New-York tribune., 1918-01-04
Jersey i'm Bad Fix;
Hoboken's Supply
OF Water Cut OFF
City Without Lights; Other
Points in the State
Without Fuel

Desperately short of water. coal,
electricity gas and oil, Hoboken was in
q trying plight yesterday, with lite re-
lief in sight, as a result of the cold
wave, but it was not in much worse
shape than nearly all of New Jersey.
No Improvement in conditions was re-
ported from any quarter, except Jersey
City, which managed to get little
more water than the day before.
Besides the immense Edison plant at
West Orange, which shut down the day
before and was obliged to continue idle,
other establishments in Jersey engaged
in filling war orders for the govern
ment felt the coal shortage, cold wave
and cripplng of water supply. Several
appealed to Washington yesterday. in
Guiding the American Shell Company,
at Paterson, which is making S-inch
shells.
Hoboken is in the worst fix of all
the cities just across the river. Its
water supply failed completely yester-
day morning, and from 1O3O until
O'Clock not a drop or water came from
any hydrant. At that hour inspectors
closed a valve on 12-inch pipe, and
Immediately there was one pound of
pressure on the ground floor of. build
lngs Ct low levels. This increased
graduaNy to seven pounds at II last
night as opposed to forty pounds nor
NAL.
Officials were completely baffled
The water comes from Hackensack,
where full quota was running into
the mains. but it, was not reaching
Hoboken. Squads of experts were busy
on tours of inspection trying to sound
) the correctness of a theory that pipe
had burst and was emptying into a
sewer. St. Mary's Hospital. which
houses $50 soldier patients, was too
high to get any of the slight water
pressure. Indications last night were
that the water in its reserve tank
would be exhausted by A o'clock this
morning.
Inability to obtain water for its
boilers forced the Hoboken electric
power plant to shut down, SO that. ex-
cept for candles in store windows, the
entire city was dark until p. m. At
that hour a small amount of power
was switched on from the Jersey City
Washington Street. while the rest of
the city stayed dark
Threefourths of Hoboken has been
without gas for three days, due to the
small supply and abnormal gas con-
sumption by the sections so situated
that they got the most pressure. There
is so little fuel oil in the city that no
dealer will sell more than half gall
lon to g purchaser, and many of them
have none at all
The Public Service Electric Company,
of Newark. has restricted its service to
domestic lighting and surface transport
tatlon. Replying to q demand for cX-
planation from the State Board of Pub
lie Utility Commissioners, President
Thomas n. McCarter, of the electric
company, declared that cessation of
all service was threatened unless this
was done.
Power houses supplying Paterson
have shut down to 25 per cent Of capac-
ity, necessitating the closing of ITO
silk manufacturing establishments, en-
ploying thousands of workers. 1t was
announced that the closing of the mills
was for an indefinite period.
Jersey City increased its water sup
ply by five million gallons a day
through an emergency arrangement for
connection with pipes Of the East Jer-
sey Water Company bringing the to-
tai to 62,0oOOO GALLONS, still lar short
larly the Erie, were just as crippled
as before, and the. situation was COM
plicated by refusal of laborers to work
any longer during the cold spell at
breaking ice off of locomotives and
similar tasks. The Erie terminal was
swamped again by delayed commuters,
and it finally was necessary to aban-
! don all idea of trying to even approx
+ innate adherence to train schedules.
Whenever a train was made up it left
The closing of the Thomas A. Edi-
MI NJ
thousand employees idle. In the heat
less buildings lie many uncompjeted
devices urgently needed by the gov
ernmcnt. Appeals have h4<n sent in
cvery direction, but the chance of OBJ
tanning coal seems as slight as ever,
little hope being held out that work
can be resumed before Monday.