The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-11-08

and his Fuel Administration the full
est support and cooperation not onl,
as an association but of the member
as individuals as well.
esHh@&s,at' g 8 s :
+ RESOLUTION OF COAL ]
/ OPERATORS. !
Z Whereas, Proceeding under /
! the war emergency act passed
/ by Congress, known as the Lever /
4 Act, the President, on August (
/ 23rd, appointed DIR. H. A. Gar ]
i field as Fuel Administrator of :;
= the United States for the period !
4 of the war, and :;
( Whereas the Board of Direc- !
Z tors of this Association, immed- !
( lately after his appointment, 1
T met~Dr. Garfield and expressed !
( their confidence in him and Of
+ fered their assistance and CO. j
Z operation in dealing with the 1
I. many difficult problems arising !
: from the serious shortage in the
E cOuntry's fuel supply, and
i Whereas that confidence then !
3 expressed has grown and de- I
i VelOped thru closer acquaint- ::
Z, ance and association, now
+ THEREFORE, BE 1T RE- I
+ SOLVED, that we the members {
T of the National Coal AssOcia- 1
i, tiOn, assembled here together in 7
Z our first full meeting do hereby !
/, reaftirm our confidence in DIR. I
I Garfield and his Fuel Admins 1
! tratiOn and pledge him both as Z
& individuals and as an AssOcia- 4
i tiOn, our fullest and most en- J
I, thusiastic support" 1
The Pittsburg Post commenting
editorially on the convention says:
THE spirit exhibited at the meeting
here between DR.. H. A. Garfield, the
national fuel administrator, and the
1000 delegates to the conference Of
the National Coal Association, gives
assurance that the fuel problem will
be solved. 1t showed the operators
animated by patriotism and the Gov.
eminent as recognizing this"
A CoaI-car Crisis Only.
There is in fact no coal crisis. But
without a doubt there is and fol
months has been "coalZcar" crisis
Just 80 per cent of car efficiency is
now being secured from many of the
coal cars now in use.
Recently the Hooking Valley Rail-
road was ordered to take from the c.
& o. road, 800 loaded coal cars daily
at South Columbus. This was 50
manipulated by the railroads that
government approval of the order was
Result: Every day since the
day that order took effect, there could
be found standing in the Nelsonville
Ohio, coal yards from 1000 to 1,70O
loaded cars of coal which could not
be moved.
The 300 cars above referred to
which come from West Virginia and
Kentucky coal fields, several hundred
miles distant, could now be delivering
twice as much coal to consumers
800 cars instead of 300 cars-if they
were loaded at Ohio mines which are
idle part of the time on account of
the above order.
Abundant Mine Capacity.
There are three things necessary tc
q maximum production of coal at
1-Suficient mine capacity.
2-Suficient laborers.
3-Railway facilities for transport,
ing coal.
The first of these has been abund-
antly taken care of by the coal opera
tors. Hundreds of thousands of dol
lars have been spent for new mine
openings and for increasing the ca
pacity of old mines, so that the pres.
ent mine capacity is more than am.
pie for every need.
There Is labor shortage as in other
industries. Lack of cars at mines 50
reduce the earnings of miners that
they go to other industries, where
they can work full time.
The railroads have failed miserably
to keep pace in car supply and motive
power with the vastly increased ca
pacity of the mines.
If the country, in all it's activities,
public and private, is to be amply
supplied with fuel we have now reach
ed the place where the railroads must
rise to the demands of the situation
and perform their part of the service.
The blame can no longer be shifted
to the shoulders of others, for the
facts reveal the truth of the situation
rs to railroad failure and daily both
the government and the people are be-
coming thoroughly familiar with those
facts.