Evening star., 1918-02-02
COAL DEALERS GET
AID FROM DISTRICT
Teams and Drivers Are at
Their Disposal to Help De-
liver Coal to Homes.
CLEARING HOUSE is O. KID

Under an arrangement effected today
with the District Commissioners by Ed
ward F. Colladay, acting fuel, admins
traitor, District hauling equipment, with
drivers, is to be placed at the disposal
of retail coal dealers to help get fuel
into the homes Of Washington people.
There is coal here now sufficient te
meet all immediate necessities, though
the margin is very narrow and sooI
will be wiped out entirely unless there
is an early increase in receipts. The
problem now is to get the coal delivered
over streets that make traffic slow ant
difficult and in some places are almost
impossible.
Deposit Required of Dealers.
The District teams and trucks will be
sent out in blocks to dealers who ap-
ply for them. Under the arrangement
any dealer wanting District equipment
was required to deposit $500 with the
District auditor by o'clock this after
noon. The actual operating cost, in
Guiding the wages of drivers. will be
charged against this deposit If the de-
posit of any dealer is exhausted before
the need of assistance ends, a further
deposit will be required.
The coal dealeIs' executive commit
tee, Of which Charles F. Fadeley is
chairman. met last evening with Acting
Administrator Colladay and voted ap-
proval of Mr.. colladay's plan to estab-
1ish coal clearing house. A meeting
of all dealers in the city Is to be held
Monday evening in Builders Exchange.
at which the committee will submit the
plan, with the recommendation that
the dealers adopt it,
To Close Emergency Bureau.
Pending putting into operate of the
clearing house, Mr.. Colladay has order
ed that the emergency distribution bu-
reau at 18th and + streets shall remain
open. 1t will be closed when the clear
ing house is ready for business. All
orders then will be placed directly with
dealers, and, when necessary, will be
put through the clearing house in or
der that they may be handled to the
best advantage.
Unnecessarily long hauls will be OBJ
waited and one dealer will not be over
loaded with orders while another has
coal and idle hauling equipment. Con-
fscation Of coal consigned to dealers
for distribution through the emergency
bureau will be abolished and other
problems simplified. For instance, one
dealer reported yesterday that practi-
cally all his drivers had quit. Investi-
cation disclosed that they had been
hired by firm which is doing hauling
for the emergency bureau. leaving a
dealer who had coal without the ability
to deliver it.
Receipts Below Requirements.
Receipts of hard coal today were
fair, but still below the average it is
necessary to maintain If the city is to
be kept supplied. Added to the heavier
receipts Of recent days, however. they
gave a stock as large as can be deliv-
cred at once. Fuel administration Of
ficials are hopeful that. If there is no
more snow, the first Of the week will
see arrival Of some Of the accumulated
coal due to Washington.
Final deliveries Of coal to those
school buildings without fuel were
rushed to them today. Those schools
which were not forced to close
last to receive fuel, according to Supt.
Thu-ston, who said today that no new
in the fuel situation in
the school were looked for at present
and that he expected all the schools
to he omen for work Monday morning