New-York tribune., 1918-01-03
State and Nation Join
Forces to Lift Fuel
Blockade in New
York
100000 Tons Arrive
In Last "a Hours
4,216 Carloads Rushed
Into Jersey; 100
Cars a Day by
Tunnel

Yesterday witnessed a greater con-
centration Of powerful forces to re-
levc fuel famine than has ever been
evoked TO meet an emergency situation
in New York City. City, state and ma
tional governments pooled their forces
to If, the fuel blockade not tempo
ra~ly. but permanently.
The immediate result was that, de-
spite the cold weather. the labor short
age and frozen ferry slips, 10000 tons
of anthracite entered the city during
the twenty four hours ended at mid
night-a new record in coal receipts.
Bat this record was surpassed by thc
energy Of the railroads working undc~
the direction Of the government to
supply the city. Last night d,216 car
loads had jammcd into Jersey tide
water ports, carrying about 21o,S0o
tons of hard and soft coal.
River Tubes Conscriptcd
The most important single event Of
the day was the communicating of the
Pennsylvania tubes for the shipment Of
coal direct from the New Jersey shores
to the Sunnyside Yards in Long Island
City, through instructions from Di-
rector General of Railways William G..
McAdoo.
Early this morning Pennsylvania
Railroad officials announced that sixty
three cars, loaded with about 5000 tons
OF coal, had been shot through the
hudson tube. under Manhattan Island.
and through the Long Island Railroad
tunnel. The tubes have been used here
tofore for passenger travel only. and
1t became necessary to secure the order
of the man now directing all the rail
roads OF the country to effect this
movement.
The coal will be distributed in
Queens to-day.
Until further notice, it was an
nounced by the Pennsylvania, 100 car
loads of coal each day will move
through the tubes from Jersey to Long
Island.
At conference of the presidents
and other officials of all tho coal AIRY
ing roads serving greater New York. it
loads of coal to Manhattan Island, park
them on every available foot of track
age and unload the cars directly into
trucks for istribution in the various
sections of Manhattan and The Bronx.
A. II. Smith, president OF the New
York Central. and now assistant di-
rector general of railroads, estimated
last night that at least 800 carloads
Of coal could be brought into the
greater city daily by these means, in
addition to the increasing supply
c-frr1l -,rrj, -%<,,
channels OF terminal transportatlon
by lighteraga to Bay Ridge and other
POINTS of Long Island and by barges
to coal pockets all along the city's wa
terfront
As the average carload contains
about fifty tons. New York City will
receive ia,ogo tens daily through the
tubes and by car floats TO Manhattan
and should railroad companies be able
to keep up their good work of the last
twenty-four hours in unloading cars
at tidewater, the total daily receipts
will amount to about $1,000 tons
which is at least $4,000 tors more than
greater New York burns on a very cold
day
Improvement in Situation
Mr.. Smith, now in command Of al
the Eastern railroads, refused to dis
play any exuberancc over the achieve
meHts of the day. he said there We.
an improvement in the coal situation
but that it was a "slight improvements
Deliveries by the tunnel route, hi
said, would be limited only by tn;
capacity of the railroad companies ane
dealers TO unload the cars
This is a labor problem thst the
community would have to assist i,
solving.
Mr. Smith said arrangements ha,
oeen made to float coal trains acros
,ne river to Sixtieth Street. He though
mat at least one hundred cars could b.
sldetracked at the foot of aristocrati
Riverside Drive and unloaded there
Inc New York Central, he declared, wa
ready to send at least one hundre'
carloads more on car floats to the nortl
ehd OF Manhattan Island for track de
bridge. =
10 facilitate this scheme OF distribu
e'on. Mr.. Smith said that coal dealer
you'd be asked to help unload thes
cars.
Coal Men Have Doubts
ms method of solving the tue
ssnortage problem was f1outed as utter
y .mpracticable by coal men. They sal
aeivery from the tracks might wor
~ OSHKOSH, Wis, or Bimidji, Mimi, bu
. .o. IN New York. There were no mean
rUa weighing, they pointed out, and II
piovision for breaking frozen coal, tn
.auer being the most difficult snag j
'"E whole fuel situation at present.
pealers, they said, could cheat tn
.ses'eeth out of their customers if the
s. 90 leit like, delivering by estimates in
s@ead OF weight.
,o nc declared the trade delivery sys
eeia would he abandoned inside of tw
~ ~ taice days and the same old systcl
used '"'" navy W
.r;Lis ;tLhis left the big problem of coal di.
Tho Trhtou5ion, they said, just where it wa
-"e last few days of fuel famine an