New-York tribune., 1918-02-04
Fuel Administrator Expects
10000 Additional Tons
To-day
Backbone of Famine
Appears To Be Broken
Supply ON Hand Sufficient
for All Industries to Be-
gin Work Tomorrow

Increased coal deliveries and New
1'ork's cck-cnd close down from .satur-
day noon until Tuesday morning have
combined to bring warmth to practi-
cally all of the city's five hundred coal
less apartment houses and provide II
surplus Of fuel for the resumption Of
business tomorrow morning.
Feverish activities in every depart
mcnt having to do with the bringing Of
coal to the city resulted in the landing
of $4,000 tons Of anthracite in Man
haitian yesterday. Saturdays dcliv-
cries totallcd $4,000 tons. and it is
hoped that the concentration Of the
city's facilities on the moving of fuel
will result in the breaking Ct the fam
inc and the landin. of SO 900 tons here
too day.
Should to-days figures conc up to
the expectations of the fuel adminstra-
tors, the city will have received a total
or $4,000 tons Of coal during the three
days, of which two and onc-half arc
business holidays. Because of the all
most complete shutting down Of bust
ncss and industries hero during that
period only half of that amount Of
coal is thought to have been consumed
leaving 38,5Oo tons as surplus with
which the industries may start to-mor-
row morning.
If this optimistic forecast of the ad
minlstratcrs proves to have been jus
tlfled, the city will have substantial
surplus OF fuel in its bins for thc nrst
time since the beginning of the coal
famine. The surplus viii be 13.5OO
tons above the average daily delivery TO
the city since the beginning Of the
shortage. and will place the city nearly
a day and half ahead of deliveries
instead OF several hours behind, as has
peen the case for several weeks.
Apartments Got Coal
Following the utmatum delivered 10
the city's coal dealers by Fuel Admin
lstrator Reeve Schlcy on Saturday
there was concentration of city de-
llVerlcs to homes and apartment houses
during the day. Late Saturday night
ilFc hundred apartment houses, three
hundred Of which were in The Bronx
were absolutely without coal. 1t was
SAID last night that probably 75 per
cent OF these houses had been served
with coal. The remainder viii! receive
small quantities this morning. More
over. the priority orders issued by both
local and Federal administrators will
make it extremely unlikely that these
houses again will be without heat.
Preparations for to-day's rapid-tirc
movement Of freight and fuel we're
given renewed impetus during the dav
with the announcement Of figures from
the offices Of the American Railway
Association showing that the accumu-
latlon of export freight throughout the
Atlantic seaboard had been reduced
an average Of IS per cent from the
January ! conditions. The tabulated
report showed that the freight relief
was practically the same in Boston.
fhiladelphia. Baltimore, Newport News
and Norfolk.
New York Makes Best Record
The best record was made bv the
port OF New York. where the percent
age OF reduction in carloads awaiting
movement vas slightly over "a per
cent. The lowest percentage Of rcduc-
ton was recorded at Norfolk, where
there arc per cent fewer cars await
ing movement than on January /.
With the opening Of the new wear
there were 2d,971 cars OF freight tied
up in local freight yards awaiting
movement to ships. The number Of
cars standing in the yards here to- day
Is only 1878, or reduction of 5.24S.
Local railroad men said that the
freight situation here was even better
than these figures indicated and that
to-day,s work probably would place the
New York and jersey terminals in a
state more nearly normal than they
have experienced at any time since tho
beginning of the war
One freight superintendent said:
"As a railroad problem. or a matter
of congestion, the foregoing grand to-
tails make the situation appear rather
worse than it really is because Of the
fact that, particularly at New York y
very large proportion of the freight
accumulated here for export is IN.
loaded on the ground and is not tvinc
up rolling stock or occupying trackace
or warehouse and pier space. or TIE
1923 carloads at the port of New
York over half, or 1861 carloads is
unloaded on the ground, 4,OA3 carloads
are unloaded on piers or in ware.
houses, while only 4,ol9 carloads arc
remaining in cars on wheels. OF tho
vast tonnage unloadcd on the ground
much is steel Of various kinds which
has been rendered obsolete by the con.
slant changes Of the war and will prob.
ably never be shipped abroad to the
purchasing foreign government, but
viii be returned soon for uses in the
mills Of the United States"