Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-01
COAL SELLING AT
 65e A HUNDRED


 ese A HUNDRED That Makes $f3 a Ton and Purchaser
 Has Privilege of Carrying it Away.
 The coal situation in Norwich re- mains practically the same. although 8 good amount was received here on Thursday. The coal lines in front of the offices of local dealers began to form long before daylight and many faces could be recognized in line as those who had been there morning after morning and had been unsuccess- full in getting their orders filled.
 Three carloads of coal came into the city Thursday and was distributed among two local dealers. There was one car of nut coal one of egg coal and the third of stove coal. When the news of the arrival was spread crowds thronged the offices of the dealers and the whole shipment was soon sold. The price of coal in Norwich has been regulated by State Fuel Admin istrator Russell and the prevailing price is s11 per ton and $5.75 per half ton. This prfcesis for the coal in the
  expected to deliver it.
 On Thursday a reporter of The Bull- tin staff in quest of a little of the precious fuel visited the office of the Shetucket Coal company on North Main street. Upon entering the office of the company he was greeted by the l salutation fNo coaP even before he made known his errand. He then asked the young lady in charge of the office if she could not let him have at l least a half a ton or even 8 quarter of I ton and she informed him that they could not accommodate him. Still persistent he asked if he could get any | at all. The young lady said that they would sell him bushel but he would l have to carry it away with him as 1 they did not deliver. The reporter asked the price of a bushel and was told that it was 65c, and upon asking l the weight of a bushel of coal the young lady stated that it was about 1 100 pounds.
 The reporter did some mental fig- uring after leaving the office and the result was that he fould by paying CSC 1 a bushel for coal even if there was 100 pounds in the bushel, he was paying at the rate of SIS per ton and then would have to carry it away. The ex- tra two dollars may be for the privi-
 lege of carrying the coal through the
 streets.
 In statement issued by State Fuel Administrator Thomas W. Russell he
 says:
 Owing to winter conditions, the un- loading piers at New York, although I they are now being worked 20 hours
 a day, are unable to load the normal
 amount of coal into barges. The cold | TxrA Q ft1ny, eyne, f1o Al loading and unloading and also freezes
 the coal in the cars so that it calls for
 an extra amount of labor to transfer it. The large amount of ice in the I North river and also in the East river
 up to Whitestone Landing has very greatly hampered transportation by
 water. In some eases because the
 unloading piers are frozen in and i1 a number of other cases because the ice has broken the propellers of tugs as well as strained the barges so thaz some have gone down at the docks Also, due to the effect of tides, very bad ice jam has formed west of White stone Landing. making it extremely . difficult for tows of barges to wprl through"
 In reference to the ail-rail routes ! through Maybrook. Harlem river ant : : other smaller functions, MT. Russell said:
 "The office of the railroad tells m. ,, that the yards at Harlem river are il fairly good shape regarding conges . ton, but here again the ice in New } York harbor is a very large fandicaI 2 when it comes to towing car float 2 from the terminals of New York t :, Harlem river yards. The condition. at Maybrook were badly congested tw, weeks ago, but since then have show a great deal of improvement, althougl |. owing to lack of motive power tn, z railroad is unable to clean up tn
 Maybroow yards as rapidly as migh
 be expected.
 e Points west of Maybroow are block ed and as a result rail coal for Ney t England is being diverted to othe t places. The railroad conditions a s Maybroow prevent coal carrying road d from bringing more cars into May S brook until the situation there ha . been cleaned up. It seems to me tha = the people are paying at this tim n rather dearly for the criticism an
 hostility shown the railroads durin
 the past ten years. reducing thei . earning power to such point that 'o has been almost impossible fnanciall = for them to purchase locomotives an ' equipment during the past two years ''There are now at Maybrook some a thing over 1,500 cars, of which prob s, ably 800 are cars of coal. I am tol 7 that at connecting points west of May = brook there are probably more tha :. that number of cars of coal awaitin 'ns n shipment over the New Haven sys s tem.'
 When asked how much coal there 1
 on the rails in Connecticut, MT. Russe
 said:
 1t Heaven only knows. It has bee d figured that on the railroads of Ne l. England in normal times 43 ptr cen Is of the entire freight tonnage handle n. is coal, and that the average for tn Q entire country is something over ; i'd per cent If I knew each day ho > many ears there were on the lines le the New Haven railroad, could prot r. ably obtain the approximate number of coal cars by taking about B per cen \, of this total"
 When asked what towns in ConneC
 ticut are in the worst shape for coa l. your finger on any which was in wors nt shape than the others" Windst n, Locks, Farnington, New London ar r. other places along the sound and Mar r. chester he mentioned as among u k, communities hardest hit.
 is "Is there any relief in sight?" M d. Russell was asked.
 There is none" he replied, "exee
 such as the weather man may send" s.i Asked about efforts to overcome u el situation, Mir Russell said that a pls is had been worked put far securi,