Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-22
AN INVESTIGATION is MADE
Newspaper Reporters Go Over Ground
and Make Disclosures.
MORE GAIN IN WINTER HAUL
Ability to Give Prompt Re-
lief When Commerce Commission
Took Prompt Action.

| ST. PAUL, Mimi, December 22-The re-
| port that Great Northern eighty-car train
| was to be sent out from Superior, Wis.,
| loaded with coal for North Dakota. the
| train to run on a passenger train schedule,
| was today said by Superintendent of Trans
| portation Bryan to be untrue Mr.. Bryan
| said that the Great Northern had been
sending out coal trains from Superior to
| Minnesota, North and South Dakota points
| for the last ten days as fast as the trains
| could be made up. AS to the eighty-car
| story, he said 1t was not practical to ham
die that many cars in one train, as there
were few sdings on the Great Northern
long enough to accommodate such train
| ST PAUL. Mimi, December 22.-The st.
! Paul Dispatch correspondents have Deen
/ investigating the coal and car shortage
| situation in the northwest, and their inves-
| tigation is summed up by the Dispatch as
| follows:
There never has been car shortage
| in the northwest. There has been and is
a coal shortage due either to conspiracy
| or neglect on the part of the railroads TO
| supply cars. When the North Dakota
! towns began to cry for coal two weeks ago
| there were no less than 5000 empty cars
| on the side tracks between st. Paul and the
| Red river. When the Interstate commerce
| commission developed this fact the rail-
| roads got busy. With surprising quickness
| they prepared hundreds of trains and load
| ed them with coal In one day the Great
| Northern loaded 300 ears of coal at ST
Paul. Superior and Duluth, while the
Northern Pacific did even better.
The railroads with thousands OF emp
ty cars on the side tracks, would not move
the grain from the west, where 1t lies rot
ting the ground in piles of from 5000
TO 100000 bushels. The reason for this Is
that they were waiting for the close OF
navigation on the Great Lakes. when, In
stead of the short haul. they would have
the long haul to Minneapolis. Chicago. Buff
falo and the Atlantic seaboard Had they
shipped coal to the west they would
have had empty cars to return, and must
of necessity have hauled grain or been
forced to explain
Coal Going Forward.
Coal is going forward into North Dakota
and Montana rapidly. Last night the Hell
ena (Mont) Gas Company shut off the
supply of gas to consumers owing to lack
of COAL though coal mines in the vicinity
are heavily stocked. One great reason for
the coal shortage is the fact that dealers
| i'll the northwest We're not farsighted
enough to order during the summer, not
anticipating the snow blockade on branch
| lines where but one train is operated daily
A score of these lines have been tied UP
| intermittently since November 10. Not
word sent out aoout the fuel famine is I'M
true. In many cases the description had
not been adequate.
But with cessation of storms for
few days the situation will be materially
relieved. Hundreds of cars of coal are
being rushed into North Dakota, and the
northwest is much better prepared for cold
weather than it has been for weeks past,
| Though there are points where fuel short
age still exists. relief is expected at any
| time. Hundreds of points have been
| reached and now have fuel. There is
a considerable movement of coal in tran
| sit. coal having the right of way on the
| railroads The movement of Illinois coal
| still continues, thereby furnishing reller
| from new source.
| Favorable reports of coal movements are
| being received today from the north and
| west. A dispatch from Barnard says that
| the Northern Pacific is using ore cars Tor
| handling company coal and is giving all its
| box cars for commercial coal, increasing its
! equipment.
500 in Transit.
Five hundred cars of coal are in tran
| sit over the Northern Pacific for points
| along It's main line and branches in North
| Dakota. The first trains have arrived in
| Fargo. and the rest will be run through az
rapidly as possible. The cars will take
| wheat back to the eastern market and De
q
| Interstate Commerce Commissioner Har-
| Ian was told by General Superintendent
| Shade of the Great Northern that 1t required
| ten days to take freight train $50 miles on
his road. yet two trains on the Great
| Northern left Superior, Wis, with forty
cars of coal each at 2:15 o'clock Thursday
| afternoon and arrived at Grand Forks, N.
D., last evening at $40. distance of 291
miles This shows what can be done-What
could have been done to prevent the fuel
| famine.
.Oficia!s of the Great Northern and
Northern Pacific testified before the inter-
state commerce commission that there
were plenty of cars. but the railroad off1-
Gals and ]. j. Hill clouded their testimony
| in such way that even the commission
was confused Coal dealers. division super
| intendent, traffic men, more than dozen In
all said today that the commission prob
ably did not know any more about the car
shortage than it did before the hearing was
| Rad for the reason that vital questions were
omitted.
Nobody here fears punishment for invok-
ing federal aid. Shippers and consumers
are all lighters and if anybody is punished
| 81 will ne the railroads.