Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-19
N0NEssENT|ALs MAY Be
BARRED FOR SHIPMENT
Officials Tentatively Agree to En-
barge Many Articles to Relieve
Freight Congestion.
LITTLE EFFECT On PUBLIC
Carrying Capacity of Railroads Linn
tied, and Food. Fuel and War Ma
teriaIs Must BE Given Right OF
Way.
IRy Associated Press. I

Way.
wAsnlNtG$rA4 SSoeif Noya nff5s:l 1s-Ee-
cause OF the dcnlitc lim:. upon thc
carrying capacity Of the railroads. ard
bccause of tho imperative necessity
that food. fuc; and war materials he
given tho right OF way, the Federal
government is about to resort TO an
embargo upon the transportation OF a
long list of merchandise articles. TO be
declared and regarded as "ncnesscn.
tails while the war LAST
Such n policy has been tentatively
decided upon at conferences between
tho food and fuel administrators tho
priority commissioners. representatives
OF the railroads war board and NOM
bers of the Council Of National Defense.
II is u drastic measure which has been
conceived. and it will mean tho aus
pension. ii not the ruin. of many do
nestle industries, but its supporters
believe that the national emergency
fully justi1es the government In en-
forcing absolutely necessary economies
in the consumption of food and fuel
and in the use of the country'a rail-
road facilities.
government will place upon tho non
essential list the goods selected by tho
railroads war board--450 articles In
all--Or will include any OF the seventy
five additional articles which this board
indicated as dispensablc. but not with
out Inconvenience to the consuming
public. 1t is moro probable that the
nonesscntial policy will be based upon
somewhat different lines.
DEFINITE PLANS ALREADY
HAVE BEEN OUTLINED
Definite plans have already been out
lined in this direction. For instance
the fuel administration has served
notice that the coal shortage is about
to result in an order prohibiting the
shipment of any coal TO manufacturing
plants engaged in making useless
products. Fuel Administrator GARFIELD
gave fair warning of this when he
said that arbitrary Limitation is last
resort, and to be avoided il possible"
But in the same paragraph he re-
itcratcd his statement that the country
is threatened with n shortage of so,-
100000 tons of coal this winter, and
that il voluntary economy in its use
is not practiced. enforced economy must
result.
Another project In the same dircc-
ton is the virtual communicating by
tho government Of number OF
the largest automobile manufacturing
plants in the country. This will result
in an enormous curtailmcnt In the pro-
duction of pleasure cars. and CORE
spending relief Of traffic conditions
upon the railroads.
BY far the most sweeping PROPOSE
ton made in this connection was that
of Fairfax Harrison, chairman OF the
railroads war board. He and his as
sociatcs. after careful consideration.
selected 45o articles Of mcrcla ndise
which they regarded rs nonessential
10 the country in time of war. and
have appealed to the government TO
prohibit their transportation by the
railroads. MIR. Harrison contends that
no Inconvenience" will be visited upon
the general public by such an order.
The railroads have made up Il secondary
list of seventy five articles which the
country could do without. but not
without some Inconvenience.
RAILROADS WILL. NOT
NE GIVEN FREE HAND
1t liz obvious to anybody that tho
government will not allow the rail-
roads to make NJ such a list, giving
them free hand in saying what they
will or will not haul. Tho railroads
may recommend q list. but matter
SO vital 10 the business interests of
the country will he finally decided by
the highest authorities in tho govern
ment.
Tho list already in hand however
has particular Importance by reason
of the fact that it was not prepared
without consultation with both the
food and tho fuel administrators. This
does not mean that either OF these
officials have definitely approved It,
but ii does indicate that they support
the general proposition OF restriction,
both in. the production in uonessen-
tails and in their transportation.
All efforts made to-day TO secure the
list of tho 525 articles OF merchandise
for publication failed. At tho Office
of the railroad War Board |. was
stated that tho list in question had
been placed in The hands of Judge
Robert S. L.ovctt. priority mission
er. AZ Judge I.ovctt's Office IL vas
said that the list was before the food
and fuel administrators for further
onsideration. Al tho Offices OF tho
latter officials. il was said that no
list could he made public until the
administration had fixed upon policy
with respect TO it.
IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS
SOON MAY BE EXPECTED
Eut from other sources came the
information that important develop
mcnts in this direction might be ex-
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