropriate 500. 900 to
BIN Coal


ated 100000 to be used for the purchase Of coal
for the destitute of the city The action of the
board ~as prompted by the sudden cold Alder
John T. Mccall introduced the resolution
for the appropriation 1t gives the Controller
authority issue special revenue bonds TO the
amount of 100000 for the purchase of coal
Jacob A. Cantor, President OF the Borough OF
Manhattan, said last evening to a Tribune re-
porter
THE vote was unanimous. believe Mr.. Nc
Call has had the plan in mind for days.
to-day being. of course. an appropriate time Tor
bringing II a vote The suggestion Will now
go to the Mayor and Friday the matter will
go before the Board Of Estimate. 1t will then
decide for or against IL. II it votes favoraby
1T will draw up programme for the handing OF
the money. Probably Commissions Homer
Folks will be selected as the man 10 manage IT
No definite plan has $ yet been made out. but
the idea is have the distribution entirely free
to the deserving poor Of the city AS to whether
the coal will be given out direct from the coai
carrying companies from coal yards OF the
city, cannot say.
Controller Grout told Tribune reporter he
had not heard of the scheme and therefore could
not say what part he would play in the appro-
prfation. Mr.. Folks Commissioner of Charities
was surprised 20 learn that his name had been
suggested for the distribution OF the fund
There two things to be said about yester-
day. One is a truism that needs only stating
to be recognized: the other is fact that should
be repeated till II is borne in on the minds OF
the New-Tork public 1t Mas an exceedingly
cold day and there was coal famine and no
coal panic. The weather made 1T d peculiarly
strenuous test of the exact heat situation. and
that the situation met and handled is an
undeniabIe fact Heat IS always a troublesome
factor in the life Of the East Side. ranking with
| clothing, food and work; and yesterday did not
| see a complete solution. but coal was sold
/ the customary reasonable rates all CoTner5
! in the usual amounts to the poor of this city
What gives to the situation the appearance
! of unusual distress Ia she fact that the coal
supply is being doied from few di6tribut-
/ ing centres instead Of being sold, in normal
| years from street corners The strike has COM
pleteIy obliterated the coal pedler. the petty
mtddIeman who. in the fat years OF plenty
was accustomed 70 buy his coal by the ton
the yards and sell II by the half pailful in
tenement house-to-house canvass
In ordinary times there we're several hundreds
of these little dealers scattered about the city
To-day there are none
! The work is done by the unprecedented device
Of the big coal yards who for the first time in
their history are selling pailfuls of coal in vast
quantities to the poor 1t may be stated on the
best authority that they doing this through
i an understanding with the coal carrying roads.
! which enables them to sell at the prices which
obtain in an ordinary year They are making
| no money the venture, but the poor are
being as adequately supplied as ever.
: The coal yards engaged in this work are.
/ among others. Curtis & BIaisdeII. at No. 40
I Westinghouse. and at Fifty-sixth-st. and the
East River who are selling a pailful at II
! cents: Emil NufeId. No. 1915 stanton-st.. Is
; cents a pail. and Alfred Rarber's Son. No $50
/ water-st, at 10 cents a pail.
! These big distributing centres. which are
thronged all day long. simply focal points ot
the coal situation. To an outsider the waiting
: crowds might give the effect of a run on a
bank but the point is that the people ars
patient and quite the opposite OF panicky and
that their wants are being met
For A half mile radius around the coal yard
I of Barber the streets are filed with women
/ and children pushinS baby carriages ana httle
eo-carts laden with sacks of coal Yesterday
was the record day for crowds az the yard
The line began to form at 80 a m while 1t
was yar dark 1t reached its height at 1o a m,
when A triple line filed the yard and stretched
out into Water-st. The average line through
out the day extended from the office into
Jan,es-st bending around eastward toward the
water front One stall OF The GOH1panys stable
had been turned into a ticket office. whence
were issued red and blue tickets, each good for
q naIIfuI of egg or broken; stove and nut coal
had be4n exhausted on the preceding day. The
lint, for each person was two paiIfuIs- zach
uersou toted away the average thtrty-fve
nonnds and il took about sixty people to
/ count for a ton The crowd was orderly and In
ro ,rav excited II resembled in behavior the
r,sun ar the box office for a popular foreign
actor
Harry c. Barber. president of the company.
said TO a Tribune reporter:
I'VE can keep on doing this. All through the
night trucks will drive in with fresh supplies.
T have a full barge at the East River which
We haven't had time to put under the rigger
and unload There are other barges down the
river By night shall have cared for eight
Thousand people. 1 suppose couple of hum
drad tons will have been taken away TO-DAY.
At noon our receipts in dimes were Sfsst There
is coal in town. and plenty of 10. The trouble
is that the independent operators. some OF
rham are speculating II they would release
the coal already mined. instead of hold
ing out for a ruinous price there wouldn't be
this tension There is all the coal one wants
az htp prices but none at the proper figure
We are overrun just now with demands from
tho diHsrent charitable institutions of the city.
a4rIere for instance, Is a PEACEFUL OF orders
fror, the United Hebrew Charity ORGANIZATION
Co,,a ~ the institutions with big orders We
,,, s,,nn,v so their benehciaries have to take
tsa,r turn in line and get II by the pailfuL
bearing ont the theory that the coal SITUATION