Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-15
DEALERS HAVE NO
COAL FOR SALE
DOLE OUT MEAGER PORTIONS
TO FRIENDS
Small Amount of Fuel Arrives and
Distribution Limps Along In the
Same Old Dscouragng
Manner

"There is no coal famine, although
there Is a coal shortage" is the way
General Manager Lawrence of the
American Coal company sees the fuel
situation of Los Angeles.
1--WE won't take orders for more than
a quarter of a ton of coal at a time,
and then won't promise delivery sooner
than two weeks from noW," is the Dia-
mond Coal company's answer to this
statement; and the peculiar part of
the situation is that both are right as
far as they go-but they don't tell it
all
Confident assertions that the coal
famine is a thing of the past are be-
coming rather provoking to people who
have tired vainly for the past few weeks
to get a small supply of the precious
fuel All day long the telephone bells
of the American Coal company are kept
buZZing with the anxious queries of
consumers who are unable to find the
large supplies of coal which are said
to be coming into the city daily.
Sunday sixteen carloads of coal and
several of hardwood arrived in the
city. Yesterday three more carloads
came into the Santa Fe freight yards.
Several were expected last night from
San Bernardino and trainload was
said to be coming from San Diego. This
coal came by steamship from Austria
liza. Today about twenty carloads are
expected from Barstow, but still the
situation is far from being adjusted.
Won't Take Orders Under TWO Weeks
A visit to the offices of the Diamond
Coal company. ostensibly to buy coal,
showed that to the public at large
there was not yet sufficient coal on
hnN Il. and fsNt.. ala,
said: I'VE haven't any-or, at least,
very little. About two carloads is all
we have at present, and we have more
than enough orders to take up all of
that.
I'VE have been instructed not to take
any more orders to deliver coal within
the next two weeks, as the ones now on
hand will keep us busy for almost that
length of time.
You can't even order a ton. The
most we will give to any one person is
a quarter of ton, or in the case of
restaurants half a ton.
YES" she admitted reluctantly, 1--WE
are serving our old customers first"
At Clark Bros. the answer was al
most the same. I'VE won't take any
more orders, as we have enough on
hand now to keep us busy for long
time to come. We haven't any coal
"Yes, we shall supply our old line
customers first. l don't know what the
others will have to do for COAL"
Sell to Old Customers
Mr.. Lawrence objects very strenu-
ously to the term "coal famine" AS
he sees the situation there is no fam
inc, and even the word shortage as ap-
piled to coal will soon be a thing of
the past. He declares that conditions
are improving every day and says that
all the coal coming in is being fairly
distributed among all the dealers I'VE
don't know who has coal now," he
said. He attributed the dealers an
swers, mo COAL" to the fact that they
were selling their fuel to old time GUS
toners. "The trouble at present." he
said sis not lack of coal for coal
users. but the number of people who
are depending on coal has been greatly
increased by the poor gas service and
the lack of wood. We have brought
a hundred per cent more coal into the
city this year than last but there are
so man more people using this fuel, we
have a hard time to keep up with the
demand.
1.-The dealers are supplying coal to the
customers who bought from them all
summer before they give it to outsid-
ers."
When pressed for the name of some
dealer who would sell coal he did not
feel at liberty to give them, as he said
he had been sending fuel-hungry GUS
toners in the past and when the COM
panies declared they were out of coal
their would-be customers would not
believe them.
There are said to be twenty carloads
of coal which will arrive some time to-
day or tonight, and $4,000 tons are said
to be rolling toward this city. A few
toward alleviating conditions-more, in
fact, than the arrival of daily consign-
ments of coal.