The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-12-14
THE FUEL SITUATION DESPERATE.

Auo iuoi situdIlOn tnrOuSnOut Snl8
wassee county is absolutely desperate
and very little IL any prospect of lite
being any better in the immediate fu.
ture. Every possible energy is being
exerted by the coal dealers to procure
coal or other fuel; the County Coal
Administration has appealed both per.
sonally and by sworn letters and state
ments to the State Administrator for
help but 1t seems almost impossible TO
get it. While a few car loads Of btu
minous coal have been received In The
county during the past week The short.
age of fuel is greater than it WAS a
week ago, and this too in the face of
the effort to conserve what little coal
there is in the county. In many i =
stances two or more families are livi e
together or occupying only sma
part Of their homes-and every family
will have to come to this shortly as
there is no hope of relief until warm
weather is again here. The sooner we
all make up our minds to this the letter
A brief summary Of conditions cannot
fail to impress one with the real seri
ousness of the shortage jdsb at the be
ginning of winter. The Oro'so city
schools are all closed a, d will not h
opened until afer the holl,ln,s; The
DnraLd electric light plant and he
schools are closed; the Coruuna water
works were about to close but have
been temporarily relieved by the receipt
of car of coal shipped by the State
Fuel Administrator 30 that the city
would not be without fire protection /;
the Owosso Gas Works, on which many
homes are dependent for fuel to cook
by and in some instances to heat the
single living room now in use. have
only coal enough to run the plant at
the most ten days; hundreds of homes
in the city and villages-and doubtless
the country too-are entirely out Of
fuel; the Consumers Power Co., which
furnishes lights for many homes and
business places and the electric power
for number of manufacturing plants
Employing many laborers, has :only
8 few days supply of coal, and if com
relled to close the blow to the wage
earners will cause great suffering in
their families
There is promised little relief as
seven cars of coal were promised Mayor
Wright some weeks ago by Fuel Ad-
min istrator Prudden and he has since
assured Fred Welch and E. O. Dewey
of the county committee that this coal
would be forthcoming. A letter from
Mr. Prudden received this morning
states that ten carloads of bituminous
coal have been shipped from Russell, KY.
to Mr.. Dewey. If these II cars are receiv.
ed during the next two weeks and dis
tributed in small lots, the demand for
coal will be- almost as great as at
present for the reason that families
which have had supply of fuel will
lave used it up. 1t is apparent that no
permanent relief will be afforded during
the winter months.
The County Committee addressed a
communication to the city commission
Monday evening asking that the street
lighting be discontinued at midnight
that amusement places be requested to
shorten the hours during which they are
open and to close some evenings in the
week, that the churches join in union
services Sunday evenings. The mer-
chants have already been asked to shut
off the lights In their store windowsa g
soon as they close in the evening and
generally are doing 80. The Committee
intend to continue this ca mpaign for
the conservation of fuel and hope by
this means to give little relief to the
homes of the city and county.
The dealers of the county will receive
through regular channels shipments of
coal from time to time and in addition
the State Administi ator can be depend.
ed upon to provide some coal for each
community.