St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-12-26
PRESS COMMENT
Food and Fuel Shortage.

1t is n new experience for people of
this part of the country to suffer
from the lack of such necessaries of
living as fuel and sugar When fires
run low and food goes unsweetened
in q land comm only accounted a
land of plenty, we cannot understand
it. The war, of course, is primarily
responsible. Huge quantities of all
staples are being diverted from their
normal channels. There is, too an
increased demand and lessened pro-
duction in many lines. But the nor
NAL demands call for the most active
production. This applies especially
to coal. During recent years coal has
almost completely supplanted wood
as fuel. except in woodlands farming
sections and to a limited extent in
nearby towns. 1t is no uncommon
thing for Vermont farmers with plen-
~ of wood on their own lands to use
coal Relatively, it is considered that
coal costs less than wood, and the
price Of the one governs that of the
other, SO feeble is the competition.
Then there is the growing use of
furnace. of cellar heating in place of
stoves, which very greatly increases
the fuel demand. Residences are
larger and more generally heated,
also the temperature is kept higher.
Hotels and apartment houses make
heavy demands for fuel, in the effort
to satisfy guests and tenants. The
American people require an average
indoor temperature ten degrees high
fla, Il oil
makes for q heavy fuel outlay
The present st-ingency seems to be
attributable more to lack of transpor-
tation than of production. The rail-
roads and water carriers cannot
handle it fast enough, With what else
they have to transport. Their pre-
sent enormous task threatens to break
them down. That they are unable
to expand to meet it the railroads
claim is due to the suppressive policy
adopted toward them by the gov
ernment which has regulated them
to the point Of bankruptcy, refusing
them adequate rates for service per-
formed, supported their employees in
wage and other demands, piled on
oppressive taxes and crippled them
so they have no credit left with
which to buy the additional equip
ment that their present business de-
mands They come forward now
with the. request that the government
provide them either with the capital
or. extend to them the credit that
they require. Another proposition
not favored by railroad men is that
the government take over the control
of the railroads for the war period
in the interest of efficiency. Some
thing must be done, or both the mill
tary and economic status of the coun-
TRY will suffer heavily.
/ Here in Vermont the fuel situation
! is serious. We fear it is not fully
estimated at Washington. Those who
dwell in populous centers depending
wholly on coal thinl. that rural sec
tons like Vermont should get along
with little in view of the plentitude
of wood. But wood in the form Of
growing trees back On the mountain
is far removed from fuel ready for
use. The cutting, hauling and pre-
paration of stovewood involves a vast
amount of labor. fully five-sixths OF
| liz SOSt DCIllS represented III the HAD
or item. And labor is the thing
| of all things that the wood-growina
sections lack. 1t would take many
thousand men and many hundred
teams to chop and haul the wood re-
| CURED by Vermont each year II
these were available and if wood fue
could be produced at selling price
/ to compete with coal, Vermont would
/ be a great gamer thereby, but under
present conditions it cannot be
! Then as wood cut requires months OF
| seasoning to be at all economical as
/ fuel, and the present shortage, com
1 ingon short notice, has not provided
/ for the seasoning period. Much wooc
will be used in Vermont this year
much more than for several years
| but except in certain localities it can
not supply the coal deficiency.
Much may be gained by more
economical use of such fuel as VIZ
have, of which we have been very
wasteful in the past We can live
even if less comfortable, in a lower